The website should be easily accessible and usable by all regardless of disability, gender, age, nationality, etc. However, information disadvantaged people, including people with color disabilities, do not enjoy equal access to information and have t...
The website should be easily accessible and usable by all regardless of disability, gender, age, nationality, etc. However, information disadvantaged people, including people with color disabilities, do not enjoy equal access to information and have to take a back seat, feeling that there are limitations in the use of the website. In particular, due to the increase in the number of users of online shopping malls as a result of the new crown pneumonia, people with color deficiency are relatively unable to recognize the information that must be confirmed when purchasing products, and most websites offer a light-to-dark ratio of 3:1 or less between content and background. As a result of this inequality, an information gap has emerged, which is the reason for the lack of compliance with the Web accessibility guidelines. Therefore, in order to realize the universal value of the Web, it is necessary to consider color universal design.
In this study, considering the problem of poor proximity of website information from the standpoint of color weakness, this study observed whether a color scheme with a contrast ratio of 4.5:1 or more based on KWCAG2.1 was applied to the web navigation of 10 online shopping malls, and suggested directions for improvement. First, The basic theories of web accessibility, web navigation and color universal design were constructed through literature review, and then the colors of web navigation viewed from various perspectives were analyzed for Coupang, 11th Street, Gmarket, Auction, Interpark, Danawa, Shinsegae, Timon, Lotte On, and Wemakeprice. Based on the analysis results, a color scheme of 4.5:1 or more was proposed from all perspectives.
Therefore, the conclusion of this study are as follows.
First, among the 10 online shopping malls, only Auction and Shinsegae were found to meet the criteria of 4.5:1 or higher in contrast ratio, which is the 2.1 standard of KWCAG. Although compliance with web accessibility guideline is obligatory, many websites still did not recognize this and used color scheme that did not take into account users with various visual characteristics. Therefore, in order to bluid a color universal design environment, it is necessary to establish a management system and clear guidelines for color and color matching.
Second, all 10 online shopping malls applied color changes to LNB's accessible information, but only half of the shopping malls in the GNB used color changes or the icon bar feature. It was noted that more emphasis was placed on LNBs that contained more information about the shopping malls than GNB. While LNB contain the main categories of shopping centers, GNB also contain important content for web pages, so GNB also need to include a function to help identify information.
Third, the colors used by the 10 malls are R, GY, BG, PB, and black, with the R series being the most frequently used at 39%. In case of R-series colors, D-type and P-type visually look green, so considering this situation, we should limit red as the main color and try to use all colors that have less visual color perception changes.
Fourth, a color scheme to which a clear brightness difference is applied was proposed for the Muncell 20 color ring. First, in the case of a white background of RGB 255, 255, 255, 255, the colors of 10G, 5BG, 5B, 10B, 5PB, 10PB, 5P, 10P, and 5RP maintained a contrast ratio of 4.5:1 or more. When not using a white background but two different color schemes, 10R and 5PB, 5YR and 5BG, 10YR and 5BG, 10YR and 5B, 10YR and 10YR and 5B, 10YR and 5PB, 5Y and 5BG, 5Y and 5B, 5Y and 10B, 5Y and 5PB, 5Y and 10PB, 10Y and 5BG, 10Y and 5B, 10Y and 10B, 10Y and 5PB, 10Y and 10PB, etc. color scheme in the contrast ratio of 4.5:1 or more, so the use of such a clear difference in lightness color scheme is correct
In the future, research on the color of all websites considering the color universal design should be continuously conducted, and the establishment of management measures for equal access to information is also required. It is hoped that an Internet environment will be created in a digital information society where all members of society can enjoy equal accessibility as soon as possible.