Color Vision Impairment, Essay Example

CNN’s official website was accessed through Vischeck (Vischeck), a simulation website that lets users see how a particular website may appear to individuals with color vision impairments. Tritanope simulation was selected for the purpose of this exercise. Tritanope is a rare blue-yellow color deficiency.

CNN.com rates high on accessibility scale since all the written content appeared almost exactly as it would to a normal person. Even the pictures were clear though the absence of three colors, i.e. yellow, blue, and green was noticeable. Yellow appeared as light pink, green appeared as light blue, and blue appeared as greenish blue. There were few surprises as well since some pictures retained their original blue and green shades. The difference in colors was more noticeable in large and medium sized pictures. Most of the pictures to retain their original color were almost always small size pictures. All information was accessible since all font colors retained their original color in Vischeck simulation. One another noticeable difference was the absence of flash animation in the Vischeck simulation. The space on CNN website that hosts flash animation appeared blank in the Vischeck simulation though it seems a shortcoming of Vischeck.

Certain changes on the website go a long way to improve accessibility for the individuals with color vision impairment. One technique is to make light colors lighter and dark colors darker for enhanced contrast. The visibility is also improved if the colors differ greatly in their three attributes that are hue, lightness, and saturation (Arditi). Care should also be given to the selection of colors since some colors are a combination of colors such as green which is a mixture of blue and yellow and purple which is a mixture of blue and red.

References

Arditi, A. (n.d.). Effective Color Contrast. Retrieved February 1, 2011, from Lighthouse International: http://www.lighthouse.org/accessibility/design/accessible-print-design/effective-color-contrast

Vischeck. (n.d.). Try Vischeck on a Webpage. Retrieved February 1, 2011, from http://vischeck.com/vischeck/vischeckURL.php?origUrl=http://www.cnn.com&simUrl=uploads/129666524821748&sensorType=tritanope