Who Can Use

When it comes to web design, color is an essential element that can convey meaning, emotion, and enhance the user experience. However, not everyone perceives color the same way, and for individuals with visual impairments, color contrast can make or break their ability to access and navigate digital content. That's where a tool like Who Can Use comes in.

Who Can Use is a free online tool that brings attention and understanding to how color contrast can affect people with visual impairments. The tool is based on the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG), which provides recommendations for making web content more accessible, and specifically focuses on accommodating those with blindness or low vision.

The standard grading system for color contrast is a good starting point, but Who Can Use goes a step further by humanizing the people who are affected by different grades of color contrast. The tool provides a breakdown of different visual impairments, such as Protanopia, Deuteranopia, and Tritanopia, and the percentage of the population estimated to be affected by each.

The percentages are sourced from both color-blindness.com and Vision Australia and are meant to give users an understanding not only of how color contrast affects different people but also who it can affect. It's important to note that these estimates only cover individual impairments and don't represent the vast amount of visual impairments in the world.

One of the standout features of Who Can Use is its ease of use. The tool provides a simple interface that allows users to input foreground and background colors and see how they would appear to individuals with different visual impairments. The results are displayed as a color contrast ratio, along with a visual representation of how the colors appear to someone with that impairment.

Another useful feature of Who Can Use is the ability to adjust the color contrast ratio to meet WCAG guidelines or to create a custom ratio. The tool provides recommendations for text, large text, and graphical objects, along with the corresponding minimum contrast ratio required for each.

In addition to the color contrast tool, Who Can Use also provides resources and links to other accessibility tools and guidelines, making it a valuable resource for designers, developers, and anyone interested in creating accessible digital content.

In conclusion, Who Can Use is a powerful and user-friendly tool that highlights the importance of considering color contrast for individuals with visual impairments. By providing a humanized perspective and practical solutions, the tool helps bridge the gap between accessibility guidelines and real-world application.