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Stylesheets for visually impaired visitors

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krismarissens New member Joined: 15 Sep 2006 Posts: 43 Location: Belgium Status: Offline	Posted: Fri Aug 01, 2008 09:39 I was wondering what you guys think makes for a good stylesheet for visitors with impaired vision while still keeping it as attracting as possible? Do you know where to find some good examples? And... Do you think it's worth offering considering they most likely have a custom stylesheet installed? I can't imagine they're not at all sensitive about design because of their disability... Thanks, Kris

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tzmedia Site Moderator Joined: 22 Jun 2006 Posts: 1112 Location: Mars Status: Offline	Posted: Fri Aug 01, 2008 15:23 For a gentleman I work with he has told me that what works best for him are light on dark designs. He can see the light text on the dark background better than the other way around. Would you use a style switcher? I don't think they necessarily would have a custom stylesheet installed, if there are such things, I should find some for my friend.

krismarissens New member Joined: 15 Sep 2006 Posts: 43 Location: Belgium Status: Offline	Posted: Fri Aug 01, 2008 15:30 I was considering doing this for an online newspaper (if I get to work on the project). Posted this already here to ask if the general l&f seems ok. The post contains a link to a page with thumbnails, the last thumb leads (or shows below the thumbs) a possible optimized version for easier reading, and i'm wondering if it works at all. (I'm even liking that design apart from the intention now... but that is not important at all)

tzmedia Site Moderator Joined: 22 Jun 2006 Posts: 1112 Location: Mars Status: Offline	Posted: Fri Aug 01, 2008 15:49 Yeah I see you have a high-contrast layout as well as text resizing. One thing to watch about text resizing, I've used a jQuery one, forgetting the name now, but it switches the stylesheet, and pretty much remembers the readers choice. A text resize option that needs to be clicked on every page, is not doing the user any favors at all. Just fyi, dynamicDrive has one that needs to be clicked and made large every time the user loads a page. that would annoy readers in just a little bit. Looks like you are going down the right road already to me. :)

krismarissens New member Joined: 15 Sep 2006 Posts: 43 Location: Belgium Status: Offline	Posted: Fri Aug 01, 2008 15:52 Thanks. Also found a rather interesting reply from Bill over at DT... and - edit: in general - I tend to agree with the last part where he says he doesn't like to add features that in fact already are provided by the browser. Last edited by krismarissens on Fri Aug 01, 2008 15:58; edited 1 time in total

tzmedia Site Moderator Joined: 22 Jun 2006 Posts: 1112 Location: Mars Status: Offline	Posted: Fri Aug 01, 2008 15:56 Right, you can try talking them out of it, but if they have it in mind, and it's money in your pocket, there are smart ways and dumb ways, my point. There nothing dumb about money in the pocket if it goes that way, and they are set on it, for publications like newspapers some people maybe do expect to see it there, if it works and is persistant the usability goes a lot further. Oh you mean that Bill, yes never argue w/Bill you'll come out on the short end.

krismarissens New member Joined: 15 Sep 2006 Posts: 43 Location: Belgium Status: Offline	Posted: Fri Aug 01, 2008 21:54 Thanks for the warning ;) Have a nice weekend... Kris

dgmascarina New member Joined: 03 Aug 2008 Posts: 2 Location: Los Angeles, CA Status: Offline	Posted: Sun Aug 03, 2008 09:23 Best to check your layout using Color-contrast analyzer tool. Firefox has a built in one https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/7313. No need to create a black and white web site, as long as your web site has passing color contrast, you'll be in good shape.

Kiran New member Joined: 18 Jun 2008 Posts: 45 Status: Offline	Posted: Tue Aug 05, 2008 16:30 Check out Operat, they have a number of pre-made Style sheets that you can choose from.

taljit New member Joined: 12 Jun 2008 Posts: 34 Status: Offline	Posted: Tue Aug 05, 2008 16:31 I've always favoured the zoom layouts as an option for vision impaired users. You can access the information on zoom layouts here; http://joeclark.org/access/webaccess/zoom/ And here; http://stopdesign.com/log/2005/06/24/zoom-layout.html http://stopdesign.com/log/2005/06/24/zoom-layout.html?style=zoom

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