On mobile, this site has a “toggle high contrast” widget on the left side that seems to directly contravene the points made in the article.
Never Use White Text on Black: Astygmatism and Conference Slides (2017)
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Re: Never Use White Text on Black: Astygmatism and Conference Slides (2017)
#12On mobile, this site has a “toggle high contrast” widget on the left side that seems to directly contravene the points made in the article.
Not just mobile — it's on desktop too. I also saw this toggle and thought it a little ironic. OTOH, this is an opt-in feature that a reader can activate, as opposed to a presentation that must be absorbed by everyone in the audience as-is.
Re: Never Use White Text on Black: Astygmatism and Conference Slides (2017)
#13Speaking from my own disability I'd say I'd much prefer if people used white on dark text over any use of light background. But this is because my own issue is with photosensitivity which affects a large number of low vision users. In fact I often create white on black content because it is easy for me to author and read. I also have significant color blindness and am totally unsure which color combinations are hard…
Maybe you find this browser extension useful: https://darkreader.org/
Dark Reader in dark mode with the contrast turned down has saved me from soo many migraines <3
Re: Never Use White Text on Black: Astygmatism and Conference Slides (2017)
#14What’s the alternative? Hopefully not black text on white slides. That’s terrible for me and others.
For me, I find that a very dark gray background with a light gray text color is best. I like dark themes, but I get "ghosting" if the contrast is too great.
Re: Never Use White Text on Black: Astygmatism and Conference Slides (2017)
#15I work in accessibility and see lots of posts like this one — cautioning the reader from every doing X because it creates accessibility problems for me.
It may be possible to follow most/all such advice when building an app or website, but surely it is not possible for presentations (which have to be consumed in the same format by everyone present). Some may hate dark text on a light background; others may find that the only suitable format.[1] So when I read posts like these, I don't view them as imperatives ("never do X") but rather as data points to be factored into decision-making processes.
This is easiest when the post explains the problem and gives various alternatives and explains why they provide a better experience. When they just leave it at "never do X", I'm left wondering whether Y is better than Z or vice-versa. I wish the author had given more context about why this is bad for astigmatism, or what sorts of things are better than others (in terms of ranking alternatives).
1: I hear from people who say that the only decent color scheme for BeeLine Reader (my text accessibility startup) is bright red and bright blue. But other people tell me that color scheme is terrible and shouldn't be the default on my website because it is so bad. You literally cannot please all of the people all of the time! [edited]
Re: Never Use White Text on Black: Astygmatism and Conference Slides (2017)
#16I didn't think this was a problem as I assumed most people with astigmatism (myself included) wear corrective lenses or glasses.
Cylindrical correction in contact lenses tends to be both more expensive and not as good as glasses, so contact lens wearers with astigmatism may have this issue.
Re: Never Use White Text on Black: Astygmatism and Conference Slides (2017)
#17I didn't think this was a problem as I assumed most people with astigmatism (myself included) wear corrective lenses or glasses.
Cylindrical correction in contact lenses tends to be both more expensive and not as good as glasses, so contact lens wearers with astigmatism may have this issue.
If the problem is that severe, get over your vanity and get a good pair of specs
Re: Never Use White Text on Black: Astygmatism and Conference Slides (2017)
#18Perhaps building an app that synchronizes conference slides to a phone and allows users to customize the contrast/appearance of the slides would help in this case?
Re: Never Use White Text on Black: Astygmatism and Conference Slides (2017)
#19I really don't get it... I have severe astygmatism (which caused amblyopia in infancy) among other visual defects. My glasses do the best they can but my corrected vision still has a lot of visual defects. My poor vision causes me trouble with a lot of day-to-day things, but white text on black background is not one of them. I experimented without my glasses and I still don't have a preference for black-on-white over white-on-black - they are equal.
Not really a fan of the ranty style without a solution.
On top of that, like another commentor mentioned, people with astygmatism typically wear glasses or contacts?
Re: Never Use White Text on Black: Astygmatism and Conference Slides (2017)
#20White text on black is my second favorite. Only thing better is green text on black.
The reason is very simple: There's less light coming from the screen into my eye.
Every monitor I've ever owned I reduce the brightness to the lowest setting possible, and they are still too bright.
Green is best because the high resolution parts of your eye only see green. So the blue and red components of white are just unnecessary extra light.