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Re: Interesting cause: http://contrastrebellion.com

for

From: John Foliot
Date: Jul 28, 2011 12:36AM

Léonie Watson wrote:
>
> On that note, does anyone have any thoughts on the use of low
> contrast colour schemes for people with reading/learning difficulties
> and/or
> visual stress conditions? WCAG has always (rightly) promoted high
> contrast,
> but increasingly I wonder if there's a gap at the other end of the
> spectrum
> as well.
>
> I've come across plenty of anecdotal evidence, but I'm not aware
> of
> any more "rigorous" information. Is it out there?

I long ago saw an actual study result that showed that slightly lower
contrast actually helped with some dyslexic users. The lower contrast
reduced the instances of dancing letters as the overall effect was
apparently more "calming". Not sure where that study is today, but Google
might. (I also experimented with that on an earlier site - Paragraphs that
had focus (tabbing or mouse-over) changed the background from pure white
to a very light beige background. I had some comments but nothing
conclusive - most folks thought it was cool and made sense, but that's all
anecdotal too. No hard data available)

It seems now that this might be in doubt:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10837835

I also know of a an extreme low vision user who prefers reverse colors
(light on dark) as it reduces glare - in those instances a slightly lower
contrast also makes for a more readable page overall for those users. No
actual documentation there that I know of however Leonie, but lower
contrast in her setup certainly was better for me.

I also just found this: CONCLUSION: Low contrast was more detrimental for
older adults
(http://www.mendeley.com/research/reading-in-the-dark-effects-of-age-and-c
ontrast-on-reading-speed-and-comprehension/), which ultimately confirms to
me that no 2 users are the same <smile>, and that offering at least 2
choices would be a wonderful best practices, especially for very high
volume sites.

JF