Support for Color Vision Deficiencies

[Michael]

When you connect a 1-D connector to a shape, the connected end is marked with
a red box and the unconnected end with a green box. Can these colors be
changed for color vision deficient (esp. red blind-protanopia and green
blind-deutanopia)users? I have several users of my application that are
complaining to me about this.

Thanks,

Michael

 

[Chris Roth [ Visio MVP ]]

Michael,

Interesting question!

I don't know of any way to change the colors. I think they are actually
little bitmaps stored in some resource somewhere...

However:

There are two types of glue. If the connector is glued "to the shape", such
that the connector walks around the outside of the shape as shapes and
connectors are moved around, then the "glue indicator" is a little bit
bigger, and has no + or x inside. You don't need to see color to detect
this.

If, however, the connector is glued to a specific point (one of the purple
Xs), then green and red look alike. However, if a connector terminates at a
connection point, then it is highly likely that it is glued to the shape.

View > Show Connection Points is step one in helping to clarify this as much
as possible.

And you can always move a shape to check if the connector is connected.

Not ideal, of course...

--

Hope this helps,

Chris Roth
Visio MVP

 

[Michael]

Chris:

In the context of my application, I must glue to specific points, similar to
what Visio does in the Process Engineering category of drawings.

The problem is that a connector can terminate at a shape but actually miss
the connection point by a small amount in a complicated drawing where the
user does not know if the connection has actually been made without this
visual clue. For me, a missed connection will prevent the application from
behaving as desired.

This is more of a problem than I initially anticipated. In fact, I'm having
to make application changes myself in other areas to accommodate these
individuals. However, this is one that I don't think I can make on my own.

I've seen reports that indicate about 8% of men have some degree of color
vision blindness, with red and green deficiencies being by far the most
common. Since my profession is still vastly dominated by men (that's just
reality), I suspect very close to 8% of my users then fall into this category.

Maybe MS will consider making this a configurable value in the future.

Michael

 

[Chris Roth [ Visio MVP ]]

Since the drawings are complicated, even folks with color-detecting eyes
might have problems.

You could write a little code that searches for disconnected connectors and
draws a circle around them - with automation, you can even pan and zoom the
Visio window to the errant location!

--

Hope this helps,

Chris Roth
Visio MVP