If you have a color deficiency and want to design a webpage you either are very self-confident or looking around for some help. Of course other persons can be very helpful but they are never around the time you need them and tend to have so many different opinions. Why not stick to bits and bytes?

For example Color Schemer is among others a good tool for choosing matching colors. There is an online section where you can compute matching colors based on a given one. They even offer a free download called ColorPix which can be used to find your base color say on a given picture or webpage you like.

It was a great help for me when I played around with webpages and image editing tools. Of course I could choose just any colors I like and who match for my eyes. But every time I showed them to persons with no color deficiency they cried aloud. The outcomes where just not made for normal vision maybe winning at most some bad taste award. That was the time when I started using those supporting tools for color picking. And now I can be happy with the results and they don’t put others to rout anymore – at least when it comes to colors.

Supporting a Colorblind Husband

March 2, 2006

@colblindor

Thoughts No Comments

Because color blindness is linked to the X-chromosome and a recessive trait it occurs more often on men than women. So what can you do to support your husband if he is colorblind? Here are my advices:

Choosing the right tie is a big problem; every single time. Helping out as it would be your daily business can be a relief from stress in early morning hours.
Explaining to friends what color blindness is can be a pain in the ass. Always the same stories, the same questions, the same laughs about not so funny jokes. Let it be explained by you and give it a serious touch. This will stop their asking much faster and unburden both parts.
Choose colors yourself and just let them be approved. Never ask a favour if there is a selection of colors included. Colorblind people never really know if it fits. They guess or learned it and don’t have the feeling for colors. And if you do it anyway be prepared for everything and accept it.
Stop the asking-colors game if it goes on for more than just a few questions. Some people don’t know the right time to stop asking: What color do you see here? And there? – Stop it politely and remove the burden from your partner.
Point out colorful things because colorblind people can sometimes just not spot them. They might be glowing for your eyes but not for the eyes of a colorblind. If you point it out maybe it can be seen and thus enjoyed as well by the colorblind.
Put color into your life. Just because somebody is colorblind it usually doesn’t mean he can’t see any colors at all. If you know which colors can be seen bring them in and brush up your life of colors.

This list is of course not final but something to start with. I would be pleased to hear further suggestions from you.

The Color of Crayons

March 1, 2006

@colblindor

Stories No Comments

A fun fact from Crayola:

In 1990, after 37 years of service, the most senior Crayola crayon maker, Emerson Moser, retired after molding a record 1.4 billion crayons. It was not until his retirement that he revealed a very well-kept secret – he was actually colorblind.

Let’s make a painting. Green grass, blue sky and a bright sun. So let’s take the green crayon for the grass. But how do I know which one is the green crayon? I have this problem all the time. Either I know the color of my crayons or pencils I have with me otherwise I have to guess. Every time, really every time. If you own your box of crayons you just know the colors by heart. You learned them once and remember which one is which color. I think this is very strange for somebody who can see colors. Color blindness is about learning colors like foreign words. And after a while you forget it or it shows up in a different shade and you have to learn again. Learning colors.