"The color blindness is the inability to perceive differences between some or all colors that other people can distinguish. According to the medical studies, eight to ten percent of male population suffers from some kind of color blindness (figure for female population is much lower). What does it mean to the average Swing developer? Well, if you rely too much on color differences, you may be not conveying the information as well as you thought. Now you can run your application in debug UI mode and have a live preview of your UI as viewed by the color-blind population."
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Member since:2005-07-08
I have been using the Vischeck plugin
Oh, THANK YOU! Their example page is something I've been looking for. I have red/green color blindness and whenever people find out about it, I'm always bombarded with questions about "What color is this?" and "What's this look like to you?" That page is a good illustration of the way the world looks to me.
I really see no difference between the "normal" and the deuteranopia examples (except for the hats). I will have to bookmark that page for the next time someone asks.
Member since:2005-07-24
So nice to see a few "color blind" people "coming out" here.
In the US, there are likely 7 million people affected.
That's a lot of people.
Worldwide, that would be more like 500 Million.
At my office, (I've worked for a very small company for 18+ years.) we've had exactly 1 guy who confided in me. He asked about the color of the wires we were getting ready to crimp.
He also asked that I not tell anyone that he was color blind.
I happen to be gay.
No biggie, there. It's just a fact of life. Another fact of life for me is that I like solitude, and living alone is something I've come to like. Other people are out looking for a mate. I just like being alone. So I'm a gay guy who likes to keep to himself and study Ruby On Rails. ;-)
OK. So that's getting horribly off-topic. Except it's not.
The squeaking wheel gets the grease. And you guys seem rarely to squeak. I rarely squeak. I should squeak more.
I had a client, a few years ago, come to me with a "great idea". We're going to do all this UI thing with color because that's one thing that everyone understands.
I hated it. Not only was it a stupid idea. But I knew how it would affect a significant number of people who don't seem to like to squeak.
So on these articles about user interfaces:
Start Squeaking, People!
It's your interface as much as anyone else's. And the people who are stomping on you honestly don't know they are doing it. And they *can't* unless you tell them.
I truly hope that I have not offended anyone here.
But, by God, you have to let yourself be known or nobody will know you are there!
"Sources have described iOS 7 as 'black, white, and flat all over'. This refers to the dropping of heavy textures and the addition of several new black and white user interface elements." I couldn't be happier.
"Ilja van Sprundel, a security researcher with IOActive, has discovered a large number of issues in the way various X client libraries handle the responses they receive from servers, and has worked with X.Org's security team to analyze, confirm, and fix these issues."
"Google is facing a new antitrust probe by the U.S. Federal Trade Commission into whether the company is using its leadership in the online display-advertising market to illegally curb competition, people familiar with the matter said." Sucks to be Google today, apparently.
"In the midst of the major press blitz surrounding its annual I/O Conference, Google dropped some unfortunate news about its instant messaging plans. In several places around the web, the company is replacing the existing 'Talk' platform with a new one called 'Hangouts' that sharply diminishes support for the open messaging protocol known as XMPP (or sometimes informally Jabber), and also removes the option to disable the archiving of all chat communications. These changes represent a switch from open protocols to proprietary ones, and a clear step backward for many users." That's why I always say: only suckers trust companies.
"The wave of departures is a sign of internal struggle, but amidst all the bad news, there is a glimmer of hope. According to an anonymous HTC executive cited by WSJ, the crucial HTC One is selling 'pretty good so far'. The executive revealed that HTC sold about five million One units since launch, a performance that is deemed encouraging. However, sales have been limited by the persisting supply issues that still plague the production of the HTC One." Finally some good news for HTC. Five million units amidst supply constraints is very impressive.
"Sony gave the PS4 50% more raw shader performance, plain and simple (768 SPs @ 800MHz vs. 1152 SPs & 800MHz). Unlike last generation, you don't need to be some sort of Jedi to extract the PS4's potential here. The Xbox One and PS4 architectures are quite similar, Sony just has more hardware under the hood. Weâll have to wait and see how this hardware delta gets exposed in games over time, but the gap is definitely there. The funny thing about game consoles is that itâs usually the lowest common denominator that determines the bulk of the experience across all platforms. On the plus side, the Xbox One should enjoy better power/thermal characteristics compared to the PlayStation 4. Even compared to the Xbox 360 we should see improvement in many use cases thanks to modern power management techniques." AnandTech does its usual in-depth thing."The Verge has learned that HTC's Chief Product Officer, Kouji Kodera, left the company last week. Kodera was responsible for HTC's overall product strategy, which makes the departure especially notable on the heels of the global launch of the make-or-break One. It's not just Kodera. In the past three-odd months, HTC has lost a number of employees in rapid succession." I really hope HTC pulls it together.
"It is with huge pleasure that the Debian GNU/Hurd team announces the release of Debian GNU/Hurd 2013. This is a snapshot of Debian 'sid' at the time of the Debian 'wheezy' release (May 2013), so it is mostly based on the same sources. It is not an official Debian release, but it is an official Debian GNU/Hurd port release." Important note: 75% of Debian packages are supported bu Debian GNU/Hurd. Impressive.
"The first killer app was VisiCalc. This early spreadsheet turned the Apple II from a hobbyist toy to a business computer. VisiCalc came with room for improvement, though. In addition, a new architecture and operating system, the Intel-based IBM PC and MS-DOS, also needed a spreadsheet to be taken seriously. That spreadsheet, released in early 1983, would be Lotus 1-2-3, and it would change the world. It became the PC's killer app, and the world would never be the same. On May 14, IBM quietly announced the end of the road for 1-2-3, along with Lotus Organizer and the Lotus SmartSuite office suite. Lotus 1-2-3's day is done." Impressive 30 year run."There's a disconnect between how Apple CEO Tim Cook sees his company's tax strategies and how some members of the US Senate view it. That became clearer than ever today after Cook and two other Apple executives testified before Congress, explaining why they're holding most of their international income in Irish subsidiaries like Apple Operations International, which declare no tax residency anywhere in the world. AOI hasn't filed a tax return anywhere in the world for the last five years, yet it earned $30 billion in income from 2009 to 2012, according to a Senate report released yesterday." Just because something is legal, doesn't mean it's just. Apple, Google, Microsoft, and many more - these companies might not be breaking any laws, but it's obvious to anyone that what they are doing is scummy.
Member since:
2006-02-15
I have been using the Vischeck plugin (http://www.vischeck.com/) for quite a while to check web page design (and other screenshots) to make sure colorblind visitors can access and navigate the site without issue. The Web Accessibility Initative (http://www.w3.org/WAI/) provides additional consideration for accessible interfaces -- even though it is targeted for websites, it is also applicable for other computer interfaces as well.