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Suggestion: Native high contrast theme


joomlajon

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Hello,

In the name of usability I belieive that a native hight contrast theme would gain you cred. as a software company.

It will, i believe, also by its existence perhaps enlighten one or two web admins that there are more to it then just how you self perceive the world. But most of all, I don't believe there are many out there who will put time into it, even if it is as simple to use the theme-maker-thingamajig. But if included it could be easily made availble, hence make the web more usable for more people.

/Jon

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Hello,



In the name of usability I belieive that a native hight contrast theme would gain you cred. as a software company.



It will, i believe, also by its existence perhaps enlighten one or two web admins that there are more to it then just how you self perceive the world. But most of all, I don't believe there are many out there who will put time into it, even if it is as simple to use the theme-maker-thingamajig. But if included it could be easily made availble, hence make the web more usable for more people.



/Jon



,,,High-Contrast...
Does that mean what I think.... eye-gouging and glaring?
Offensive to the Eye... Like the Pink ACP Menus on Blue(guh)?
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It is for the visually impaired, and most often som sort of inverted theme. You have it in windows, os x, iOS, android and so on. Many websites has this as an alternative as well. It is simple, the more that are able to read the more people can access the site. Not everyone want's to have everything read to them via screen readers, and crappy code most often mutulates that experience as well.

Images has the alt-tag for example, so that people who don't se images can make out the context anyway or people who have disabled image view in their system.

Usability?

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  • 1 year later...

First a bit of background. About 8 years ago I suffered a stroke of the optic nerve, leaving me legally bline. I include the word 'legally' because 95% of the population characterized as being legally blind have some "low vision" capability. In my case I am partially color blind, and have a restricted field of vision from one eye only. At arm's length I have about a 5" diameter area that is 20/40, but it is also heavily grayed. Everything else is completely grayed out - I can sense that light is present, but there is no detail at all.. To be able to read anything I need high contrast. For example, I can not read a newspaper as there isn't enough contrast between the ink and the low brightness newsprint. My neuro-opthamologist says that my optic nerve is passing less than 1/4 of the signals from the rods and cones in the eye back through the optic nerve to the back of the brain where vision is processed. So think of a digital camera with only 1/4 of its pixels working. The rest is 'gray'.

I am able to make use of a computer if the display has high contrast. Unfortunately it has become fashionable for many applications and sites to go with low contrast. For example, many of Adobe's products make use of what I think is gray or 'silver' on a black background for menus or workspace. This is absolutely useless to me. The AERO themes in Windows (introduced in Vista and continuing in 7 and 8/8.1) and the themes in iOS 7 etc. are equally useless.

A IPB forum that I frequent has a choice of about a dozen user-selectable skins. None of the selections provide high contrast. To get an idea as to what I need, take a look at this image at the University of Michigan's site. I can read the two columns n the left, but either have a hard time or can't see at all what is in the two columns on the right (ven though I know what to look for.)


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I don't know how many color combinations a typical IPB skin requires. My guess is that they typically make use of various hues of the same basic color. Subtle changes in hue are indistinguishable.

So I am asking that someone create a skin that makes use of high-contrast combinations. When I did a search earlier I found a thread where someone referred to high-contrast as being garish. That may be, but it is of necessity. The owner of the site I frequent suggested that I look here - I've scrolled through many of the skins and have yet to find one suitable. I am more than willing to give up form and fashion for content.

So how about it - is there anyone out there willing and able to put together a useable high-contrast skin for a community that really needs it?

Feel free to PM me if you have any questions or comments.

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Thanks for the feedback NKTower. We'll be trying to ensure our default theme passes the WebAIM contrast checker with at least "AA" rating in IPS 4.0. Of course, a higher-contrast theme is also a good opportunity for our community of theme designers.

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