Ubuntu
gfxboot-theme-ubuntu package

Debian-installer uses colors that are not accessible

Bug #739445 reported by Charlie Kravetz
8
This bug affects 1 person
Affects Status Importance Assigned to Milestone
Ubuntu CD Images
Fix Released
High
Colin Watson
gfxboot-theme-ubuntu (Ubuntu)
Fix Released
High
Colin Watson

Bug Description

Binary package hint: debian-installer

RELEASE: Natty Narwhal
CD/DVD VARIANT: 32bit and 64bit, Ubuntu and Xubuntu Alternate CD, Ubuntu Server CD
ISO BUILD: 2011-03-21

SYMPTOMS:
New color pallette is difficult for visually disabled to read text on light grey background

CAUSE:
Color pallete was recently changed to Aubergine background, and new colors were presented to replace DOS color pallette.

STEPS TO REPRODUCE:
1. Download either the alternate image or the server image
2. Install the cd downloaded in step 1
3. Observe difficulty reading text on the background used.

I am including a screenshot of a fresh install from 2011-03-21 that uses these new colors. The light orange and aubergine is very difficult to read. The black is not clear on the background used. Perhaps a plain white would be a better choice.

Related branches

lp:gfxboot-theme-ubuntu
Revision history for this message
Charlie Kravetz (cjkgeek) wrote :
Colin Watson (cjwatson)
affects: debian-installer (Ubuntu) → newt (Ubuntu)
Revision history for this message
Dustin Kirkland  (kirkland) wrote :

Hi Charlie,

Actually, Debian addressed this upstream in the cdebconf package. See:
 * http://lists.debian.org/debian-boot/2006/01/msg01080.html

There is a special "accessible" theme for debian-installer.

Simply add FRONTEND_BACKGROUND=dark to the kernel command line arguments. See screenshot. Thanks!

Revision history for this message
Charlie Kravetz (cjkgeek) wrote :

That is not a good answer for the disabled to have to use. Where is the kernel command line during the installation? Where is this documented during the installation? Can someone who is both physically and visually handicapped do this? Why, if Ubuntu is indeed "Accessible" does the handicapped always get the most difficult workarounds?

Revision history for this message
Dustin Kirkland  (kirkland) wrote :

Good point, Charlie. This should be easier to find.

There is an "F5 Accessibility" option that currently only offers "Braille Terminal". This should probably also offer "High Contrast" too. It merely needs to append FRONTEND_BACKGROUND=dark to the kernel command line. This would make this feature merely a keystroke or two away, and very much more discoverable.

Colin, is this something that would be possible to integrate? It looks pretty straightforward to me. I'll do a little digging and see if I can find where to stub it into the code.

Cheers,
Dustin

Revision history for this message
Dustin Kirkland  (kirkland) wrote :

Colin said that he'd handle this one.

I'm triaging it over to gfxboot-theme. Hopefully we can add "High Contrast" as another accessibility option under F5.

affects: newt (Ubuntu) → gfxboot-theme-ubuntu (Ubuntu)
Changed in gfxboot-theme-ubuntu (Ubuntu):
assignee: nobody → Colin Watson (cjwatson)
status: New → Triaged
Revision history for this message
Dustin Kirkland  (kirkland) wrote :
Revision history for this message
Charlie Kravetz (cjkgeek) wrote :

Thank you for understanding my jumbled response. This would be fantastic for the disabled user.

Revision history for this message
Dustin Kirkland  (kirkland) wrote :

One more screenshot... This is the Desktop ISO, which also has an "F5 Accessibility" option. Note that it does have "High Contrast" as one of the options. So I think this confirms that we just need to get a "High Contrast" option over to the server/alternate installs.

Revision history for this message
Colin Watson (cjwatson) wrote : Re: [Bug 739445] Re: Debian-installer uses colors that are not accessible

No, it's not just that - we need to mess around a certain amount to make
that option do the right thing for d-i. I'm familiar with all of this
and will take care of it.

Colin Watson (cjwatson)
Changed in ubuntu-cdimage:
status: New → Triaged
importance: Undecided → High
assignee: nobody → Colin Watson (cjwatson)
Changed in gfxboot-theme-ubuntu (Ubuntu):
status: Triaged → Fix Committed
Revision history for this message
Launchpad Janitor (janitor) wrote :

This bug was fixed in the package gfxboot-theme-ubuntu - 0.11.1

---------------
gfxboot-theme-ubuntu (0.11.1) natty; urgency=low

  * Add an "access-options-v1" option to gfxboot.cfg, which overrides the
    default "access=v1" kernel options used in High Contrast mode
    (LP: #739445).
  * Update translations from Launchpad.
 -- Colin Watson <email address hidden> Tue, 22 Mar 2011 14:22:32 +0000

Changed in gfxboot-theme-ubuntu (Ubuntu):
status: Fix Committed → Fix Released
Revision history for this message
Colin Watson (cjwatson) wrote :

revno: 1645
committer: Colin Watson <email address hidden>
branch nick: debian-cd
timestamp: Tue 2011-03-22 14:18:37 +0000
message:
  on d-i images, add access=v1 support, and add FRONTEND_BACKGROUND=dark to access=v1 kernel option profile (LP: #739445)

Changed in ubuntu-cdimage:
status: Triaged → Fix Released
Revision history for this message
Dustin Kirkland  (kirkland) wrote :

Excellent, thanks Colin.

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