D7424: Very slightly increase text contrast for the default Breeze color scheme

Nathaniel Graham noreply at phabricator.kde.org
Fri Oct 20 15:10:00 UTC 2017


ngraham added a comment.


  In https://phabricator.kde.org/D7424#157398, @progwolff wrote:
  
  > The W3C recommendation you referenced has an online tool to check specific colors: http://juicystudio.com/services/luminositycontrastratio.php#specify
  >
  > Current breeze colors give
  >
  > > Passed at Level AAA: The luminosity contrast ratio is very good for the chosen colours (#fcfcfc and #31363b).
  
  
  To be fair, black and white do too:
  
  > Passed at Level AAA: The luminosity contrast ratio is very good for the chosen colours (#fff and #000).
  
  
  
  In https://phabricator.kde.org/D7424#157398, @progwolff wrote:
  
  > There are also studies that warn against using too high contrast in text. For example https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Ricardo_Baeza-Yates/publication/239761586_Layout_guidelines_for_web_text_and_a_web_service_to_improve_accessibility_for_dyslexics/links/02e7e53313bbc5c9bc000000.pdf
  
  
  That paper is about people with Dyslexia. Certainly something to be aware of, but not exactly a universally-applicable observation.
  
  I am sure we can play the dueling studies game till the cows come home, what with the volume of scholarship out there. In the end, this has to be a simple judgment call, based on aesthetics and which groups we're willing to saddle with slightly less usability. It seems like those preferring the lower-contrast text are the young, those with good eyesight, and possibly Dyslexics. Those who prefer higher contrast text are the older, or those with poorer eyesight.
  
  The nice thing about Plasma is that this is all so easily changeable, so there's less pressure, but I still think an update to the defaults makes sense so we don't leave older people and those with worse eyesight out in the cold. Perhaps a less extreme change might make sense--a compromise midway between the status quo and my proposed change? How about this:
  
  - Where there's a solid white background, use dark-gray-but-not-quite-black text
  - Where there's a gray background, do use solid black text
  
  That way we have better contrast, but we never have the total starkness of black text on a white background.

REPOSITORY
  R31 Breeze

REVISION DETAIL
  https://phabricator.kde.org/D7424

To: ngraham, hpereiradacosta, jensreuterberg, jriddell, kvermette, #vdg
Cc: progwolff, broulik, sebas, plasma-devel, ZrenBot, lesliezhai, ali-mohamed, jensreuterberg, abetts, apol, mart
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