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Looking for a theme for users with bad eyesight

Started by nevis, March 08, 2012, 06:54:03 AM

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nevis

Hi all,

I am setting up a 2.0.2 forum at the moment.

As some of my friends are rather old and at least one always complains about not being able to read stuff in usual forums:
Do you have any recommendations for a 2.0.2 theme that has maybe larger letters etc. by default?

Many thanks! :)

Crip

Just study the SMF Default StyleSheet , you can see everything there.
I have become comfortably numb!


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kat



To clarify what Crip said, have a look at the index.css file, which is in the theme's "css" directory.

You'll see weird things like this:

/* Default font sizes: small (8pt), normal (10pt), and large (14pt). */
.smalltext, tr.smalltext th
{
font-size: 0.85em;
font-family: verdana, sans-serif;
}
.middletext
{
font-size: 0.9em;
line-height: 1em;
font-family: verdana, sans-serif;
}
.normaltext
{
font-size: 1em;
line-height: 1.2em;
}
.largetext
{
font-size: 1.4em;
}


There's a chart, relating what all the "em" stuff actually means, here:

http://paynelessdesigns.com/tools/tool_fontconversions.shtml

For what it's worth, some browsers, such as Opera, allow to to make your own settings for font sizes and stuff, too. Maybe they all do, nowadays.

Little tip: If you want to zoom things, on a website, just hold the "Ctrl" key down and spin your mouse-wheel. ;)

Killer Possum

To add to what K@ said, it'd probably be best to recommend upping the setting within their browser because it'd actually give them a better browsing experience as a whole across all websites while leaving font sizes intact for other users on your forum.


nevis

Thanks, everybody, for all your nice and quick feedback!

After your really nice explanations, I feel a bit bad now, having to admit I have some css knowledge as a result of my previous developer life.
So I apologise, I should have phrased my initial question a bit different.

Here's what I thought: I'd install an additional theme which everybody with eyesight issues might choose.
I would really like to avoid tweaking any files as I am having less and less time for maintenance.
So I'd thought I'd keep it simple, install a 2nd theme.
I find it quite astonishing, given the accessibility discussions everywhere, that there seems to be no SMF theme dedicated to the "bad eyesight issue".

Killer Possum

Quote from: nevis on March 08, 2012, 12:47:58 PM
I find it quite astonishing, given the accessibility discussions everywhere, that there seems to be no SMF theme dedicated to the "bad eyesight issue".

Correct me if I'm wrong, but accessibility layouts in terms of larger text aren't really necessary these days. Current versions of most, if not all, browsers actually take care of this for the users by rendering entire pages larger, they don't just increase font sizes anymore. Which was the point I was trying to make. If someone has an issue reading smaller text, simply increasing the size, or zoom, of the browser will result in a pleasant experience across the entire Internet and negate the need for a larger font size theme.

kat

I happen to be what you describe as "rather old" and my eyesight ain't what it used to be.

I suspect that those who complain may have low-res monitors, which doesn't help.

Plus, of course, "Bad eyesight" covers a multitude of sins. Colour-blindness and all sorts.

Windows, of course, comes with a magnifier, which might help those with myopia and similar.

Plus, there's a wide range of themes, with various colour-schemes, which helps those with colour-blindness.

One thing I'm going to suggest, for the next version of SMF, is that there's a font-selector, so that all the various fonts can be set by the user.

Of course, I have no idea whether it'll be possible to actually implement that. But, I'll go and suggest that, right now. :)


kat


Illori

because not that many people need it, and those that do can use their personal pc settings to change it themselves.

kat

Yeah. But, as I replied to Kindred, this would make it a permanent setting and it might also be a good marketing ploy, for the disabled community. ;)

Illori

that would require a lot more coding then that mod, and i dont see that we would have that many to use it. most that are that disabled would already use apps to increase the size of their screen.

bird8

#13
I have a few ideas in the pipeline that caters to older clientele. I never thought about font/theme issues regarding readability. How dumb do I feel. I look forward to going through this thread and learning about the ideas. thanks!!

IchBin™

You know what's funny about that mod? How hard it is to see the icons to make the font size bigger. :D
IchBin™        TinyPortal

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