Accessibility: Drop shadows are making the new lighter font-weight hard to read

WaniKani Feedback
#1

Ever since the recent switch to a lighter font, I’ve been finding it much harder to make out the kanji on the dashboard and in search results. My eyes start to hurt or lose focus while trying to look at them.

At first I thought this might just be unfamiliarity. But after investigating a bit, I think the real culprit is the aggressive drop shadow that appears under the kanji.

The current drop shadow uses a 2px vertical offset, which was fine for the heavier font, but with the lighter font it results in a “seeing double” effect that makes reading and focusing much more difficult.

I tried messing around with a 1px offset (like the meaning/reading in search results), or no drop shadow at all, and the difference in readability is huge.

It would be lovely if a similar tweak were made to the real CSS.

4 Likes
#3

Made a tiny script for you, hope it helps. https://greasyfork.org/en/scripts/403827-wanikani-smaller-icon-drop-shadows

Edit: Script removed due to prompt fix by the Wanikani team. Cheers to them!

3 Likes
#4

Surely if you read it twice at once, you’ll learn it twice as fast. :slightly_smiling_face:

7 Likes
#5

Noted. Will see if we can get this addressed.

8 Likes
#6

We have an update to address this ready, but we are going to hold off until Monday to push it out. Friday releases are a no-no.

7 Likes
#7

What could possibly go wrong with a Friday release… :stuck_out_tongue:

2 Likes
#8

Famous last words.

6 Likes
#9

Every day is a Friday if you work in embedded firmware :sweat:

#10

I don’t need that much excitement in my life :sweat_smile:

3 Likes
#11

There’s nothing quite like discovering the FIXME everyone missed after shipping 1000 devices with no internet connection.

2 Likes
#12

Hmm… I’m noticing something similar on the lessons page. I thought it was just my eyes getting bad because things look blurry. But today I noticed there is a drop shadow… Hmm… wonder if that’s why I get so spacey after a while of doing reviews!

Seriously though, I would love to get a copy of that little script you made @kernfel, so I can adapt it the lessons page. Or @viet, maybe a toggle in the preferences, so those of us with imperfect eyes can turn off the drop shadows everywhere.

Screen Shot 2020-07-11 at 10.15.21 AM

I selected the text below to show off the drop shadow…

Screen Shot 2020-07-11 at 10.12.10 AM
Screen Shot 2020-07-11 at 10.12.10 AM708×484 47.3 KB

#13

Hi @Zalathar - The drop shadows were bothering my eyes too, so I made a userscript which removes all drop shadows in Wanikani. For my eyes, this is much better. Here’s the link if you think it could help you…