Design walkthrough meeting on Thursday?

[Colin Clark]

Ian and Eli,

Good question, and good response.

On 8-Jun-08, at 12:17 PM, Eli Cochran wrote:

> However, I would still consider the colors "part of the design". If
> the colors were the *only* indicators or even the dominant indicators
> on the buttons, I would be concerned, but the buttons are clearly
> labeled. The use red and green simply reinforces the meaning of the
> buttons and helps separate them for visual targeting.


Eli's exactly right. Accessibility comes in layers: start with good  
semantic markup, add in clear labeling and terminology, and layer  
other cues such as colour on top. In cases where colour perception is  
an issue, you'll still have all the other layers to help guide the user.

Accessibility shouldn't be a limiting factor for including all kinds  
of helpful design features, visual or not. The key is to ensure you've  
got viable and useful alternatives in place for those who won't  
benefit from designs in a particular modality.

Colin

---
Colin Clark
Technical Lead, Fluid Project
Adaptive Technology Resource Centre, University of Toronto
http://fluidproject.org