ECTkeyboard - Settings color balance and font sizes (11-33)

Font and Color Settings

The program allows adjusting the color of each individual element of the text matrix - buttons and their frames, the background and the font. Changing the font size is also possible.

The program uses a hexadecimal system of representation of color - HEX. Six characters of color coding are designated with the sequence RRGGBB, where RR - the proportion of red color in the palette, GG- green, and BB - blue. All other colors are derived from red, green and blue.

Each encoding symbol can have one of sixteen values: 0, 1, 2 , 3, 4, 5 , 6, 7, 8 , 9 , A, B, C, D, E, F. In this way the intensity of each of the three primary colors has 256 gradations , and the total number of shades of HEX- coding exceeds one million seven hundred and three thousand. The correct color rendition is the main problem when working with color tones, as it depends on various types of computers and monitors. There are sixteen basic and most frequently used colors:

The coding of other colors can be found in special summary tables or third-party image editors.

The order of the options in the settings panel:

Color buttons can be adjusted separately for each type of highlighting - selected row or column, active button or inactive button. All settings are grouped into four types:

Each group of settings allows you to separately change:

Let’s consider these settings in more detail.

Button frame color allows selecting in the input mode the highlighted column / row with a more contrasting border. Unlike the parameters of the "spacing between the buttons horizontally" (par. 5), and the “spacing between the buttons vertically" (par. 6 ), which simply increase the spacing between the cells, the frame will highlight just the selected row / column, and cell in them, allowing the user to quickly orient himself in the matrix. The larger is the "button frame width" value (option 7), the more contrasting becomes the matrix when a specific area is highlighted, and the easier is the selection. Using matrixes contrasting with the general background and the color tones of the cells is advised (see Fig. 13).

Various frame colors of highlighted buttons: green, blue, red. Inactive frame color - gray (Fig. 19. Various frame colors of highlighted buttons: green, blue, red. Inactive frame color - gray)

The button color changes the shape of matrix cells (see Fig. 14). Vivid color shades are recommended for patients with impaired vision or color perception problems, in other cases it is advised to choose less intense colors, in order not to increase the overall fatigue.

Various button colors of: gray , olive-green , gray- green. Inactive button color - white (Fig. 20. Various button colors of: gray , olive-green , gray- green. Inactive button color - white)

The color of the text on the button should be different from the color of the button. With light-colored buttons the text color should be black or any other dark color, and vice versa. Using contrasting colors gives greater picture clarity, which can be important in case of a distorted visual perception. If the picture “hurts the eyes", it is recommended to use a smooth, light, pastel colors for the buttons and dark colors for text. Various options are shown in the figure below (see Fig. 15).

Using different font colors: black text on a gray background, gray text on a purple background, and more contrast scheme - bright green text on a black background (Fig. 21. Using different font colors: black text on a silver background, gray text on a purple background, and more contrast scheme - bright green text on a black background)

The font size of the text directly affects the convenience of character selection in the table. The smaller are the matrix buttons the higher is the resolution of the screen, the larger font should be selected. In case of shortsightedness, astigmatism and other vision disorders it is recommended to use larger fonts which will allow the patient to work with the matrix in a more comfortable environment, stay longer focused and do not overextend the vision (see Fig. 22).

Matrix text with Arial font size 16, in the selected cell the font size is increased to 30 to improve the readability (Fig. 22. Matrix text with Arial font size 16, in the selected cell the font size is increased to 30 to improve the readability)

The background color of the keyboard is responsible for shade background underneath of the matrix buttons. If you increase the value of the “spacing between the buttons horizontally” (par. 5), and the" spacing between the buttons vertically" (par. 6), the distance between the buttons will be filled by the background. (See Fig. 23).

Dark blue and gray - green matrix background colors; The value of spacing between the cells horizontally and vertically is 15 pixels (Fig. 23. Dark blue and gray - green matrix background colors; The value of spacing between the cells horizontally and vertically is 10 pixels)

The ability to change the display settings of all cells in a matrix make ECTkeyboard easy to master, and to use.