Special Concerns

There are two issues to bring to your attention regarding color. The first is contrast and readability; the second is the use of unsafe colors.

Contrast and Readability

Contrast is a necessary element when designing with color. Simply defined, contrast is two colors that are different enough from one another to provide an obvious separation to the eye. Contrast is necessary to produce readable sites.

Many of you have undoubtedly visited sites where the background and body text have been very difficult to read. In most cases, the problem is because of poor contrast. A black on a light red isn't going to have enough contrast to be readable, as you can try to see in Figure 43.4. However, black on white is going to be very readable (see Figure 43.5).

Figure 43.4. Not enough contrast creates readability problems.

graphics/43fig04.jpg

Figure 43.5. Black on white is high contrast, so it's easy to read.

graphics/43fig05.jpg

TIP

Accessibility experts have found that for visually impaired individuals, severe contrasts (such as black and white) are the best for readability in low vision circumstances. If you know that your audience is made up of a lot of older individuals or visually impaired persons, it's wise to plan ahead and ensure that your contrast colors are as solid as possible: black on white for body text is a surefire way to go.


Another approach is to reverse this concept, placing light colors on dark colors. This is known as reverse type, and, if the contrast is good enough, it can be quite effective. Bottom line? Be sure that your content is readable on your background to ensure that people are able to get to the information you're delivering.

Usually, body text should be darker than the background dark enough so that significant contrast is created, enabling maximum readability.

Unsafe Color

Using unsafe color is risky, and it's not recommended. However, sometimes unsafe color can be used. Here's a helpful set of guidelines:

  • When you know your audience. And I mean know them! One situation in which you might know them well would be a corporate intranet.

  • If you're less certain about your audience, but still interested in using unsafe color, test the colors for dithering at lower resolutions.

To test colors, drop your monitor down to 256 colors when viewing your page. If the color appears differently from what you originally determined, you probably should revert to a safe color. You will also want to be very thorough, testing your pages on a variety of browsers, platforms, and computer systems.



Special Edition Using Microsoft Office FrontPage 2003
Special Edition Using Microsoft Office FrontPage 2003
ISBN: 0789729547
EAN: 2147483647
Year: 2003
Pages: 443

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