Not Everyone is the Same

18 Jan 2011 Leave a Comment

by jilliansavage in College Related

The web is a vast place, it houses so much information that helps people function as they haven’t before. Health care sites give medical information, banks use it to keep your account accessible and clothing companies allow you to purchase things online. And that is just the tip of the iceberg. Yet people who do not have a handicap rarely ponder how those who do access the internet. Colorblindness for example is not a horribly debilitating problem. However, a website has the ability to overlook such issues and make the user experience extremely complicated.

There are actually a few different kinds of colorblindness, not just monochromasy which is seeing only blacks, grays and whites. The types could be, protanopia, deutanopia, tritanopia, or deutanomaly just to name a few. Some are the absence of red cones, others are missing the green cones. Some have simple low one functioning cones.

So what if you have a website that relies heavily on shades of blue and a colorblind person happens upon your page. Or if you have a page with light font and a slightly darker backdrop? Depending on the level of colorblindness the person may not be able to properly make out the information presented. Good web design is taking into consideration all levels of user handicaps and striving to accommodate everyone equally.

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