Font State color coding difficult to discern

MainType - Font Manager MainType - Requests and Enhancements
1

I’m new to MainType and am finding it very useful, but I’ve come across one particular issue with the program which is causing me problems. I have red-green color vision deficiency (deuteranopia), the most common form of color blindness, and it’s making it very difficult for me to distinguish between some of the round color-coded “Font State” icons in the font list. In particular, I almost can’t tell the difference between the green circles (indicating an installed font) and red circles (indicating fonts loaded by an external application):

MainType Font State colors in Font List
MainType Font State colors in Font List1200×900 184 KB

An easy, colorblindness-friendly fix to this in future editions might be to use different shapes for the Font State icons in addition to colors. We colorblind folks have no problem distinguishing between a circle and a square, after all! It would definitely make using the font list easier for folks like me.

2

Thanks for bringing this to our attention and for explaining the problem so clearly.

You are right that the Font State icons should not rely on color alone. Using different shapes, or another visual distinction, would make them much easier to identify for users with color vision deficiencies.

We will look into improving this in a future version of MainType. Your suggestion is very helpful.

3

Wow, I appreciate the fast reply! Thanks so much!