UI Color Choices

Not really just Click and watch ... but the way your libraries are presented to you is important. Channels developers have spent an enormous time so you can enjoy the presentation of collections and videos.

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"A few seconds?" I wish! My friends, family and I sometimes spend more time in the interface, searching, browsing, talking and trying to decide what to watch than we do actually consuming content. Lol!

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So True a lot of times all I do is Browse and see what catches my eye when I have nothing in mind to watch.

Been there, done that. :laughing:

Now we need to ask the devs to implement this:

:rofl:

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Please understand that some of us that have asked, have done so because we really do have trouble reading text on the interface. The purple with lighter purple text is difficult for some. I have no issue with the choice of purple for branding. All I really wish for is that the episode numbers in the list of TV shows was white and not light purple. Then I'd be able to read it from the couch.

So if it doesn't happen, I'll keep using Channels but I'll do as I do now. If I can't read what it says, I get up off of the couch step closer and read. Kind of like the olden days before remotes...

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Personally I think if they want their product to be purple that’s their choice and don’t have any issues with it. However there has been several people with this complaint

And I don’t think this is the user experience the channels team would like to provide. Perhaps a tweak is necessary.

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Like the topic title
Capture

I find white contrasts well with the purple and is readable.

You know, that's not a bad idea. I don't really have trouble reading the text, but I could see that for some. In the app, I notice that the icons for "All Movies" and such, the text is white. At the top of each page the text is light purple on darker purple. That would be a solution for those with the reading issue at least.

I otherwise like the purple personally.

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YATA...

Entitled? To ask for feature to be added to an app you pay for is not entitlement and apps improve because of input form users. However Personably I asked for this feature because of my Color blindness, I do not think it's an unreasonable request to make.

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Thank you, this work's great and solves my color sight issues.

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Devs: I know UI customization is low priority, but for the sake of accessibility, could we get at least a low contrast mode? It sucks that some users can’t use the software.

ETA: I know quite a bit about accessibility of the devs want to reach out to me.

We are happy to look into contrast issues but we need specifics about which device and screens are having problems. Photos are also helpful.

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I decided to check the color contrast of a couple of the views to see which parts of the interface may be difficult for people to see. I also ran a screenshot of the guide view through a color blind simulator (Color Blind Vision Simulator | Color Blind Glasses Simulator) so we can get an idea of what it may look like for people with different types of colorblindness. I did not analyze the modal AeroR1 posted because the contrast issue is obvious.

tl;dr - Most of the elements pass the technical standards for accessible color contrast, but the way color contrast is currently measured does not always properly reflect how certain color combinations are actually seen. A couple of the elements technically have high contrast and are still somewhat difficult to see.


These are screenshots from the latest iOS beta of Channels. Keep in mind that the colors might not be the same as they are on other devices (Apple TV, Fire TV, etc.), and the method I'm using to test is not going be 100% accurate. Also note that my device uses larger, bolded text because of my visual impairment, so these screenshots will likely look a bit different than they would on your device, but the colors will be the same.


Guide view in iOS app


Modal episode view in iOS app

The elements were tested for conformance with WCAG 2.1 Success Criterion 1.4.3 Contrast Minimum, the contrast between text and its background, except where noted.

Guide view

Elements that fail:

  1. Category label (in this screenshot "Cable") - Around 3.9:1 contrast ratio, must be at least 4.5:1 to pass
  2. Channel number below channel logo - Around 2.7:1 contrast ratio, must be at least 4.5:1 to pass
  3. Episode progress bar below episode name - 1.9:1 contrast ratio. This is not text, so it falls under WCAG 2.1 Success Criterion 1.4.11 Non-text Contrast, which requires a contrast ratio of 3:1 to pass

Elements that pass:

  1. Calendar icon - 7.8:1
  2. Current episode - 7.6:1
  3. Upcoming episode - 9.1:1
  4. Bottom menu, active view icon - 5.7:1
  5. Bottom menu, inactive view icon - 9:1

Keeping in mind what I said in the beginning about elements that technically have high contrast but are difficult to actually see, the active view icon in the bottom menu is pretty difficult to see even with a 5.7:1 ratio. It would be especially difficult for people with blue-yellow color blindness and complete color blindness to see.

Here is how this view looks with different types of colorblindness


Green-Weak/Deuteranomaly - most common color blindness


Green-Blind/Deuteranopia


Blue-Weak/Tritanomaly


Blue-Blind/Tritanopa


Red-Weak/Protanomaly


Red-Blind/Protanopia


Monochromacy/Achromatopsia


Blue Cone Monochromacy

Episode Modal View

I tested the contrast of the HD/CC badges and the Watch/Record/Create Pass buttons. Both passed. But the badge text is difficult to read.

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Interesting. I have several devices that all look drastically different from each other, especially my 2012 Samsung LCD. Other colors vary, but not nearly as much as the Channels Purple. Hell, I couldn't even tell you which is the correct color out of all my devices.

30+ year printing professional. Color matching sucks. Glad I retired.

Could one of the devs comment on the PMS color (if any) the Channels brand is? I'm curious.

As much as I would like to see CDVR offer themes, the argument of color blindness may just be countered with the fact that most client devices already offer Accessibility features including Color Filters that most likely would already be enabled for such users. Apple TV and iPhones have such color filters for most common color blindness needs.

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I have a form of Color Blindness, it's very difficult to see the menu choices (Library, Recording, settings etc.) off the left. This is true On Shield and Fire Cube, so I assume on all devices. I understand branding nut it would be very helpful to many of your users to have some control over the colors

thanks

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Devs: Here is more context on perceivable color contrast with some examples of color combinations that meet the standards but are difficult to read and vice versa.

You might want to run your color combinations through this tool to get a better idea of their actual luminosity.

Although not perfect, the foreground + background aren't terrible...better than many other apps. Bolder and larger fonts can help offset the challenges associated with sub-optimal contrast.

It's the selected vs. not-selected differentiation that is most challenging. And font sizes. I posted my specific feedback in the linked thread:

Don't feel bad. Google and Amazon are AWFUL with selection contrast. And their accessibility options don't help with that at all ("high contrast fonts" option has been "experimental" since March of 1884, I think, and it still stinks). Apple and especially Microsoft put in significant effort with accessibility and it makes a big difference. But even without spending significant effort, you'd be amazed what just following a user's dark-mode preferences (that's important...for example I have to invert everything) and a few simple tweaks here and there can do. As a developer, I certainly had no clue about it until I lost most of my eyesight...

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