askbobm

Having been diagnosed with sudden color blindness at a late stage of life, I am very conscious of the fact that many sites seem to really be saying “…don’t stay on my site…”! It is a subject very close to my heart.

My color blindness is a fairly recent problem so I am still dealing with the what, why and how. Likely it’s due to being a diabetic and admittedly, it’s a scary proposition.

So many web sites these days are going for splash, zip and who knows what else. They are designing for their web masters egos not their visitors or readers experiences. While there are those to whom all this flash appeals, most of us just want the information we are searching for. We want it presented in an easy and readable format.

Here are three mistakes I see being made?

1. Many sites are going for very pale color pallets which are a real problem for
me. Everything just sort of ‘fades’ into every thing else.

2. There are sites using proven problem color pallets such as blue letters on a black background. This ‘technique’ has been around for a very long time – well before my diagnosis. While yellow or red letters on black seem to work somewhat better, I am still not a fan of these pallets. Some actually seem to hurt your eyes.

3. I recently received an email newsletter that had a blue background with blue letters. The letters simply faded into the background. Not really readable. Another had a blue background with gray letters – again, not easily viewable.

There may well be sites where all the flash and fizz is enjoyable, such as a movie site but even there it is not appealing to me.

I really and truly believe in black letters on a white background for dispensing the crucial information a web master wants me to know. Logos, headers, etc. aside. as I don’t pay much attention to those particular items.

Web masters need to realize these challenges exist. They should be consulting with folks to minimize them, if they choose to design with other than the usual color pallets. You also need to remember that there may be several types of color blindness your readers may be dealing with. Color vision deficiencies come in varying types and degrees.

On my sites I pretty much try to go for true black on white colors. If I can read something it should pretty much be readable by all.

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This article was prompted by an email exchange with my local library when they sent me an announcement. I had a rough time reading due to the colors used – blue letters on a black background. Article ideas can come from anywhere. This article reprinted by permission of the author.
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Here are some web sites that may provide you a few more insights into dealing with colors for sites that will be viewed by people with variying types of color blindness.

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb263953%28v=vs.85%29.aspx Can Color-Blind Users See Your Site?

http://science.howstuffworks.com/environmental/life/human-biology/colorblindness1.htm

http://colorvisiontesting.com/