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

for

From: John Foliot
Date: Jul 28, 2011 12:12PM

Jared Smith wrote:
>
> On Thu, Jul 28, 2011 at 12:36 AM, John Foliot < <EMAIL REMOVED> >
> wrote:
>
> > I long ago saw an actual study result that showed that slightly lower
> > contrast actually helped with some dyslexic users.
>
> This introduces some interesting questions. High contrast is the
> default for... well, everything. Chances are that 99% of you are
> reading this text in high contrast black on white. Should there be a
> burden on developers to deviate from something that is the norm to
> account for this relatively rare situation?

I think it reinforces the idea that allowing user-supplied style-sheets is
a significant a11y consideration - in other words authors should avoid
inline styles whenever possible in favor of linked styles so that some
users who desire alternative display contrasts (etc.) can do so with
stability/predictability. I believe Wayne Dick (CSU system) has written on
this issue in the past, but I was unable to actually put my hands on
anything quickly.

>
> I'm not arguing that these users should be ignored because they might
> be few in number, but I am suggesting that the burden here should
> probably be on the end user, who can relatively easily decrease
> contrast. On my Mac, I can tap the contrast button down a couple
> times. Increasing or reversing contrast, on the other hand, is a bit
> more difficult.

Agreed, for the most part this will/should remain an end-user
configuration issue. My reverse contrast friend has set her system up so
that the reverse contrast is system wide. However as content authors we
should still be conscious of the fact that finer control can be applied
via user style-sheets, so again avoiding in-line styles has benefits
beyond "ease of editing" considerations.

JF