Introducing Two New Styles

[Undisclosed]

One of our ongoing projects is to make Phoenix Rising accessible to all by meeting the 'Web Content Accessibility Guidelines' (WCAG 2.0). WCAG 2.0 is an internationally accepted standard for web accessibility developed by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), an international team of experts.

WCAG 2.0 sets out guidelines for organizations to follow to make their websites more accessible for people with disabilities. The guidelines cover things like writing web content in clear language, using colors/fonts that are easily visible, providing alternate text for images and making sure someone can navigate your website with just a keyboard.

Each guideline has three levels of accessibility: A, AA and AAA. Level AAA is the highest level of accessibility.

We have adapted the Xenforo 1.2 Style to produce two new styles ('Xenforo 1.2 -- Light for Low Vision' and 'Xenforo 1.2 -- Dark for Low Vision'). The aim of these styles is to:

• Meet Web Content Accessibility guidelines for luminosity contrast ratio, difference in brightness and, difference in colour
• Make the forums easier to navigate for those who have poor/low vision, light sensitivity or any other visual difficulites.
• Provide alternate styles for those that might prefer an alternate dark style or a higher contrast crisper style.

Xenforo 1.2 -- Light for Low Vision:

​

Xenforo 1.2 -- Dark for Low Vision:

​

How do I try out one of these new styles you ask?

• Scroll to the bottom of the forum page and look at the bottom left-hand corner and click on the style:

• A pop-up will appear that lists all available styles.
• Click the style you wish to use.

Enjoy!

If you would like to make suggestions regarding either of these Styles, please do so.

Thank you.

Kina

 

[Martial]

Very cool!

 

[minkeygirl]

Much needed! Thanks so much Kina!

 

[WillowJ]

excellent! I'm quite happy with the one I have but I know others were looking for the low vision styles. Thanks so much for all your work.

 

[Valentijn]

Perfect, thank you so much!

 

[Hip]

Great to see this emphasis on making the forums meet the WCAG 2.0 standards.

I actually really like the style and colors of the default style. No other forum I have seen comes near this beautiful and pleasant scheme.

The main accessibility issue for me is the font attributes — font type, font size, font color, font line height, and even the letter spacing. My vision is constantly pretty blurred, making it a little difficult to read text, but I find if I set carefully chosen font attributes in my browser to override the normal Phoenix Rising font with my own font settings, it makes a big difference to readability for me.

I use custom style sheets in my browser to override the normal font on Phoenix Rising (see my Phoenix Rising stylesheet here), but I imagine for those who don't have technical savvy, this might be difficult to do.

So for the benefit of other users of this forum, I wonder if a means to actually change the font attributes, not just the site layout and colors, might be feasible? Just a suggestion to consider. @wdb do you think that is possible? I am quite happy using stylesheets, so for me personally, I don't need this facility. But it might benefit others.

Would people here like the option to change the font characteristics to their own taste and needs? If nobody would find this useful, it would not be worth implementing.

 

[wdb]

Great to see this emphasis on making the forums meet the WCAG 2.0 standards.

I actually really like the style and colors of the default style. No other forum I have seen comes near this beautiful and pleasant scheme.

The main accessibility issue for me is the font attributes — font type, font size, font color, font line height, and even the letter spacing. My vision is constantly pretty blurred, making it a little difficult to read text, but I find if I set carefully chosen font attributes in my browser to override the normal Phoenix Rising font with my own font settings, it makes a big difference to readability for me.

I use custom style sheets in my browser to override the normal font on Phoenix Rising (see my Phoenix Rising stylesheet here), but I imagine for those who don't have technical savvy, this might be difficult to do.

So for the benefit of other users of this forum, I wonder if a means to actually change the font attributes, not just the site layout and colors, might be feasible? Just a suggestion to consider. @wdb do you think that is possible? I am quite happy using stylesheets, so for me personally, I don't need this facility. But it might benefit others.

Would people here like the option to change the font characteristics to their own taste and needs? If nobody would find this useful, it would not be worth implementing.

