This program tests the background and text colors of an HTML document for color visibility. I hope to incorporate the program into our A-Prompt software so we can automatically test if document colors could present a visibility problem. The program runs under Windows 95/98/NT. You are free to download and evaluate the program. Please contact me, Chris Ridpath, with your comments or suggestions. Note: This is a beta test program and may contain bugs.
Click here to download the program. (You may have to hold down the 'shift' key while you click on the link.)
After downloading the program, double click on the program name (TestColors6.exe) to run the program.
The image above shows a screen shot of the color test dialog. The two areas at the top of the dialog labeled 'Background' and 'Text' control the colors displayed near the bottom of the dialog in the area labeled 'Visibility Check'.
If the colors provide good visibility, the dialog displays 'Good Visibility' in the 'Visibility Check' area. If the colors are bad for visibility, 'Bad Visibility' is displayed in the 'Visibility Check' area.
To check for visibility, the program uses 2 values - brightness difference and color difference. If the colors you have selected pass BOTH tests then they are determined to be good visibility. The comparison values for brightness and color can be changed using the edit controls labeled 'brightness difference' and 'color difference'.
The arrow controls labeled 'cycle colors' are used to change the selected background or text colors. These controls will cycle through all the possible colors for background or text. You may use these controls to test how a background or foreground color will look in comparison to all the other colors.
Radio buttons in the area called 'show' are used select which color combinations are displayed. Normally this will be set to 'both' so that both good and bad color combinations are displayed in the test area. You may select that only 'good' or only 'bad' color combinations are displayed.
Chris Ridpath
May 24, 2022