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Also called: low vision, colour blindness, light sensitivity

Seeing & contrast

When the screen is too small, too faint, or too bright to see comfortably.

People see screens in many ways. Some have low vision and zoom in or use a magnifier. Some see colours differently, so red and green may look alike. Some find bright screens painful. Others are blind and use a screen reader that turns the page into speech or braille.

These are all everyday ways of using the web. Many people also move between them, for example on a tired day, in bright sunlight, or as their eyes change over time.

The web gets in the way when it uses faint grey text, meaning shown only by colour, layouts that break when zoomed, and images without descriptions. Good contrast, flexible layouts and text alternatives turn the same page into one that works.

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A short simulation. Then turn on the fix and notice the difference.

Simulation

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Filters approximate common experiences. Real vision differs person to person.

What gets in the way online

  • Low-contrast text, like light grey on white
  • Information shown only by colour, such as red for errors
  • Layouts that break or hide content when zoomed in
  • Images, charts and buttons without text alternatives
  • Very bright pages with no dark or softer option

What helps

  • Zooming the whole page and increasing default text size
  • Dark mode, or extensions that darken bright websites
  • Screen readers that read pages aloud or send them to braille
  • High-contrast settings and larger mouse pointers
  • Reader views that let you choose font, size and colours

Tools that help

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Every course for Seeing & contrast