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| <TITLE>Accessibility and usability problems for users with low vision</TITLE> | |
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| <H1>Accessibility and usability problems for users with low vision</H1> | |
| <P> | |
| Use the Low Vision View to simulate weak eyesight, color vision deficiencies, cataracts, and their arbitrary combinations. | |
| This simulation helps see how users with low vision experience a webpage. | |
| The first four sections that follow describe the low-vision-related problems that ACTF can detect and how to address these problems. | |
| (Problems are listed in the Problem pane. Clicking on the line that describes a problem highlights the corresponding element.) | |
| The final section describes the severity values of the problems appearing in the Line View pane of the low vision mode. | |
| </P> | |
| <H2>Fixed-size font problems</H2> | |
| <P> | |
| Text with fixed-size fonts that cannot be enlarged by browser options presents a problem for those with vision problems. | |
| This problem occurs when a webpage uses a fixed size value, such as "8pt" or "5mm," as a font size. | |
| This problem can be addressed by using absolute-size keywords (for example, "large"), relative-size keywords (for example, "larger"), or percentage values as font sizes. | |
| (For information on how to set font sizes, see <A href="http://www.w3.org/TR/CSS21/fonts.html#font-size-props">15.7 Font size: The 'font-size' property</A>.) | |
| Another solution is to provide a menu option that allows readers to select their own font sizes. | |
| </P> | |
| <H2>Small character problems</H2> | |
| <P> | |
| For some people with weak eyesight, some characters may be too small to read even when browser options permit them to use the largest font size available. | |
| When that happens, the reader needs additional assistive technologies. | |
| Small characters should not be used for layout purposes. | |
| </P> | |
| <H2>Text color problems</H2> | |
| <P> | |
| People with color vision deficiencies and cataracts can see colors, but they perceive them differently than people with normal vision. | |
| People with color vision deficiencies may have difficulties in reading texts even if their foreground and background colors are different. | |
| Such problems can be addressed by choosing sharply contrasting colors for the foreground and background. | |
| </P> | |
| <H2>Image color problems</H2> | |
| <P> | |
| People with color vision deficiencies and cataracts can see colors, but they perceive them differently than people with normal vision. | |
| If color alone conveys certain information, people with color vision deficiencies and cataracts will not perceive the information. | |
| Any information conveyed with color must be available without colors. | |
| For example, in a line graph, not only colors but also types of lines, such as solid, dotted and wavy lines, should be used to distinguish among the quantities of different items. | |
| </P> | |
| <H2>Severity values</H2> | |
| <P> | |
| Each problem in the low vision mode has its own severity value, which indicates the seriousness of the problem and is rated on a scale that ranges from 0 to 100. | |
| The higher the value, the more serious the problem. | |
| </P> | |
| <P> | |
| The severity values of font-related problems (fixed-size font problems or small character problems) are 25. | |
| If an element has both a fixed-size font problem and a small character problem, these problems are combined and shown in one line in the Line View pane. | |
| In this case, the severity value becomes 50. | |
| </P> | |
| <P> | |
| The severity values of color-related problem are evaluated using the <A href="http://www.w3.org/TR/AERT#color-contrast">algorithm described in "Techniques For Accessibility Evaluation And Repair Tools"</A> issued by the World Wide Web Consortium. | |
| For example, if a page includes two colors, R<SUB>1</SUB>, G<SUB>1</SUB>, B<SUB>1</SUB> and R<SUB>2</SUB>, G<SUB>2</SUB>, B<SUB>2</SUB>, where each of the RGB values ranges from 0 to 255, then two types of difference values, the brightness difference and the hue difference between the two colors are calculated as follows: | |
| <PRE> | |
| The brightness difference = |(299R<SUB>1</SUB> + 587G<SUB>1</SUB> + 114B<SUB>1</SUB>)/1000 - (299R<SUB>2</SUB> + 587G<SUB>2</SUB> + 114B<SUB>2</SUB>)/1000|<BR> | |
| The hue difference = |R<SUB>1</SUB>-R<SUB>2</SUB>| + |G<SUB>1</SUB>-G<SUB>2</SUB>| + |B<SUB>1</SUB>-B<SUB>2</SUB>| | |
| </PRE> | |
| The threshold values are set to 125 and 500 for the brightness difference and the hue difference, respectively. | |
| If at least one of the difference values is greater than or equal to its corresponding threshold value, the two colors are judged to be different enough to provide good color visibility. | |
| Otherwise, the severity values for both brightness and hue are computed as follows: | |
| <OL> | |
| <LI>If a difference value is equal to its corresponding threshold value, the severity value is 0. | |
| <LI>If the difference value is equal to 0, the severity value is 100. | |
| <LI>If the difference value is intermediate between the threshold value and 0, the severity value is the corresponding fraction between 0 and 100. | |
| </OL> | |
| The smaller of the two severity values (for brightness and hue) becomes the severity value of the problem. | |
| </P> | |
| <P> | |
| The severity values depend on the parameters you set. | |
| For a text element, ACTF tests its foreground and background colors in the Simulation View. | |
| For an image, ACTF tests colors of every combination of large connected components in the simulated image whose colors provide good color visibility in the original image. | |
| </P> | |
| <P> | |
| The overall rating of a webpage is based on the total of the severity values of all of the problems detected in the page. | |
| </P> | |
| <H1 class="related">Related topics</H1> | |
| <UL class="related"> | |
| <LI><A href="checkLv.html">Checking the accessibility and usability of a document in the Low Vision View</A> | |
| <LI><A href="problemsBlind.html">Accessibility and usability problems for blind users</A> | |
| <LI><A href="compliance.html">Compliance and accessibility guidelines for Web content</A> | |
| </UL> | |
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