Discuss Scratch

-CloudLife-
Scratcher
47 posts

Scratch Accessibility for Low-vision and Blind Users

-CloudLife- wrote:

After some brainstorming, I have an idea that I think will work reasonably well for the heavily visually impaired:
First, darken the site a little bit. Even I, a person who is not affected by vision impairment, sometimes see spots when I see the bright white of the Scratch website background. Maybe a slightly more grayish kind of tone? ST could make it work.

I also think that not all solutions given could be beneficial to all people suffering from colorblindness; hence, maybe let them select their specific type of colorblindness and have the site tailor their experience from there.

Also, have them select their degree of vision impairment? I need to know if that sounds good! :{
StrixCattus
Scratcher
100+ posts

Scratch Accessibility for Low-vision and Blind Users

-CloudLife- wrote:

After some brainstorming, I have an idea that I think will work reasonably well for the heavily visually impaired:
First, darken the site a little bit. Even I, a person who is not affected by vision impairment, sometimes see spots when I see the bright white of the Scratch website background. Maybe a slightly more grayish kind of tone? ST could make it work.
Maybe make it an option you can customize- so a white mode, a gray mode (for people with more sensitive eyes who are affected by the white), and a night mode (for people who use the site at night/really need a very dark background)
-CloudLife-
Scratcher
47 posts

Scratch Accessibility for Low-vision and Blind Users

StrixCattus wrote:

-CloudLife- wrote:

After some brainstorming, I have an idea that I think will work reasonably well for the heavily visually impaired:
First, darken the site a little bit. Even I, a person who is not affected by vision impairment, sometimes see spots when I see the bright white of the Scratch website background. Maybe a slightly more grayish kind of tone? ST could make it work.
Maybe make it an option you can customize- so a white mode, a gray mode (for people with more sensitive eyes who are affected by the white), and a night mode (for people who use the site at night/really need a very dark background)
I agree! But your idea only has three outputs. I think a slider (much like the brightness sliders in Scratch Vector Editor) would do much good. Those have 100 outputs to support all kinds of people.
pink_rabit
Scratcher
3 posts

Scratch Accessibility for Low-vision and Blind Users

Hey this will be great
SJgraham25
Scratcher
2 posts

Scratch Accessibility for Low-vision and Blind Users

Thank you too it would be great
PLASMA8900
Scratcher
18 posts

Scratch Accessibility for Low-vision and Blind Users

That would be really cool.But you have to be able to put a few things:
  1. A read-aloud block,
    A read aloud CODEblock,
and that's it.



when green flag clicked
(read aloud)
Traffic_Light
Scratcher
47 posts

Scratch Accessibility for Low-vision and Blind Users

I did not know about that feature.
WelshTotem
Scratcher
20 posts

Scratch Accessibility for Low-vision and Blind Users

I think that is a great idea. Could it read itself out-loud?
ViveE2023
Scratcher
9 posts

Scratch Accessibility for Low-vision and Blind Users

quacht wrote:

Hi!

I’m a member of the Scratch Team, and over the next two years, I’ll be working on a project to make Scratch more accessible to Scratchers with low-vision or blindness.

Before I start designing and building, I want to hear about your experience with Scratch and how you think Scratch accessibility can be improved–especially if you have blindness or low-vision. Your stories, thoughts, and feedback will guide the project and make sure that I’m making changes that improve Scratcher experiences, so please share on this forum!

Thanks!
Tina

Wow! that sounds awesome! maybe a little button where you can turn voice assistance on and off?
DaBoi001
Scratcher
1000+ posts

Scratch Accessibility for Low-vision and Blind Users

sw019631 wrote:

sw019631 wrote:

when green flag clicked
forever
wait (019631) secs
switch costume to [updated! v]
end
when I start as a clone
delete this clone
when I receive [blind person v]
play sound [at a button v]
STOP BLOCKSPAMMING
StrixCattus
Scratcher
100+ posts

Scratch Accessibility for Low-vision and Blind Users

-CloudLife- wrote:

StrixCattus wrote:

-CloudLife- wrote:

