Guests with color processing needs audio text button theme picker on ALL themes

As much as I know this isn’t what you want to hear, that sort of functionality is pretty much impossible to have and still allow everyone out there to use their own themes and layouts.

I do agree that this is definately a very big usability issue, but this is something that is always going to be theme-specific because each theme defines it’s own colours – not the WordPress core. Because of this the normal core functions don’t have any interaction with the colouring of the site.

If there’s no plugins out there that suit what you need, this is probably the best time for you to do some learning and write your own plugin that can ccomplish this. The benifits are that you’ll learn something new, you’ll know the code so that if anything does go wrong you wil able ot fix it, and you can also (if you wish) realease it so that others can share it and be able to give the same level of accessability that you have for your site.

There are plans to change the back end of the WordPress in such as way that it will be a lot easier to “skin” the admin area and thus provide a range of admin colour schemes – including those for visually impaired and colour blind users.

If you want to add such skins to the front end of your site, then you need to look for a style or theme switcher plugin. There are some of these about.

if there was a way to accommodate those who need each letter of text to be a different colour, I would! (These people also exist. To my knowledge, only 1 website accommodates them.)

This is not a scenario that I’ve come across in 14 years of accessible web design. I’d be curious to know more about this specific need/disability.

1) I can only do simple HTML 5 and CSS3. Otherwise, I would have done this years ago. I also would be a billionaire with my own social network site. ?? Maybe someday, I’ll get rich enough to hire someone to program such a plug-in. I’ve been daydreaming of that. Thanks!

2) Isn’t it possible for theme-switcher to be a mandatory option in WP where by user to website, would see Owners Custom Default theme, but could choose Accessibility Theme using the “Theme Switcher” and have Theme Switcher be a mandatory feature in WP?

And then, have 2 mandatory theme options (black text on white and black text on yellow), but then allow the Owner of website to add additional themes if they choose too? Browsers have a built in zoom feature that allows text to be increased.

3) Backend: I relish the idea of skinning the Admin side. ??

Answer about website:
Grapheme colour synesthesia is a disorder where people see letters in different colours. They were trying to come up with a creative way to teach reading to those with grapheme colour synesthesia, dyslexia and were rote learners.

The website had a “book” one could read with those letters in different colours, but also had the letters at different distances from the straight line that letters are usually put on. I can’t find this website anymore. My computer with the link to the website, died. I’ve been looking for that website ever since, and may not exist anymore. This was a few years ago. Sorry!

Isn’t it possible for theme-switcher to be a mandatory option in WP

No – that would not be a good idea. There are many way to provide optional skins and it would not be right to limit site owners to only one specific approach.

Grapheme colour synesthesia is a disorder where people see letters in different colours.

Understood. This is broadly similar to the phenomenon whereby people envisage days of the week in different colours. But, generally speaking those who suffer from grapheme colour synesthesia would not need a theme/skin that did this automatically (assuming that was possible – which I seriously doubt). What you are actually seem to be describing is a resource which is trying to emulate this condition, yes? If so, that’s a very different situation.

In my experience, dyslexics tend to split into 2 groups – those with scoptic sensitivity and those without. The former group seems to prefer low foreground/background contrasts with personal colour preferences whilst the latter prefer higher contrasts with no particular colour preferences. So it’s really difficult to provide solutions that cater to the whole group. In my personal opinion, once you get down to these finer-grained differences, a better approach might be to provide educational resources that teach people how to create their own local stylesheets. Trying to cater to every need via the web site is often impossible.

I agree, it is hard to accommodate everyone.

My idea would be no different then you guys forcing “Powered by WordPress 3.5.1” to be on my WP site. Obviously, there are ways of me getting rid of it, but still. You guys have earned the rights to advertise, and I think that those who were born with disadvantages should get the same level of support. It won’t hurt the owner’s design. And if the owner balks, then owner can get glad wrap as we can’t choose to “heal” of “our disability”.

Secondly, I would not ban them from using another plug-in for switching of themes. I would just ban them from disabling the theme switcher that allowed everyone to access and read their website. Perhaps, the theme switcher could be apart of the bottom “powered by” section? Just a thought. lol

Unless your site is hosted on WordPress.COM – you do not have to keep “Powered by WP…” on any site – you are free to customize it any way you like. WordPress.COM and www.ads-software.com are not the same: https://en.support.wordpress.com/com-vs-org/

I think that those who were born with disadvantages should get the same level of support.

I have been an advocate of equal web access for over 13 years but even I believe that the responsibility of access should be distributed equally between the site and the viewer/user. I’ve have not seen any arguments yet that explain why a style switcher – in conjunction with the user’s correctly configured assistive technology – would not work.

Style and theme switchers are plugin – not core – territory.

Why is this important? We need this plug-in to at a minimum always work with the current version of WP. Or, we lose a huge amount of users of the internet. And this is completely ignoring all my other arguments, as this is really the most important.

1. I know that WP doesn’t have to be on non wp.com sites. I still mean that general area. ??

2. I realize that style and theme switchers are plugin territory currently. I also am aware that WP comes with WP themes twenty eleven and twenty twelve pre-installed, akismet pre-installed. This may not be core, but it is still part of the WP experience out of the box (with some configuration needed.)

3. Given the above, the Toolbar Theme switcher (the one that works the best as far as my experiences has found) could very easily be made apart of WP, at least to the extent Twenty Eleven and Twenty Twelve and Akismet is. Yes, it wouldn’t make it mandatory, but it would be a start. Then, perhaps adding a note that says the 2 installed themes with the theme switcher are made specifically for Accessibility needs of some users who would otherwise, may not be able to use or read your website.
Thanks!