CSS for Low Vision
Low vision covers a very broad range of conditions, and there are many more people with partial or limited vision than people who have no useful vision at all. People with low or limited vision benefit from larger, simpler, open fonts such as Arial, Verdana, Geneva, and other sans serif typefaces. Clearly contrasting colors are also an advantage. Some users set their browser or system preferences to use large fonts, and some use screen magnification software.
Cognitive disabilities also cover a large range of conditions. People who have cognitive disabilities may view the screen at standard resolution (such as 800 X 600), but may find busy pages and complicated layouts difficult or even impossible to use. As with people with limited vision, people with ADD or TBI may have trouble distinguishing foreground images and text from background materials. Some people with cognitive impairments use assistive technology that guides their attention by masking many of the elements on the screen, or highlighting the element that is the current focus. People with reading disabilities such as dyslexia may use assistive technology that combines masking techniques and screen-reading software for simultaneous visual and auditory input.
Example
Here is an example of how a user-defined style sheet made to help users with low-vision changes how the browser displays a page.
Default view
(Black text and blue links on a white background)
User-defined stylesheet view
(Larger white text and yellow links on a black background)
Links
Stylesheets for Low Vision
(http://www.cus.cam.ac.uk/~ssb22/source/lv-css.html)
NIDE CSS Generator
(http://nide.snow.utoronto.ca/CSS/CSSindex.html)
