Application lets colorblind discern colors

February 4, 2010 at 12:00a.m.

In preparing for this article, I once again became very aware of how we take so many things for granted. We all know how horrific it would be to suddenly lose our eyesight. Yet we really don’t consider that sight actually is made up of many different elements and each one of those is just as precious.

Take color, for example. What would it be like not to be able to see colors?

Traffic lights would be a problem because not all of them are positioned vertically with red on top, yellow in the middle and green at the bottom. Many signals are positioned horizontally. So is it red on the left or right? And what about single blinking lights? Is it blinking red for stop or yellow for caution? And that’s just the beginning.

Other problems that may arise might be buying color-coordinated clothing, trying to figure out those colorful weather maps on TV, cooking meat and not being able to tell if it’s red-raw or cooked, discerning ketchup from chocolate syrup, kids using crayons in school — the list is amazingly endless.

And while total colorblindness where one only sees things in black and white is rare, I was surprised to learn that at least one male in 12 has some form of colorblindness. The affliction is more rare in women.

So you may be asking how does all of this fit into a column about computer technology? Well, if your computer has a color screen, then I just answered your question.

So how does a person who is colorblind use a computer with its color display? There are several different kinds of colorblindness, each having its own range of color-detecting deficiency.

The Red/Green colorblindness for example, is the most common form. People with this deficiency cannot discern between the colors red and green. Trying to review a color chart or graph could be just the beginning of your troubles.

All of this came to my attention when I was made aware of a computer application called eyePilot. EyePilot was designed so that anyone with any form of colorblindness can track any color on any given screen. That’s because eyePilot doesn’t depend on trying to determine what kind of color vision you have, so no testing is required.

Here’s how it works:

Working as an interactive floating window, eyePilot floats over anything being currently displayed on the screen. By clicking on anything with a color, eyePilot immediately shows you all of the elements on the screen that are the same color as the clicked on item.

Using the Gray tool, everything that is the color of the clicked item remains unchanged while it grays out all the other colors on the screen, thus making your clicked on item stand out from everything else.

This tool is ideal for tracking weather maps, color charts and anything else where it is important to track a particular color.

The Magnifier tool pops up a smaller window that helps you to zoom in for a more detailed view of colors that may be close together on the screen.

According to eyePilot, their application is also used by those with normal vision. If, for example, you find yourself having to look at copious quantities of stock market graphs that are literally crammed with different kinds of data differentiated only by their color, then eyePilot might prove to be a godsend.

By using the Gray tool, you can easily sort out and sift through all the colors on the display by making only the one of importance to you along with its color stand out from the others at any given moment.

This could let you spot a trend that may have eluded you by being buried in a virtual kaleidoscope.

Most of the time, color helps to make things stand out, but there will always be times when you need to see things in black and white. And while not everything is black and white, eyePilot is just the tool you’ll need to find that right shade of gray.

EyePilot is available for Windows (a Windows Vista and 7 version is still in the works) and Macintosh running OS X and sells for $34.

For more information, visit www.colorhelper.com.

XCraig Crossman is a national newspaper columnist writing about computers and technology. For more information, visit his Web site at www.computeramerica.com.

2010 McClatchy Tribune