Articles / Have you considered whether your website is readable by colourblind people ?

Have you considered whether your website is readable by colourblind people ?

Is your website accessible to as many people as you think? Have you thought of Colour blindness and Dyslexia when designing your website?

For the majority of the able bodied of us who have access to it through a simple internet browser it probably is, but what about those who are not? Is your site able to reach those who are hard of sight, have colour vision deficiency or are physically unable to use a computer without specialist software and equipment to access it?

It is important to check that all these aspects are checked before to ensure the maximum number of your customers will be able to access and view your website.
Under the Disability Discrimination Act companies are obliged to ensure that their websites meets accessibility guidlines.

On the website below you can check for 3 forms of colour-blindness:
www.vischeck.com/vischeck/

• Deuteranope (a form of red/green colour deficit)
• Protanope (another form of red/green colour deficit)
• Tritanope (a blue/yellow deficit- very rare)

There are more types of colour-blindness, but these tests will cover the most common types.

Colour-blindness is not a problem if the text on your web site is in black on a white background. But, if you mix text with colour on a coloured background, this can create a problem with your web site for many viewers.

It is more common to make mistakes if you mix the wrong colours on external images and banners that have text in one colour and the background in another, than to mix the wrong colour with raw text.

When considering the design of your website being the first site or a redesign of an existing site then ensure that the chosen designer will address these issues.

Submitted by: Mr Paul Ashburner
Trade Web Solutions Ltd
www.tradeweb.co.uk