Variable contrast

[daniel-vnext]

Re-write of https://github.com/alan-turing-institute/AutSPACEs/issues/316

Overview

As an autistic person I would like to customise the on-screen contrast So that words are easier to understand

People can find written words difficult to understand. To make it easier for people to comprehend the meaning of text, the site should provide different colour schemes that can be chosen at will.

Requirements

• [x] Site displays with a default colour scheme
• [ ] Have a panel that displays alternate schemes
• [x] Make it obvious that the panel has alternate schemes, even in the default scheme
• [x] The panel should be available on all pages of the site
• [ ] Once a colour scheme has been selected, all pages of the site should use that scheme
• [ ] If a user quits the browser, the last-used scheme should be used when the user next visits the site on the same device

Colour schemes

• [x] Default, white background
• [ ] High-contrast, black background
• [ ] Low-contrast, pastel colours

Acceptance criteria

Scenario: default When I navigate to the home page Then the page should display in the default scheme

Scenario: navigate Given I am on the home page And I select the dark scheme When I navigate to the login page Then the page should display in the dark scheme

Scenario: cross-session Given I select the dark scheme And I close my browser And I re-open my browser When I navigate to the home page Then the page should display in the dark scheme

etc...

Non-functional requirements

None for this ticket, but this is where you would put things like:

• performance
• metrics to capture
• deployment requirements
• etc...

Out of scope

• Fully-customisable colours
• Colour scheme persists across different devices

To be confirmed

• Drop-down panel of schemes, or modal popup? Something else?
• Exact colour schemes
• Are three schemes enough??

[daniel-vnext]

Original user testing feedback

From https://github.com/katoss/katoss.github.io/blob/master/community-recommendations/user-tests/sprint-6-feedback/summary-sprint6-feedback.md

• P i: Suggestion: Possibility to change the colour scheme
• A D d: “I would appreciate pastel colors, because the screen is so bright. It is probably alright, it might be just the colouring. It might be good to have a colour bar to adapt the background.”
• A D d: “As it is at the moment I would probably not use it, because I find the colours too intense.”
• A D d: Theme does not need to be a dark theme, but “just not so bright. I think more about pastel colours. I find it hard to read on. I had a test once and they gave me a kind of ‘pinky’ background, which I found easier to read on.”
• A C d: “[The contrast] is a little bit too heavy for me, but then I am short sighted, I am wearing my reading glasses. I don’t know if other people who got strong visual impairments would need that kind of contrast. I am just learning about this, that people with strong visual impairments do better with black background and yellow. So I don’t know if at any point of this ‘load up an experience’ you could have an alternative one, saying ‘do you have a visual impairment? Would you like to use this template?”
• A C d: positive towards alternative template and fonts as accessibility settings for people with visual impairments