Accessible color analyzers: check. How about suggesting tools? (Full Version)

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skreyola -> Accessible color analyzers: check. How about suggesting tools? (7/3/2008 12:47:52 PM)

Many Web sites tell us we need to use colors with good contrast and avoid colors that are difficult to see when people have impaired vision. However, all of the tools that I've found will check if two colors you supply are good together. None of the tools I've found will suggest (or list all) colors that meet that criteria. I'm forced to just hunt around trying color after color until I find one (if I do) that meets the accessibility requirements, or else I'm left to just pick a second color that meets either the contrast or brightness (usually just brightness) and ignore the other.

I would greatly appreciate if someone would point me to a tool that will list all the (at least the Web smart (or even just the Web safe)) colors that are good for foreground/background of one color code I specify... or if someone would be willing to write a tool that does this? I've found the algorithm, so I can supply that, if required.

Please help!



wmmkiv -> RE: Accessible color analyzers: check. How about suggesting tools? (7/7/2008 9:21:19 PM)

Are you coding for 508 compliance? This is the goverment standard for technology accessibility.

Here's the page about color usage:

http://www.section508.gov/IRSCourse/mod02/021301--.html



skreyola -> RE: Accessible color analyzers: check. How about suggesting tools? (7/7/2008 10:31:38 PM)

quote:

ORIGINAL: wmmkiv

Are you coding for 508 compliance? This is the goverment standard for technology accessibility.

Here's the page about color usage:

http://www.section508.gov/IRSCourse/mod02/021301--.html

No, I'm not. I'm hoping to stay as far from government compliance things as possible. Mandatory standards can become a pain. Voluntary is better. I'm just trying to be nice to people with visual impairments in my Web designing.
All the pages out there, though, seem to be focused on telling us what we need to do without giving us any real help on doing it.
In the end, I ended up writing my own CGI application that suggests colors that meet the accessibility (W3C, I think?) algorithms for contrast and difference in brightness.
I'm quite willing to give the source code to anyone who wants to host it (or use it on their local machine), and I'll be glad to give whoever hosts it first a plug on my Web site and wherever else I talk about color tools, because I don't have the resources to host it myself.
I actually ended up writing two applications. One suggests colors based on an input color, and the other creates a huge chart of WebSafe colors and which ones match up as far as being accessible.
If anyone is interested in this, send me a PM.



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