Michael Gearon

New accessibility features with Chrome 82

Michael Gearon

Google Chrome are rolling out a new feature with Chrome DevTools to give designers and developers the ability to test their web apps for different accessibility needs. According to ColourBlindAwareness.org, color vision deficiency (also known as CVD, or “color blindness”) affects approximately 300 million people world-wide.

That’s almost the same number of people as the entire population of the USA!

Yet, DevTools doesn’t currently assist web developers in ensuring they build accessible experiences for people affected by such CVDs.

The most common forms of CVD are:

  • deuteranomaly, a reduced sensitivity to green light
  • deuteranopia, the inability to perceive green light
  • protanomaly, a reduced sensitivity to red light
  • protanopia, the inability to perceive red light

There are also less common forms:

  • tritanomaly, a reduced sensitivity to blue light (extremely rare)
  • tritanopia, the inability to perceive blue light
  • achromatomaly, a reduced sensitivity to green, red, and blue light (extremely rare)
  • achromatopsia (monochromacy), the inability to perceive any color except for shades of grey (extremely rare)
Michael Gearon

Written by

Michael Gearon

Senior Interaction Designer and Co-Author to Tiny CSS Projects