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Eizo FlexScan SX2461W-U  (Source: Gizmodo)
Eizo FlexScan SX2461W-U LCD helps colorblind users to distinguish between colors

For most computer users who spend many hours working on a computer each day, a large screen LCD display is very welcome. However, for some users -- particularly those who are colorblind -- working on a computer can be very difficult.

According to the Color Universal Design Organization in the U.S. and Europe one of every 10 to 12 males have color vision different from ordinary people and one of every 200 females does as well. Globally over 200 million people are believed to be colorblind.

For colorblind people the colors that they have the most difficulty recognizing are red, green and yellow along with other hues that are similar. The inability to distinguish between certain colors for colorblind users can make a typical large 30-inch display like the Gateway XHD3000 uncomfortable to use. 

Gizmodo is reporting that Eizo has a new 24-inch LCD display called the FlexScan SX2461W-U that is aimed directly at users who are colorblind.

The SX2461W-U uses Color Universal Design technology that uses different color schemes and shapes to help colorblind users distinguish between different colors. The display has a pair of HDCP DVI ports that allows you to use one display for two computers and some USB ports as well. This display can be used by non-colorblind users as well with different profiles available.

The price for the display is $1,275, which is in line for a 24-inch Eizo display. The contrast ratio is 850:1 and the brightness is 300 CD/m2. The SX2461W-U should be available in December.

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By munkle on 11/26/2007 4:53:56 PM , Rating: 2
I found it interesting that 1 in 10-12 males are colorblind but only 1 in 200 females are colorblind.

Also the article seems to suggest that using a larger display is somehow harder then a smaller display, why would the size affect a person that is colorblind?




By anonymo on 11/26/2007 4:59:28 PM , Rating: 2
I've always heard that females can see deeper colours than males generally (specifically colours in the violet family), so it doesn't surprise me much to see those stats.

My rational as to why the size of the display matters is that someone can see all the data on a small display in no less than a glance, but a large display requires scanning the area of the display, which I guess could make it more difficult.

I really have no idea.


By AnnihilatorX on 11/26/2007 5:31:18 PM , Rating: 1
quote:
I've always heard that females can see deeper colours than males generally (specifically colours in the violet family)


I think New Scientist once wrote it is an evolved trait in ancient times where women forged for fruits and berries


By Talcite on 11/26/2007 6:05:38 PM , Rating: 5
An evolved trait?

Color blindness is an X-linked recessive allele. The only reason it's more common in males is because males only have one x chromosome so any allele, recessive or otherwise, will be expressed.

Sure one of the reasons less women are color blind may be related to darwinian selection, but you can be sure that the reason more men are color blind is because the allele is recessive.


By AnnihilatorX on 11/26/2007 9:09:50 PM , Rating: 2
I said nothing regarding colorblindness

I only merely pointing out what I read about color sensitivity of female, that had nothing to do with colorblindness in male


By baseball43v3r on 11/26/2007 7:15:59 PM , Rating: 1
Geico commercial anybody?


By oldman42 on 11/26/2007 10:25:32 PM , Rating: 2
Maybe they link our evolutionary traits to the cavemen days because that is basically the period when mankind was still animalistic. Later things get fuddled with higher order concepts like modesty, morality, ethics, or the rest of the BS we call society.

I'm sorry but the genders are discrete. Males and females have programmed roles in nature. Deal with it.


By theapparition on 11/27/2007 10:13:17 AM , Rating: 2
Wrong,
It's thousands of years of selective breeding, all to make their decedents the ultimate clearance sale spotters.


By AntiV6 on 11/26/2007 5:00:38 PM , Rating: 2
I am technically color blind to a few different shades of green...

Hasn't held me back at all. I wonder if it is just more statistical fluff to make hypochondriacs go out and buy one these.


By Paul G on 11/26/2007 6:15:12 PM , Rating: 3
I have to say while it hasn't 'held me back' it hasn't helped me. For a bit of background, I have fairly bad colour-blindness. for instance the examples on here are all just blobs to me, can't see a single one

http://colorvisiontesting.com/what%20colorblind%20...

When I was young, I used to colour the oceans in purple rather than blue, little things like that. While those are relatively minor, I have found certain areas of IT to be a no-go zone. For instance, at my previous job, the website needed revamping, but I often didn't like the chosen colour schemes, and my colleagues thought my choices were awful too. It isn't something I really think about much, but I wouldn't say it doesn't affect me.

To be honest, if this were more reasonably priced, I would be interested. I don't really have any comprehension of what I'm missing, but it would be great to have something that enhances things a little.


