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List:       kde-look
Subject:    Re: Error messages and the status bar
From:       "Steven D'Aprano" <dippy () mikka ! net ! au>
Date:       2000-04-22 12:59:56
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Torsten Rahn wrote:
> 
> Dirk Hennig wrote:
> 
> > This is the way to do it: Make things easier for the normal user by using colors. And for
> > the small number of color-blind people find an alternative solution. In your example, it
> 
> 5% to 8% (depending on the study you quote) of the men and 0.5% of the women
> of the world are born colorblind. Is this really a small number of people?

No, you are absolutely right, its not a small number of people in
absolute numbers. But as a proportion, it is well less than 10%. That
means that at least 90% of users will have some benefit in using
colour coded messages (*provided they are readable* - no pale yellow
text on a white background please!). My point was that it was counter
productive to disallow colour coding because of a minority, especially
when it is relatively easy to come up with secondary indicators such
as icons.

And lets not forget the simplest indicator of all: the word "Error" at
the beginning of the message.

But, your reminder is a good one. No indicator should rely purely on
colour, unless that colour is totally unambiguous (eg selected text is
in reverse highlight, white on black).

-- 
Steven D'Aprano

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