WebAIM - Web Accessibility In Mind

E-mail List Archives

Re: Outdoor captioning contrast

for

From: Karl Groves
Date: Mar 23, 2014 4:10PM

I'm probably better at explaining spooky action at a distance. ;-)

Actually I've done a bit of work on this while working on the Nextel
Fanview (which soon after became Sprint FanView). A very long story short
they paid us to go across the country doing field studies on the device. It
turns out that best practice color contrast in bright environments is not
too dissimilar from color contrast changes for low-vision users. The top 3
choices should be

Yellow on black
White on black
Black on yellow

Incidentally this is why you see so many of these combinations on outdoor
signage.




On Sun, Mar 23, 2014 at 11:18 AM, Cliff Tyllick < <EMAIL REMOVED> >wrote:

>
> With apologies to those who might not know of the U.S. game show,
> Jeopardy!, "Subsidy for $1000, please, Alex!"
>
> Jay, I don't have an answer for you, but I do have an observation in the
> form of a question: At some point it must make sense for governmental
> agencies to stop giving guidelines on best practices to businesses free of
> charge and start saying, "Here's the problem you have to solve to achieve
> accessibility. Do it." Where is that point?
>
> There is a move afoot to create certification processes for accessibility
> professionals. But if all the best practices are available for free, it
> won't make sense for new people to consider the profession. To get work,
> you'll have to get certified, which will involve some kind of education and
> experience and won't be free, and then to keep work, you'll have to compete
> with all of this information that is made available for free.
>
> So, where's the balance?
>
> Don't misunderstand. Ensuring that people with hearing disabilities can
> enjoy live football without missing out on the information given by the
> stadium announcer is a noble goal. But don't the Minnesota Vikings make
> enough money to pay for that advice, just as they would pay for advice to
> improve any other component of their new stadium?
>
>
> (Hmmm, come to think of it, I know of someone who might have just the
> information they need. He sometimes teaches "Viking Accessibility." Karl
> Groves, are you listening?)
>
> Cliff Tyllick
>
>
>
>
> On Thursday, February 27, 2014 12:20 PM, "Wyant, Jay (MNIT)" <
> <EMAIL REMOVED> > wrote:
>
> I have a question that is sort of outside of the usual topic areas. We're
> advising the local NFL franchise, which is building a new stadium, on how
> to make it fully accessible.
>
> Of course we want captioning. We currently plan to recommend that the
> captioning display be separate from the ginormous Jumbotron-style screens
> (and we will probably reference the ANSI A117.1 standards, as much as they
> are usable). Does anyone have any experience or research on the best form
> of high-contrast readability of such displays? We were thinking black text
> on white if feasible.
>
> We are also making recommendations re character height, etc. so thoughts
> are welcomed on those aspects. But I am most curious to learn if there is
> any research on the contrast - particularly at that distance and with the
> sort of arena lighting common to such venues.
>
> Thoughts?
>
> Jay
>
> JAY WYANT | CHIEF INFORMATION ACCESSIBILITY OFFICER
> MN.IT SERVICES, CENTRAL
> 651.201.1001 (w) | 612.825.8285 (m) | <EMAIL REMOVED>
>
> Information Technology for Minnesota Government | mn.gov/oet
> Learn: http://mn.gov/oet/governance/for-agencies/accessibility/
>
>
>
> > > > > > >



--

Karl Groves
www.karlgroves.com
@karlgroves
http://www.linkedin.com/in/karlgroves
Phone: +1 410.541.6829