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Re: too much contrast?

for

From: Whitney Quesenbery
Date: Apr 15, 2014 8:36AM

All of this just suggests that the real solution is a robust mechanism to
allow personal settings. No standard is ever going to provide a perfect
solution. At their best, they eliminate the most common problems for the
widest number of people. However, given the wide variation in accessibility
needs, a single, mandated, design solution is not possible. Nor is it
possible to hand-code individual variations.

Mary Theofanos and Ginny Redish wrote an excellent research report on this
issue back in 2005, when they did usability studies at the National Cancer
Institute with both screen-reader users and others with various forms of
low vision. Their "vision of the future" (at a time when this was not
widely discussed) was "personal profiles with portability" including:

- A wide range of flexibility
- Portability
- Graceful transformation without loss of information

Theofanos, M. F. and Redish, J. C., 2005, Helping Low-vision and Other
Users with Web Sites That Meet Their Needs: Is One Site for All Feasible?,
Technical Communication, 52 (1), February, 9-20.

Abstract:
For this study, we recruited low-vision users with a variety of vision
problems who need software to magnify computer text. Although we did not
systematically recruit for specific vision problems, the fact that our
users had different needs gave us one of the most critical insights in this
study: The needs of low-vision users are too diverse for simple solutions
to Web accessibility and usability.

We show a few ways in which today's Web sites are missing the needs of all
low-vision users and provide guidelines for fixing those problems. However,
the diversity of vision needs and the resulting adaptations that low-vision
users require mean that there are no simple solutions to making Web sites
work for everyone. In this article, therefore, you will not find many
simple guidelines. Instead, we raise a critical issue and suggest a "vision
of the future" solution.

Link to the article on Ingenta Connect.
http://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/stc/tc/2005/00000052/00000001/art00002


Their article on designing for screen reader users was published in ACM's
interactions, and is available on Ginny's site:
http://redish.net/articles-a-slides

Theofanos, M. F. and Redish, J. C., 2003, Guidelines for accessible and
usable web sites: Observing users who work with screen readers,
Interactions, X (6), November-December, 38-51.



On Mon, Apr 14, 2014 at 7:50 PM, Monique Brunel < <EMAIL REMOVED> >wrote:

> Le 14/04/2014 23:35, Iaffaldano, Michelangelo a écrit :
>
> WCAG are explicit about insufficient brightness and colour contrast
>> between text and background. But is there such a thing as too much
>> contrast? I've read a bit about scotopic sensitivity syndrome in relation
>> to dyslexia. I have also recently heard that black text on white is not
>> ideal for people with astigmatism (although I am one and have not noticed
>> this effect).
>>
>> I avoid pure black text on white in my designs but that's mostly out of
>> personal taste, since I don't have any solid data to back the point. Do you
>> good people have any user testing data or other direct experience in
>> support of (or against) this idea?
>>
>> Michelangelo Iaffaldano
>>
>
> Hi,
>
> Sorry, writing in English is difficult for me, but I'll try.
>
> I spoke several times about this problem in conferences, however I have
> not found many resources...
> I have shown that the strict compliance with WCAG about contrast does not
> produce an accessible site for some people, such as dyslexic.
>
> I'm dyslexic, with scotopic sensitivity syndrome.
> For me white letters on black background appear twinkle, and the words
> seem to move ... I am unable to read (except for some words in large font,
> as a short title)
>
> Best regards,
> Monique
>
> --
> Monique Brunel
> Accessibilité et qualité des sites Web | Mozilla Rep
> Conférences - Ateliers - Conseil | Tél. +32(0)473 25 81 94
> | http://blog.webatou.info | http://aliaz.com/monique-brunel |
> | www.opquast.com | www.openweb.eu.org | www.mozilla-belgium.org |
>
> > > >