Can’t read this? Turn on high-contrast mode
There's a chance that reading this post might be difficult because of visual impairments, older monitors or some other condition. Irrespective of these restrictions, we want everyone to enjoy using Timely
Recently we gave Timely a makeover and because it looks so amazing, I can’t recall what the old Timely looked like. The makeover included some lovely, subtle enhancements to bring even more joy to the experience.
These subtle tweaks — while beautiful — were too subtle for some of our users, particularly those with older technology. They had difficulty distinguishing between available/unavailable time on the calendar because of the poor brightness and resolution of their trusty monitors.
However, after some quick thinking by the techbots, a solution was suggested. Why not add a high-contrast setting to the calendar? Great! It was added and here’s how it works:
- Head to Setup > Calendar settings.
- Check the new Display the calendar in high contrast mode checkbox.
That’s it! Now take a look below to see the difference. Wait for it, wait for it …
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While addressing this issue it gave us pause for thought around the wider issue of accessibility. Accessibility is the idea that software can be used by everyone regardless of visual, audio, technological or other impairment.
This is a tough area and requires some careful thinking to augment the existing user experience for those with accessibility issues. Regardless, we plan to take a closer look at how to improve accessibility as we evolve Timely and as usual — we’ll keep you posted!
In the meantime, here’s some tips to try right now:
- Keyboard shortcuts: While looking at the Timely calendar, press CTRL and ? (⌘ /? on Macs) simultaneously to see a list of speed keys you can use.
- Zooming in: Press CTRL and + (⌘ /+) together to zoom in, which will enlarge fonts and images (pressing CTRL/0 OR ⌘/0 will reset).
- Text size: Most web browsers support changing font size from the settings. For example, here’s how to change the text size in Google Chrome.
- Device accessibility: Laptops, tablets, mobile phones, etc. provide a variety of accessibility options. For example, here’s Apple’s accessibility options for its mobile devices.
- Upgrade technology: Fortunately good monitors and other peripherals are ever cheaper to purchase, and they really make a difference in terms of your experience online.
These are just a few ideas and I encourage you to play around with them. If you have your own suggestions for improving accessibility for other users, feel free to leave them in the comments below.
