Fonts for color blindness

[Larry-NC]

Site team note: following posts moved from another thread

Originally Posted by scratchgolfer

I got it..slight color difference in the text

Yeah. For those of us with red/green colorblindness, it's really hard to distinguish the links from the regular text. It "very slight."

I must have gotten 25 Thanks notices before I was told (by one of the admins) that they include a link to the post being thanked.

Maybe Janet (the administrator) will see this and configure the links to a bright blue. I think I'll flag my own post to see if she sees it.

[wmtire]

Originally Posted by Larry-NC

Yeah. For those of us with red/green colorblindness, it's really hard to distinguish the links from the regular text. It "very slight."



I must have gotten 25 Thanks notices before I was told (by one of the admins) that they include a link to the post being thanked.



Maybe Janet (the administrator) will see this and configure the links to a bright blue. I think I'll flag my own post to see if she sees it.

They make extensions you can add to your web browsers to overcome this. Here is an example of one for Chrome.

https://www.pcworld.com/article/4273...e-the-web.html

[Mr. Dan]

Originally Posted by Larry-NC

Yeah. For those of us with red/green colorblindness, it's really hard to distinguish the links from the regular text. It "very slight."

I must have gotten 25 Thanks notices before I was told (by one of the admins) that they include a link to the post being thanked.

Maybe Janet (the administrator) will see this and configure the links to a bright blue. I think I'll flag my own post to see if she sees it.

When I get a 'You Have Been Thanked' PM, the "This Post" link IS dark blue and bold and underlined and possibly a larger font.


"I just wanted to let you know that I appreciated this post that you made."

[Larry-NC]

Originally Posted by wmtire

They make extensions you can add to your web browsers to overcome this. Here is an example of one for Chrome.

https://www.pcworld.com/article/4273...e-the-web.html

Thanks, Bobby. I have looked at those. Haven't installed one yet, but eventually I will.

But what about ALL the other users? Some may not even know they are color-blind. I was 19 years old before I found out. They don't routinely test for it. Does FRF want to make it hard for all the color-blind users? We are talking about 5% of the male population.

[wmtire]

Originally Posted by Larry-NC

Thanks, Bobby. I have looked at those. Haven't installed one yet, but eventually I will.

But what about ALL the other users? Some may not even know they are color-blind. I was 19 years old before I found out. They don't routinely test for it. Does FRF want to make it hard for all the color-blind users? We are talking about 5% of the male population.

To my recollection, yours is the only post I have ever seen about it so am not sure just how many "All" encompasses. Try the extensions and see if that solves it for you.

Sent from my LM-X320 using Forest River Forums mobile app

[Larry-NC]

Originally Posted by Mr. Dan

When I get a 'You Have Been Thanked' PM, the "This Post" link IS dark blue and bold and underlined and possibly a larger font.


"I just wanted to let you know that I appreciated this post that you made."

I can't distinguish dark blue, dark red, dark green, or dark purple from black. Bold, yes.
Underlined, NO.
Larger font, NO

[Larry-NC]

Originally Posted by wmtire

To my recollection, yours is the only post I have ever seen about it so am not sure just how many "All" encompasses. Try the extensions and see if that solves it for you.

Sent from my LM-X320 using Forest River Forums mobile app

Bobby, see Post #8. I was content to suffer in silence. I only raised the issue when another FRF member had the same problem.

[Iwritecode]

Originally Posted by Larry-NC

I can't distinguish dark blue, dark red, dark green, or dark purple from black. Bold, yes.
Underlined, NO.
Larger font, NO

Wait, you can't distinguish between underlined words and non-underlined words?

That's more than just color blindness...

[Rhumblefish]

Good design practices aside, accessibility issues (like color blindness) can/should be addressed at the root computer preference level. Barring that, within the browser itself.... not just on an individual site basis.

You can configure an entire world of display options on your computer, even without helpful plugins (of which there are many). Barring that, you can increase the text size on computer and phone, which may help alleviate vision issues.

Reach out to me if you need some pointers, happy to help.

[wmtire]

Larry can I ask how you are viewing the forums? The full web version and the app render links different.

[U.S.ArmyVeteran]

Interesting topic.

Don't know about other "mature people" (old farts :-). I, for one have a lot of problems with the desire of web designers to go for Zoomier is better.
New does not equate to better.

It seems like the gray fonts on a gray background are very popular.
Just saying.

[Larry-NC]

Originally Posted by Iwritecode

Wait, you can't distinguish between underlined words and non-underlined words?

That's more than just color blindness...

What I actually wrote was:

I can't distinguish dark blue, dark red, dark green, or dark purple from black. Bold, yes.
Underlined, NO.
Larger font, NO

The context, of course, was the private messages, not the forum posts.
Links in the private messages are NOT underlined.
Link fonts in the private messages are NOT larger.

I've sent you and Mr. Dan PMs demonstrating this, since you didn't see it.

