Making emails safer for all customers — Stripo.e mail

Beforehand, we touched upon the significance of accessibility of on-line assets and the consideration of web-inclusive classes of customers. Nevertheless, we didn’t increase this subject offhandedly. At Stripo, we try to make our product as user-friendly as doable, retaining our members’ well-being in thoughts. This is the reason we started exploring the subject of internet inclusivity for numerous teams to enhance and adapt our product and even perhaps assist our colleagues within the business.

Exploring the influence of photosensitive epilepsy

At present, I discover the subject of photosensitive epilepsy — what causes it, who’s affected, the way it impacts those that work or spend lengthy hours at a pc, and what must be thought of when designing e mail templates to make sure they’re snug for each e mail entrepreneurs with photosensitive epilepsy and recipients who’re merely e mail customers.

Understanding the size of the difficulty

Let’s dive into the difficulty. Worldwide, 50 million individuals reside with epilepsy. Epilepsy just isn’t solely hereditary however will also be acquired in lots of instances. In easy phrases, it’s brought on by organic or structural processes within the mind that set off the situation, corresponding to head accidents, strokes, infections, and even alcohol abuse.

Roughly 3% of the worldwide inhabitants with epilepsy has photosensitive epilepsy. What does this imply? It implies that an individual can expertise a seizure when uncovered to a flashing picture, GIF, or a mixture of colours. This manifests as convulsions and non permanent confusion, which is analogous to different types of epileptic seizures, with slight variations in reactions.

Signs and results of photosensitive seizures

What does an individual really feel throughout a seizure?

• sudden overwhelming panic;
• dizziness and numbness;
• sometimes, hallucinations.

What occurs throughout a seizure? The particular person experiencing a seizure is unconscious, however their muscle groups tense up, and that is adopted by a sudden jerking of the limbs. After the seizure, the particular person might expertise complications, disorientation, muscle ache, and emotions of melancholy.

The attain of photosensitive epilepsy in e mail advertising

I’ve described all this so that each one that reads this understands how troublesome life may be for individuals with this situation. It’s essential to make sure that nothing we create in our work even hints at triggering a seizure, not to mention really inflicting one.

Let’s contemplate the size of the issue.

Day by day, 347 billion emails are despatched and acquired by 40 billion individuals world wide. If we estimate (albeit not directly) that fifty million individuals have epilepsy, we will compute that these individuals obtain roughly 433.75 million emails day by day. This means that a person with epilepsy may obtain nearly 9 emails per day. Whereas that is an approximate determine, the size remains to be hanging.

If 3% of individuals with epilepsy are photosensitive, that accounts for 13.5 million emails a day being despatched to people with this situation. Even when individuals with this situation obtain solely two emails per week, even when certainly one of them triggers a seizure, it’s extremely harmful.

Key accessibility necessities for photosensitive epileptic customers

I hope you could have been capable of grasp the magnitude of this challenge with simply this one group of web-inclusive customers. Let’s comply with all crucial pointers when designing emails to cut back the chance of triggering seizures to zero.

So, what accessibility necessities ought to we comply with for this group?

Pictures, GIFs, and movies: Probably the most harmful triggers

1. Flashing photographs lasting greater than 5 seconds are prohibited, as they will set off a seizure. Keep away from content material with flashing frequencies between 5 Hz and 30 Hz. This frequency vary is most certainly to impress seizures in individuals with photosensitive epilepsy. If flashing is important, its frequency must be lower than 3 Hz or greater than 60 Hz to attenuate the chance of seizures.
2. Greater than three flashes per second (corresponding to in a GIF) that cowl 25% or extra of the display are prohibited.
3. Transferring or repetitive patterns (for instance, in a sport) masking 25% or extra of the display are prohibited — notably these with repetition frequencies between 5 Hz and 30 Hz.
4. Static patterns masking 40% or extra of the display are prohibited.
5. Greater than eight static or 5 transferring stripes with excessive distinction — whether or not parallel, radial, curved, or straight — are prohibited. These stripes could also be oriented in any route. Transferring stripes can create extra visible stimulation that will increase the chance of photosensitive seizures.

