What if I’m color-blind or have color vision deficiencies?
Shortly after you’ve begun your journey on NativShark, it’s likely that you’ve noticed there are a lot of highlighted elements in various colors! While that’s great for a lot of people, we understand that there are some of us that might not be able to see all those colors. Luckily, our computer systems are equipped to tackle that challenge.
There are a few things you can do to make things more viewable. This article will take a look at both setting accessibility options on your computer for your entire system, as well as a short introduction to browser extensions should you want a bit more flexibility or specificity.
Windows
For those on this operating system, Windows comes with built in accessibility options that can help you with colors and contrast. It also has a handy shortcut key combination should you wish to be able to toggle these options on the fly.
Step 1) On your start menu or search bar, search for “ease of access” and select “Ease of Access display settings”.
Step 2) On the panel to the left, select Color filters.
Step 3) On the right side, switch the toggle on and choose the color filter that best suits you. You can also check the box to allow the shortcut of Windows Key + Ctrl + C to toggle the filter on or off.
Step 4) Switch to your NativShark window to see how the filter has changed what you see. That’s it! You can either leave this on all the time, or toggle it on and off when you need it.
Mac OS
Apple has its own set of accessibility options, and of course that would include color filters! It’s quite easy to set up, so definitely check it out and see if these options work for you.
Step 1) Open up System Preferences and look for the Accessibility icon.
Step 2) Under the Vision options, select Display. Then on the right, click on the heading for Color Filters. You can select from the dropdown menu which filter is the most suitable for you. Make sure to check the Enable Color Filters checkbox!
Optional) You can also check the box at the bottom of this menu so that this setting shows in the menu bar, allowing quick access.
That’s pretty much it, enjoy!
iOS/Apple Mobile Devices
We use phones so much these days that it would be strange if there weren’t accessibility options for them! If you also use MacOS, you’ll notice that these options will look very familiar, as is the way to set them up.
Step 1) Head over to Settings and look for Accessibility.
Step 2) Select “Display and Text Size” then go into “Color Filters”
Step 3) Toggle the switch to turn on the filters. You can select which one is the most appropriate for you.
Step 4) Once you choose a filter, an intensity bar will appear at the bottom that allows you to adjust the strength of the adjustment. If you swipe the colored pencils at the top, there is a nice color grid to help you adjust the filter more appropriately.
Now that you’ve got that set, head over to NativShark and enjoy!
Android
Because there are so many variations of Android systems out there, these instructions may not be exactly what you have to do or show all the options available to you for setting color filters. If the menus that you have on your phone don’t exactly match what’s listed here, look for something similar. There’s a very good chance you’ll be able to find it!
Step 1) Head into your Settings. This will typically be some sort of cog icon similar to these:
Step 2) Scroll down until you find the Accessibility menu.
Step 3) In here, you’ll find a number of options that can improve the ways you use your device. What we’re interested in right now is the Visibility Enhancements.
Step 4)
Alternatively, you might find that the Accessibility menu goes straight to a menu that just shows all of the options individually. In any case, you should see some options such as high contrast and magnification. Let’s head into
Color Adjustment
.
Step 5)
Here you can toggle the color filter on and off. If you scroll down, you’ll be able to choose which filter to apply, and you’ll also be able to adjust how intense that filter is with a slider at the bottom. There’s also a setting to turn on a shortcut which adds a little accessibility icon to the bar at the bottom of your screen.
If you like, you can also add a personalized color filter. Keep in mind that turning color adjustments on will disable the Eye Comfort Shield setting, but it’s probably more comfortable to be seeing colors that work for you rather than just filtering out blue light anyway!
Browser Extensions
While these system accessibility options are quite useful and some operating systems have quick toggles to turn the filters on and off, there are cases where you might want to limit color correction specifically to your browser. Instead of using a system wide setting, you could opt to use a browser extension instead. Extensions also may confer more flexibility in control of color adjustments if the system settings aren’t enough.
There are a huge number of extensions out there that vary by browser and it may take some time to find the right one for you. Here’s an example of one to get you started. This one is for Chrome.
It’s best to stick to official sources for extensions. You’ll want to peruse your browser’s web store or library directly. Here’s a few links for commonly used browsers:Chrome – https://chrome.google.com/webstore/category/extensions?hl=en
Brave/Vivaldi – These two browsers can use Chrome extensions
Firefox – https://addons.mozilla.org/en-CA/firefox/extensions/
Safari – In Browser > Safari Menu > Preferences > Extensions
Edge – https://microsoftedge.microsoft.com/addons/Microsoft-Edge-Extensions-Home