Re: Changing the Text Color of an NSMenuItem in an NSPopUpButton?
Re: Changing the Text Color of an NSMenuItem in an NSPopUpButton?
- Subject: Re: Changing the Text Color of an NSMenuItem in an NSPopUpButton?
- From: email@hidden
- Date: Thu, 16 May 2002 16:17:25 -0700
Richard Kendall Wolf wrote:
|Borrowing from the "Currency Converter" paradigm, I created a
|"Duplicate Bridge Scorer" application. ... Then it occurred to me that
|hearts and diamonds aught to be a dark red color. In my opinion, this
|will make the popup easier to use because everyone "expects" a heart
|to be red on a playing card. Wouldn't this be considered a legitimate
|reason for straying from the standard menu item text color?
Speaking as something of a "good UI" fanatic: sounds fine to me. The suit shapes add the difference to the menu items I was suggesting you aim for, so the color isn't *necessary*. As well, since the coloration is simply echoing coloration already used in the outside world, it's hardly gratutious. Rather, it strengthens the parallel with playing cards, and should make the program that much easier to use. I see no problem with it.
I pontificated:
|If so, keep in mind that not everyone can tell red from black (totally
|colorblind people will just see shades of grey, which are much less
|distinctive), so there should be something besides color that would
|also indicate whatever you'd be indicating.
He replied:
|I actually considered this possibility. I am not sure, but I thought
|that using a darker red color would work. Confessing ignorance and
|meaning no disrespect to those on the list who have difficulty
|distinguishing color, would this be a reasonable compromise (using a
|-dark- red color, that is)?
I'd go for a lighter red, myself. A dark red is more likely to turn into black than light red. (How colors look in a dimly-lit room is a fair approximation of how total colorblindness affects things. So just imagine how your red would look in dim light.) Also, even for non-colorblind people, a light (bright) red is going to be more clearly "red" than a dark one. (It does occur to me as I write, though: a lighter red might well turn into a grey that blends in with the standard menu background, which is an argument in favor of a darker red. A visible black heart is better than an invisible "red" one. Ideally, you'd find a colorblind person and test the various choices. Failing that, perhaps you can take a screenshot and run it through something that strips the color out. [GraphicConverter can do this, I believe.])
If you've considered the matter of colorblindness at all, you're ahead of a lot of the people out there.
|I am actually kind of curious about this because, during my
|consideration of it, I recalled that Apple's own currency NSFormatter
|allows negative amounts to be shown in red.
Again, though, color isn't the *only* thing distinguishing negative from positive--there's also going to be a sign (+ or -), or credit/debit indicator, or distinctive locations (think of the two columns in a checkbook register), or some such thing.
Glen Fisher
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