Re: Colors On Web Pages

Hi Alex,
I'm going to advise you to use CSS. Especially use the class stuff. It will save you a ton of work in the long run and your pages will download much more efficiently. 

Jim
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----- Original Message ----- From: "Alex Parks" <mehgcap@xxxxxxx> 
To: <programmingblind@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Tuesday, October 30, 2007 9:12 PM
Subject: Re: Colors On Web Pages
Thanks. So can I use span or div without using css? I would rather stay away from css, for the time being anyway. 

Have a great day,
Alex


----- Original Message -----
From: "Bryan Garaventa" <bgaraventa11@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
To: <programmingblind@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Date sent: Tue, 30 Oct 2007 18:07:49 -0700
Subject: Re: Colors On Web Pages



You could use CSS to accomplish this, or surround each with a Div

or Span

tag.



I believe the syntax is:
style="background-color: #xxxxxx"
But doing a search for "CSS manual" can identify this more

clearly.


I'm not sure if you can use the actual color names within CSS

though, so if

you want the literal HEX values for all 548 available colors, the

color

picker at http://gutterstar.net/mbrs/colorgen.php will do this.



Best wishes,



Bryan



----- Original Message -----
From: "Alex Parks" <mehgcap@xxxxxxx
To: <programmingblind@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Sent: Tuesday, October 30, 2007 5:30 PM
Subject: Re: Colors On Web Pages




This is getting into coding, but how do you make sections

different

colors? I have a blog I keep online (not through a site--I wrote

the code

and all and use js files to insert most of it, so I can play

with this

sort of thing).  I have the blog, a contact form, and a misc

section.  How

can I give each section its own bgcolor? Thanks for the help.



Have a great day,
Alex



----- Original Message -----
From: "Will Pearson" <will@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
To: <programmingblind@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Date sent: Wed, 31 Oct 2007 00:11:50 -0000
Subject: Re: Colors On Web Pages



Hi,



I don't think that there are any generic rules for colour choice

that fit

all purposes.  The best thing to do is to base the design of

something on

how you expect people to interact with it and how those people

function.



I agree that black on white is a reasonable choice for reading

ease;

however, if people are going to be looking at something for a

long time then

pure white, which can be very bright, can cause a lot of glare

and actually

reduce reading ease.  So, using something just off white might be

more

appropriate if someone is expected to look at something for a

while.



If ease of navigation around the screen is a priority then I

would actually

encourage blocks of colour.  For example, having the background

for a menu

one colour, the background for the main content another colour,

and so on.

Unifying content to form a perceptual block by giving the content

the same

background colour will enable someone to shift their attention to

another

block of content faster and easier.  There is research evidence

that people

shift their attention based on perceptual groups.



So, I would say that you need to choose colours based on the task

that

someone is performing and how you expect them to perform that

task.  You'll

probably get an artist saying different but then it's still an

open question

as to whether form or function has greater importance.  I guess

I'm pretty

biased in favour of function given I'm a human factors

researcher, and I

spend most of my days thinking about how to make novel user

interfaces

easier to use.



Will
----- Original Message -----
From: <james.homme@xxxxxxxxxxxx
To: <programmingblind@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Sent: Tuesday, October 30, 2007 1:25 PM
Subject: Re: Colors On Web Pages





Hi,
I ran this by a usability person here.  Her comments are above

the original

text.



I would say it's an accurate description of the meaning and mood

of the

colors he describes.
But I don't really agree with the advice of using colored text

or a

colored
background for Web site design.  From a usability perspective,

the high

contrast of black text on a white background is the
best choice.  Most sites use color in images, borders, and for

some

headings
and link text - but typically the main content of the page is

black on

white.  Another choice is to have a background
color on the sides, and a center section (about 2/3 of the page)

that's

white with black text.
Of course, there are beautiful and easy-to-read sites that use a

variety

of
colored backgrounds, text, and images.  But, that is not

something that

most
sighted people can achieve.  Typically, to do
a good job with visual design, you need an artist or graphic

designer.

That's my 2 cents!



The first thing to ask is what kind of website are you trying to

make.

What
kind of website you are trying to put out to the people needs to

be a

determining factor because you wouldn't want a banking website

to have a

red
background with brite green text.  Why you might ask?  Because

when people

are visiting a banking website a rule of advertising for them is

they want

to come across as secure and stable.  So for that most of them

will just

use
the standard black text on a white background.  I am going to

try to help

by
associating a color with a mood and see if that helps.
red= A color that is for fun things, like a clown's red nose, a

red ball.

blue = the color of the sky or ocean.  Think of how you feel

when you

visit
either but keep in mind that when in the water although sighted

people can

see underwater it is a bit hard to see unless you have a mask.
green = an earthen color, the color of grass, trees etc.  Green

text

however
doesn't work unless you have a dark dark background color.  Also

for mixed

colors like green, blue and yellow make green, it is always a

good idea

not
to use either color that make up a certain color with the color

that they

make.  For example you would not want to have green text on a

yellow

background.  That would make things a bit hard to see.  You

could however

have yellow text on a blue background.  Why you might ask?

Because it is

also another rule of thumb to have either a dark color as a

background and

a
light color as text or vice versa.
Yellow = it is the color of the sun, many times it can be very

bright,

other
times rather soothing to the eyes again depending on the time of

day, and

its background.  You can use yellow as a background color quite
effectively
with black text if it is a light but not too bright yellow

background.

Why
you might ask, just associate yellow as day and black as night.

So yes,

yellow text on a black background will also work.
black= well for some of us black is probably pretty self

explanatory.

Black
means no light can pass through.  A black background can be used

if

contrasted with a bright color such as yellow, green, red,

orange.  To

fully
understand black you have to also understand the mood associated

with it.

To some black is scary, to some black is also a mysterious

color.  You

must
also understand black in the way that it works in the sense of a

computer

monitor.  All televisions and monitors work off of the same

principal.

There are 3 colors that can make every color that is visible on

a screen.

Red, green and blue.  The description of how the aliens could

see in HG

Wells' War of the Worlds still amazes me considering when the

book was

actually written.  Basically what you have with red green and

blue are

three
colors that can make any other color when mixed together with

varying

brightnesses.  Now back to the black, black on a computer

monitor is

produced when you drop the brightness of all three colors down

to zero.



Jim



James D Homme, , Usability Engineering, Highmark Inc.,
james.homme@xxxxxxxxxxxx, 412-544-1810



"Never doubt that a thoughtful group of committed citizens can

change the

world.  Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has." -- Margaret

Mead



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