Re: Questions regarding color and readability

My fat finger hit "Send" by mistake. So, to finish my earlier thought: Bearing in mind that no one solution works for everyone, it seems to me that we need for each of these elements to be in place if we are to meet the most basic level of accessibility:

• Authoring tools must make it possible for authors to systematically associate the sensory attributes of content with its semantic role.

• Authors must put those capabilities to use.

• User agents must enable users to adjust the attributes of each role to meet their own perceptual needs.

In this context, "assistive technology" is a type of "user agent."

From Wayne Dick, I have learned a great deal about the disparate needs of various people with low moderate vision. I guess the most significant lesson I have learned is that features that improve access for some people almost certainly will impair access for others. So it's far more important to ensure that the user—any user—can adjust the presentation to suit their needs than it is to conform with any given design standard or guideline.

Yet in WCAG 2.0 the programmatic association of content with its presentation is not considered essential to accessibility (Level A). Instead, it's considered an enhancement (Level AAA), and Level AA conformance is tied to meeting somewhat arbitrary contrast (relative luminance, actually) levels.

I just don't understand that.

Cliff Tyllick
Texas Department of Assistive and Rehabilitative Services

Sent from my iPhone
Although its spellcheck often saves me, all goofs in sent messages are its fault.

> On Jul 8, 2015, at 7:29 AM, Cliff Tyllick <cliff.tyllick@yahoo.com> wrote:
> 
> Duc, you have brought up a perfect example of why I believe success criterion 1.4.8, item 1, "Foreground and background colors can be selected by the user," should be a Level A, not Level AAA, success criterion.
> 
> <aside>
> Actually, I would write a new, broader, success criterion:
> 
> "The presentation:
> 1. Assigns foreground and background colors programmatically, 
> 2. In no way hinders the use of the user agent, assistive technology, or both to customize the font size, the font face, the width of the body of text, and the line spacing,
> 3. And does not produce overlapping images and text when the user makes these customizations."
> 
> No one color combination works for every user, nor does any one level of magnification 
> 
> Sent from my iPhone
> Although its spellcheck often saves me, all goofs in sent messages are its fault.
> 
>> On Jun 25, 2015, at 10:43 AM, Gregg Vanderheiden <gregg@raisingthefloor.org> wrote:
>> 
>> Let me introduce you to wayneedick@gmail.com
>> 
>> He has looked at these issues a lot and can give you some good leads.
>> 
>> 
>> For allowable colors that you can use and still have needed contrast - see  
>> Black Text on Colors that just pass at several contrast ratios
>> White Text on Colors that just pass at several contrast ratios
>> (these are from the color samples link in Understanding WCAG 2.0 ) 
>> 
>> there are many examples here that are much less contrast than black on white —  and still pass WCAG
>> (PS the top rows are the ones that pass - the other rows in a block are what they look like (approx.) to people with color vision differences. 
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> If you are looking for something tuned to one person - you can have even less contrast of course
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> gregg
>> 
>> ----------------------------------
>> Gregg Vanderheiden
>> gregg@raisingthefloor.org
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> 
>>> On Jun 24, 2015, at 3:06 PM, Ta, Duc <duc.ta.740@my.csun.edu> wrote:
>>> 
>>> Hi 
>>> 
>>> My name is Duc Ta. I'm just recently into the accessibility field around 3 years. We know that there is wcag 2.0 guideline regarding color contrast. However, I didn't have any luck in finding any guidelines that talking about color combinations, readability and migraines/eye constraints. For example, I heard from many people saying that they have a migraine or eye constraints when they spend their time reading white text on black background for few minutes. Hope to hear from you soon. Wish you have great week
>>> 
>>> 
>>> Best,
>>> 
>>> Duc Ta
>>