Something about the implementation of PMs feels like it was never completed before shipping. One thing is the links. Another is that the incoming message appears in BBCODE instead of rendering as finished.

Apparently this is a growing issue. I just ran across this statement:

For example, many websites fail to include sufficient contrast in coloring on their various pages, making it extremely difficult for those who are color blind to view the pictures and text.

The various guidelines call for at least a 4.5:1 website color contrast ratio. Below are some color samples.

Here are the confusions for people with deuteranopia (red-green color blindness). 5% of the male population has it.

Column shows a set of colors as seen by someone with normal vision.

Column B shows how a red-green colorblind person would see Column A. Columns 5 and 6 are completely indistinguishable. (5 and 6 are commonly used for Unvisited Links and Visited Links respectively, which can be a nuisance.) Colors 2 and 4 are difficult to distinguish, even when adjacent. If you showed a red-green colorblind person color 2 or 4 in isolation, without the other for comparison, he couldn't tell you which it was.

Column B illustrates how a person with deuteranopia (absence of green-sensing cones would see Column A.

Column C illustrates how a person with protanopia (absence of red-sensing cones) would see Column A.

Both these types are called red-green color-blindness.

Column D illustrates how a person with tritanopia (reduced sensitivity to blue light) would see Column A. It is extremely rare.


https://www.getfeedback.com/resource...lor-blindness/ a colorblindness test, in case you're wondering if you are afflicted.

[Larry-NC]

Originally Posted by wmtire

Larry can I ask how you are viewing the forums? The full web version and the app render links different.

Bobby, I use the full web version on a computer and also on my phone. I have never tried the app.

[wmtire]

Originally Posted by Larry-NC

Bobby, I use the full web version on a computer and also on my phone. I have never tried the app.

If you are using your phone, you may want to give the app a try. The reason I say this, on the app (at least the android version) the links in the thanks messages will show as underlined and a blue font...which may help you see them better. A test of this would be the app automatic sigline added to this post below from my phone. On the full site this link will show as a green color but on the app it's blue

Sent from my LM-X320 using Forest River Forums mobile app

[wmtire]

Here is a screenshot of the app link. Can you see the blue?

Sent from my LM-X320 using Forest River Forums mobile app

[Rhumblefish]

While it seems like it'd be MOST beneficial for anyone with vision issues to avail themselves of the scads of accessibility features baked into both their computer OS and their browsers (let alone one of dozens of excellent plugins), it might not be hard to code up a CSS file that might pump contrast appropriately if this is indeed an issue we need to address. That being said, changing links to be Bright Blue may cause issues for OTHER users. I'd suggest that - since these issues face the colorblind across the entire web - that the solution is best approached from the user side of things.

Also, am I incorrect in that incoming messages are actually fully rendered, it's just the (conveniently pre-populated) REPLY that displays in forum friendly BBCode?

[Larry-NC]

Originally Posted by wmtire

Here is a screenshot of the app link. Can you see the blue?Attachment 267960

Sent from my LM-X320 using Forest River Forums mobile app

Yes, the blue link is definitely distinct from the other text.

Thanks!

[wmtire]

Fantastic. Give the app a try and see if it might can help.

Thanks

Sent from my LM-X320 using Forest River Forums mobile app

[Larry-NC]

Originally Posted by Rhumblefish

Also, am I incorrect in that incoming messages are actually fully rendered, it's just the (conveniently pre-populated) REPLY that displays in forum friendly BBCode?

Both ways--in separate panes. Kind of tricky if you have a chain of several back-and-forths.

[Rhumblefish]

Originally Posted by Larry-NC

Both ways--in separate panes. Kind of tricky if you have a chain of several back-and-forths.

You can see my confusion after reading the below:

Originally Posted by Larry-NC

Another is that the incoming message appears in BBCODE instead of rendering as finished.

(my emphasis/bold)

The incoming message is rendered properly and finished. Then there's the ability to include the previous message using BBCode to format the message to your liking, should you decide to do that.

You realize that you can always delete the pre-populated stuff and simply send JUST your message (and not the previous material). Likewise you also don't have to use BBCode at all, and just sent raw text...

I mean, I get it... but you're using fairly mature, fully baked technology that's actually past its prime as far as WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) formatting goes....

I've worked with WYSIWYG editing, esp some that enables it in the text window... No matter what you think you're doing as a user, you're actually coding the format of your text response (just like in MS Word). And the results have room for spectacular failure. BBCode is pretty faultless, however it requires a slight learning curve.

However, to this end that you're having trouble, might I suggest the "Accessibility" tag at the bottom of the page?

Accessibility.

I'd think that colorblindness is a serious enough issue that the Site Team might very well consider writing a new CSS Style sheet for folks who have trouble with the link text, accessed in the dropdown in the lower left of the page, that included a potentially different color scheme, and a different treatment of text links in the body of posts and in messages.

Thanks, by the way, to the site team for all the attention to this important matter.