By afkrotch on 11/27/2007 11:32:29 AM , Rating: 2
Damn you! I hate that stupid test. I don't see the numbers. Well, not fully color-blind. Mild from what the doctor's told me. There's the obvious ones that stick out, then the other ones look like they have the numbers, but I can't make them out. When they tell me what the number is, then I can make it out.

http://www.toledo-bend.com/colorblind/Ishihara.htm...

I can make out the top left, then all the ones on the right are a blur. I can somewhat see the number, but not enough to really grasp what that number is. The 2 bottom ones on the left are just dots. I can't see jack in those. The very bottom I can partially make out the 5, but not fully. Not enough to do it on my own.

At least I'm not to the point of coloring in oceans as purple. I've only known one guy with horrific color vision. I work in the IT field and we had HP Openview. Ya...didn't work out so well, when something was red. He couldn't tell.


By Paul G on 11/27/2007 2:45:15 PM , Rating: 2
I went to that site and had a look. I believe everyone, even those with the incredibly rare form of monochrome colour-blindness should see the first one with the 25. All the others aren't anything distinct. The one at the very bottom looks like a bunch of blobs. I think if you can partially see something, it's probably not a very good example, because you shouldn't really be able to see half a number, that's the point of the test. I imagine being more seriously colour-blind, I'm not seeing the bits that join the blobs to make either the 2 or the 5.


By jtemplin on 11/26/2007 5:01:39 PM , Rating: 4
Color blindness is a sex-linked inherited trait/disability/disease. The basic reason is that since women are XX they have redundancy that XY males do not. So a woman would need to inherit two bad copies of the gene, whereas a male only needs to inherit one. Sort of like how RAID 0 doubles the probability of failure. In other words, all your are eggs (gametes) are being put into one basket. More on this at the below link:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/X-linked_recessive


By rodrigu3 on 11/26/2007 5:09:14 PM , Rating: 2
damn, beat me to it :)


By rodrigu3 on 11/26/2007 5:05:48 PM , Rating: 3
It's because colorblindness is a sex-linked disorder. The gene appears on the x chromosome, of which males only have one. If males have even one recessive gene, they will be colorblind. Women on the other hand, have two x chromosomes and thus can be carriers without showing symptoms of the disorder if they have one recessive gene and one normal gene.


hmm
By ttnuagadam on 11/26/2007 6:04:47 PM , Rating: 2
is this not something that could be done through video drivers?




RE: hmm
By Clauzii on 11/26/2007 6:10:50 PM , Rating: 2
Yes, or by selecting another colorscheme in Windows?

So, simplified, this screen includes color-profiles (which have been included with Windows since "God-knows-when").

Amazing :O


RE: hmm
By Polynikes on 11/26/2007 6:59:22 PM , Rating: 2
Not really, Windows can only change certain things, and a program can override it, or have different colors within its GUI that the OS can't touch. Obviously colors seen on web pages won't be affected by a color scheme change at the OS level. Hence you'd need either a different version of the software being used, or special video drivers or a special monitor to change the colors globally.


RE: hmm
By Clauzii on 11/26/2007 7:07:45 PM , Rating: 2
So You are right. Build into the videodriver would be the smartest thing to do, unless every software house on the planet of course makes colorschemes an option in their programs. (A lot do already btw.) but a global selected mode will be smarter. Im with :)


RE: hmm
By noirsoft on 11/27/2007 12:30:40 AM , Rating: 2
It's not just a matter of color schemes for app widgets. If you create a data plot that includes bright yellow and bright green (common in excel, for example as two different sets of data in a scatter chart) people like me cannot tell the two data sets apart. A color scheme doesn't help if a content creator makes a bad choice like yellow and green, or teal and gray, or other combinations of colors that look the same to certain people. And, of course, the exact combinations that look identical vary depending on the type of color vision abnormality the person has.

It happens a lot in games, too. Remember Heretic? Unlike Doom's primary color key cards, Heretic had both yellow and green keys. I could not tell which key opened which door. And those games that change some bit of text from green to yellow to indicate a status change? Might as well not do it in my case. Bubble popping games where you need to match from 8 differently colored bubbles of the exact same shape? Completely unplayable. Another reason not to play the Myst games: One of them had a color matching puzzle where you saw a colored dot through a telescope, and had to match it up to the same colored dot somewhere else in the game. If I didn't have someone with me when I played that part, I could not have solved that puzzle at all.

A monitor that had the ability to intercept the raw RGB signals, and alter the colors to make the contrast more noticeable between different colors would be a great boon for us poor genetic rejects. :)