So
what's this about psychology? It simply implies that by understanding
the capabilities of the human eye, we can produce Website designs that
are more user-friendly. Being user-friendly means that our website
design will not only cater for normal sighted Internet users but also
to those partially sighted, blind or estimated 8-10% of men with
red-green colour blindness.
If you don't know anything about
vision and colorblindness and their reaction to various designs, then
you must start learning now! 'Normal' vision is subject to huge
variances. Even the size of elements will affect an individual user's
perception of colour. The colours and the intensity of shades you
choose to use in your Website design will be discerned differently by
every individual who visits your Website.
Inconsistencies in
color patterns are affected by changes in the ambient lighting levels.
It's like changes in your hair color depending on the amount of
lighting it was exposed. Some people even see blue colors in some
objects like clothing wherein others do not perceive. These persons
just happen to have more blue sensitive cones (photosensitive cells
which convert light energy into nerve impulses) in their retina. They
seem to view the world with 'blue-tinted spectacles'. As a web
desinger, you have to be aware that these conditions are the reasons
why your perception of your Web design may be different to other people
and certainly are not the same with everyone else's.
The key
aspect to contemplate to achieve accessibility, aside from impaired
vision, is by being aware that your design might be manipulated by
assistive technology. Screen readers or magnifiers are examples of
this. They are software the physically disabled employ to enhance their
experience of user interfaces. Some Web users can only read a certain
combination such as yellow text on a black background, which allows no
room for greyscale.
In order to have good legibility for users
with certain visual difficulties and impairments, strong contrast can
be a main ingredient in your design. Test the effectivity of this by
manipulating screenshots of your design in a program like Adobe
Photoshop. Try converting the image to greyscale then make the
screenshot monochrome to see how it might be viewed using the most
extreme visual manipulation -- do this by increasing the contrast level
to +100. This is a particularly useful approximation of difficulties
colour blind users may experience in discerning one colour or shade
from another.
You can start adjusting your color application now
and keep in mind that your designs will not be considered impressive if
few people could discern them.
Lala C. Ballatan is a 26 year-old
Communication Arts graduate, with a major in Journalism. Right after
graduating last 1999, she worked for one year as a clerk then became a
Research, Publication and Documentation Program Director at a
non-government organization, which focuses on the rights, interests and
welfare of workers for about four years.
Book reading has always
been her greatest passion -- mysteries, horrors, psycho-thrillers,
historical documentaries and classics. She got hooked into it way back
when she was but a shy kid.
Her writing prowess began as early as
she was 10 years old in girlish diaries. With writing, she felt freedom
– to express her viewpoints and assert it, to bring out all concerns --
imagined and observed, to bear witness.