On this topic I'm actually of the opinion that the route you have taken is the ideal approach, whilst adding options and modifications to this site is great and Kina did a superb job with the new styles, it only solves the issue for this site, by fixing it at a browser level as you have done using style-sheets, browser settings or browser extensions (there are many methods) you can solve the issue for every site you visit.

If you need to change fonts I would think a browser extension like this one would do a great job. Perhaps you would also consider writing a how-to on using your custom style-sheets ?

 

[Valentijn]

The changes are wonderful I especially like the red "new" flags, since the bolding on the other styles was hard to see.

I agree with Hip about font. For reading on a screen, I vastly prefer fixed-width fonts such as Courier New. I think that would help more than the bigger font. A simpler font with less little extra bits sticking off it would be nicer as well.

 

[svetoslav80]

Xenforo 1.2 -- Light for Low Vision is very nice. I only don't like the #032A46 color (for mouseover on the menu and some captions) which stays almost as black, but I don't know which color would be better.

 

[Undisclosed]

The changes are wonderful I especially like the red "new" flags, since the bolding on the other styles was hard to see.

I agree with Hip about font. For reading on a screen, I vastly prefer fixed-width fonts such as Courier New. I think that would help more than the bigger font. A simpler font with less little extra bits sticking off it would be nicer as well.

I could try changing the font in a few places -- maybe the forum names and on posts, just to see the difference.

I let you know when I do and maybe I can get some feedback.

I have increased a few font sizes but if you go too big it really messes things up.

 

[Valentijn]

I have increased a few font sizes but if you go too big it really messes things up.

Yeah, it seems a little too big currently, though it's readable and I might get used to it after a bit

 

[Undisclosed]

Yeah, it seems a little too big currently, though it's readable and I might get used to it after a bit

Where is it too big?

 

[Valentijn]

Where is it too big?

In the body of posts. That's also the only place where the font style seems a bit annoying as well

It's especially bad with larger bits of text, and if anyone bolds anything in their post, it's really obnoxious looking.

 

[Undisclosed]

In the body of posts. That's also the only place where the font style seems a bit annoying as well

It's especially bad with larger bits of text, and if anyone bolds anything in their post, it's really obnoxious looking.

How's that @Valentijn -- I have changed the font size in messages. I haven't messed around with the font style yet.

 

[Valentijn]

How's that @Valentijn -- I have changed the font size in messages. I haven't messed around with the font style yet.

The font size is looking perfect now, thanks!

 

[Undisclosed]

@Valentijn and anybody else.

I have changed the font in the dark style to 'Courier New' -- We can try other fonts out too.

Let me know. I am happy to adapt it where I can.

Kina

 

[Valentijn]

@Valentijn and anybody else.

I have changed the font in the dark style to 'Courier New' -- We can try other fonts out too.

Let me know. I am happy to adapt it where I can.

Kina

I'm loving it! Though if anyone really hates the fixed-width, I can live with the alternatives

 

[Undisclosed]

I'm loving it! Though if anyone really hates the fixed-width, I can live with the alternatives

@Valentijn -- I set it to fixed-width when I was doing the style just because it was really annoying when I was doing all the changes -- I am happy to enable the responsive design again if requested.

That goes for both styles if members want it that way.

Kina

 

[minkeygirl]

Kina, now that I"m looking at it, the blue is too "bright" for me on both of them. It looks almost Day Glo to me. For me, it needs to be grayer. I'd rather stick with Whisper 2 which is what I'm using right now. I can adjust my F.Lux to tone down the back and the contrast is less jolting to my brain.

 

[Undisclosed]

Kina, now that I"m looking at it, the blue is too "bright" for me on both of them. It looks almost Day Glo to me. For me, it needs to be grayer. I'd rather stick with Whisper 2 which is what I'm using right now. I can adjust my F.Lux to tone down the back and the contrast is less jolting to my brain.

The light style is meant to be high contrast. To meet the requirements of WCAG 2.o, it's really hard to get a pass with some colours. The Whisper style actually has quite a few contrast/colour errors but then again none of the styles have been developed with low vision in mind. I guess we could develop hundreds of styles and still people wouldn't be happy because we all have different visual problems and preferences. I might do a third style in the future if I get more input in what members want.

Kina