After some brainstorming, I have an idea that I think will work reasonably well for the heavily visually impaired:
First, darken the site a little bit. Even I, a person who is not affected by vision impairment, sometimes see spots when I see the bright white of the Scratch website background. Maybe a slightly more grayish kind of tone? ST could make it work.
Maybe make it an option you can customize- so a white mode, a gray mode (for people with more sensitive eyes who are affected by the white), and a night mode (for people who use the site at night/really need a very dark background)
I agree! But your idea only has three outputs. I think a slider (much like the brightness sliders in Scratch Vector Editor) would do much good. Those have 100 outputs to support all kinds of people.
Maybe. But I was thinking that there would be an overall palette change, so in the dark mode the blue would be replaced with orange to keep with the palette of the Scratch website. You could make more options:
  • 1-10 brightness colors. 1 is white and 10 is black. 2-9 are gradually darkening shades of gray. It's a simple system and there's a good chance one of them is close enough to your personal preference or level of sensitivity. This does not change anything about the colored parts of the website- the bar at the top stays the same blue, the bit at the bottom is slightly darker/bluer (or lighter if you chose a really dark option), and buttons remain the same.
  • 1-5 top bar/button colors. The color itself does not change. 2 is what we have now. 1 is lighter, and 5 is dark but not black. (The range is more limited to keep it different from the background at all levels.) Again, you're likely to find something that suits you here.
  • 3 palette options: Blue (identical to the website as we see it), Orange (blue is replaced with orange. Orange becomes red to differentiate from the blue. Green shifts to a more yellow green to reduce the amount of blue light. Links would look weird orange, so they shift towards a darker more purple, less saturated blue to keep the instinctive “blue link” look while also slightly making them easier on people's eyes.), and Gray (everything is monochrome gray, not much else to say here. Slight brightness shifts to keep things distinct.)
  • Dark Mode On/Off. The default is off. Turning it on doesn't modify your choices, but it gives the site the appearance of brightness-10, top bar/button-5, and palette Orange. The palette can be changed to Gray, the bar/button to 4, and the background to 8-9 using the options, but it will override anything lighter than that, or the Blue palette. It can be turned off at any time, but it will auto-reset in twelve hours (default) or a time that you set (if it's 8 pm right now, and you plan to keep using Scratch for an hour, you can set it to 1 hour, or 2 to be on the safe side)
This gives you 50 different combinations of background brightness and button brightness to suit your own needs, plus three different color palettes.

Last edited by StrixCattus (Sept. 21, 2019 14:43:33)

Batgrlminion
Scratcher
36 posts

Scratch Accessibility for Low-vision and Blind Users

StrixCattus wrote:

-CloudLife- wrote:

After some brainstorming, I have an idea that I think will work reasonably well for the heavily visually impaired:
First, darken the site a little bit. Even I, a person who is not affected by vision impairment, sometimes see spots when I see the bright white of the Scratch website background. Maybe a slightly more grayish kind of tone? ST could make it work.
Maybe make it an option you can customize- so a white mode, a gray mode (for people with more sensitive eyes who are affected by the white), and a night mode (for people who use the site at night/really need a very dark background)

Yeah, the bright white really hurts my eyes and I have no visional problems! But I like the idea of editing the background to change it to be darker!
MistyRain17
Scratcher
500+ posts

Scratch Accessibility for Low-vision and Blind Users

kenny2scratch wrote:

Warriorbuilds3 wrote:

Anyways, on the topic of colorblind people, I've heard there are special glasses that can help with that. I'm kinda hoping they're not expensive.
I have personally tried such glasses and found that they don't work - they merely damp down other colors, instead of strengthening the colors you have problems with. Red on traffic lights, to me, is identical to the yellow - those glasses merely made the yellow somewhat darker while keeping the red as lighter yellow. I don't recommend those glasses unless you need color vision to help you in a life-threatening situation (or equivalently urgent situation).
Oh.
RK1888
Scratcher
100+ posts

Scratch Accessibility for Low-vision and Blind Users

Cheetahgirl67 wrote:

I think it's great that Scratch is gonna be more accesible for people who can't see very well!! It's always good when a website tries to make features and stuff more accesible!! :D
Then why is ‘Yandere’ censored in the search bar?
Hello_lowchicken_Jr
New Scratcher
4 posts

Scratch Accessibility for Low-vision and Blind Users

Warriorbuilds3 wrote:

How about voice comments? You know, like saying something then it appears in the comment? That would be cool!
great idea!!!!!
TheManMakesStuff
Scratcher
11 posts

Scratch Accessibility for Low-vision and Blind Users

This is really amazing





when green flag clicked
say [Awesome @-CloudLife-!]
Glitchman64
Scratcher
13 posts

Scratch Accessibility for Low-vision and Blind Users

I'm wishing for screen size updates in 2020.
SiaLover33
Scratcher
77 posts

Scratch Accessibility for Low-vision and Blind Users

Wow, cool! It would be hard to use Scratch if your blind tho.
When gf clicked
say [gf scratch for blind users! gf] for (2) secs
HeathLee
Scratcher
3 posts

Scratch Accessibility for Low-vision and Blind Users

quacht wrote:

Hi!

I’m a member of the Scratch Team, and over the next two years, I’ll be working on a project to make Scratch more accessible to Scratchers with low-vision or blindness.

Before I start designing and building, I want to hear about your experience with Scratch and how you think Scratch accessibility can be improved–especially if you have blindness or low-vision. Your stories, thoughts, and feedback will guide the project and make sure that I’m making changes that improve Scratcher experiences, so please share on this forum!

Thanks!
Tina

That would be great!
I know a few scratchers are blind or have low vision, and they should be treated like others, not left out just coz they are blind!
White_Lord
Scratcher
1000+ posts

Scratch Accessibility for Low-vision and Blind Users

quacht wrote:

Hi!

I’m a member of the Scratch Team, and over the next two years, I’ll be working on a project to make Scratch more accessible to Scratchers with low-vision or blindness.

Before I start designing and building, I want to hear about your experience with Scratch and how you think Scratch accessibility can be improved–especially if you have blindness or low-vision. Your stories, thoughts, and feedback will guide the project and make sure that I’m making changes that improve Scratcher experiences, so please share on this forum!

Thanks!
Tina
When did you get the idea to develop this?

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