Finest practices for textual content and fonts

Textual content and fonts are typically much less more likely to set off seizures in people with photosensitive epilepsy in comparison with environmental components corresponding to daylight flickering by means of timber. Nevertheless, keep in mind that giant textual content ought to have a distinction ratio of not less than 4.5:1 for regular textual content and three:1 for bigger textual content.

However, it’s essential to make sure the next facets in emails:

1. Keep away from fonts with skinny traces or ornamental options. Sans-serif fonts (corresponding to Arial or Helvetica) or fonts with clear, daring traces (corresponding to Verdana) are thought of extra readable.
2. Keep away from cursive or italic fonts in the principle textual content, as they will cut back readability.
3. The road peak must be not less than 1.5 occasions the font dimension for the principle textual content. This improves readability and reduces eye pressure.
4. Paragraph spacing also needs to be sufficiently extensive to make sure that the textual content is definitely readable. Spacing that’s not less than 1.5 occasions the road peak is advisable.

Necessary to notice: All the foundations for web-inclusive customers with epilepsy may be discovered within the Internet Accessibility Initiative Requirements.

Making certain applicable distinction in e mail design

Necessary to notice: Using vibrant pink and blue colours can set off a seizure!

Let’s speak a bit about distinction.

1. Display screen distinction is the ratio between the brightest white and the darkest black on the display. The advisable distinction ratio is normally 1000:1 for many duties. It’s vital to keep away from overly sharp transitions between vivid and darkish areas.
2. Colour temperature: The display colour temperature is measured in Kelvins (Okay).

   • day mode: Normally 6500K, which corresponds to pure daylight;
   • night or night time mode: 3000K–4500K, which reduces eye pressure and the chance of seizures.

3. Blue gentle discount: Some packages and gadgets enable for the discount of blue gentle depth, which might contribute to eye pressure and set off seizures in delicate people.
4. Pulse width modulation (PWM) and display flicker: It is vital to think about expertise that reduces display flicker. Flicker at low brightness ranges may be invisible to the attention however nonetheless trigger discomfort and provoke seizures. Screens with flicker-free expertise, for instance, decrease or get rid of flicker.

Designing safer emails: Sensible ideas

Design and visible accessibility

1. When creating e mail templates, contemplate the distinction between textual content and background. Use excessive distinction (corresponding to black textual content on a white background) to enhance readability and guarantee accessibility for visually impaired customers.
2. Colour temperature and blue gentle adjustment: These components may be vital for individuals studying emails at totally different occasions of the day. Decreasing brightness and utilizing hotter tones within the night might help cut back eye pressure.

Optimization for various gadgets

1. Display screen brightness and flicker have an effect on how content material is perceived, so check your templates on numerous gadgets and screens to make sure the content material is displayed appropriately and safely for all customers.

The advantages of darkish mode for photosensitive epileptic customers

Darkish mode advantages photosensitive people because it reduces display brightness, which might cut back visible pressure and reduce the probability of triggering seizures — much less gentle equals fewer potential seizure triggers. Darkish mode may also make display viewing much less aggressive on the eyes, notably in low-light situations, thereby selling general consolation.

Nevertheless, be aware of textual content distinction on a darkish background, as sharp white-on-black contrasts may cause visible discomfort, probably resulting in a seizure. Moreover, contemplate the background when creating templates, designing content material, and writing e mail copy, notably in case your emails embrace animations or interactive components.

Wrapping up

Folks with photosensitive epilepsy are most affected by flashing, blinking, and overly contrasting visible components (even static ones). To keep away from triggering painful and uncomfortable seizures, comply with the WAI requirements and supply warnings about animations, interactive content material, or any epilepsy-triggering components at first of your e mail.

Bear in mind, the effectiveness of your emails isn’t merely measured by uncooked numbers however by the consolation and security they supply to all customers.