Re: GNOME High Contrast Icon Theme

[Joanmarie Diggs <joanied gnome org>]

Hi Meg.

Thanks so much for sharing these!

Figure 3 is a *perfect* example of the sorts of problems I have with our
"traditional" high-contrast stuff, and why I personally prefer keeping
some color: What is the horizontal white stripe that extends on either
side of the clock face? Is it a watch band which runs on top of three
black vertical pieces, or is it background/empty space separating the
three top black pieces from the bottom three? I genuinely don't know.
Figure-ground and me, we've never gotten along well.... <shrugs and
smiles>

Regarding the bottom images, I will echo what Peter said in his
response, namely I think it would be preferable to keep the foreground
objects as drawn in figure 5, but adding color as shown in Figures 6 and
7. Though for figure 6, I'd reverse the yellow and red. The light yellow
blends into white background.

The other thing I'm wondering, is: If these are notification-sized
icons, they are going to be considerably smaller than your samples.
Adding the color to the stars makes them easier to see and process
(imho) than the purely-black-and-white version. However, if the icon is
that small, you really have to be looking in order to notice the star in
the first place. So I'm wondering if there's some sort of balance
between your first row of figures and your second, one which preserves
all the neat aspects of each.

<thinking outloud>

What if, for an appointment, you took the clock from figure 4 and:

* Altered the image just enough so that it was clearly an alarm clock
  (using that shape change instead of the star)

* Altered the colors so that they preserve the contrast while at the
  same being noticeably different for users with color vision (e.g.
  clock circle and hands navy; clock face yellow)

Mind you, I'm not saying that is what you should do. It's merely a
thought for your consideration.

Take care, and thanks again for your interest and work on this!
--joanie

On Tue, 2011-07-05 at 10:13 -0500, meg ford wrote:
> Hello,
> 
> I am writing to ask for feedback on the GNOME High Contrast (A11y)
> Icon Theme. I am a Women's Outreach Intern this summer, and I am
> working to complete the theme for users with low vision. The main
> question I have is this:
> 
> Many of the icons in the standard theme use a large picture (such as a
> clock for "appointment") in conjunction with a smaller detail to
> indicate status or action (such as an emblem which indicates "new").
> When these are combined in High Contrast, the icon is sometimes
> unclear. 
> 
> I am wondering if users would prefer to have the main icon change (see
> Figures 1 through 3, HERE). I have given two drafts of a new icon
> (Figures 2 and 3) for "emblem-urgent" (figure 1), which was originally
> a red clock. 
> 
> The other approach might be to use an accessibility color wheel to
> identify which colors provide good contrast for viewers, and to use
> color to increase the clarity of the icon details (see Figures 4
> through 7, HERE   ). Icons 4 and 5 are examples of icons which follow
> the current rules which are used in High Contrast, whereas I have
> added color to icons 6 and 7, with the hope that the color will
> increase the visibility of the details. 
> 
> Joseph Scheuhammer has agreed to show these drafts to the Occupational
> Therapist who works on site with him. I am also hoping that other low
> vision users and/ or developers  in the GNOME community will be
> willing to give feedback about what type of solution would be best. 
> 
> If anyone has difficulty viewing the PDF that I have given links to,
> please let me know, and I will send the file.
> 
> Thank you very much for your time and attention.
> 
> Sincerely,
> Meg Ford
> OPW Intern, Summer 2011
> _______________________________________________
> gnome-accessibility-list mailing list
> gnome-accessibility-list gnome org
> http://mail.gnome.org/mailman/listinfo/gnome-accessibility-list