Color Demagnifier

Introduction

Color Demagnifier is a real-time color universal design checker. This software converts colors in a portion of the screen to assist users in checking colors that are difficult to distinguish for color-blind people.

Color Demagnifier works with almost any applications. It is a stand-alone software, not a plug-in for a specific application.

Never assume the converted colors to be what color-blind people perceive. The purpose of this software is to help selection of distinguishable colors, not to simulate color visions.

Supported Platforms

• Windows Vista and later.

  .NET Framework 4.5 is required.

• OS X 10.10 or later.

Installing Binary Distribution

On Windows, execute cdmag-[version]-win.exe to install the program. It can be uninstalled from Programs and Features in the Control Panel.

On OS X, open cdmag-[version]-osx.dmg and copy Color Demagnifier.app into your Applications folder. It can be uninstalled by removing the app from the Applications folder.

Usage

When Color Demagnifier is started, two windows are shown. One is the menu window, with which users can control the software. Another is the lens window, in which users can see the converted image.

Available options in the menu window are as follows.

• Mode

  • Track Mouse

    A transparent window (a lens window) is shown at the mouse position. Uses can see the image with colors converted through the lens window.

  • Full Screen

    The whole screen is converted.

  • Hide Lens

    Conversion window is hidden. This mode can be used to temporary disable conversion.

• Vision

  • Normal

    The image is converted to the identical colors. This option is mainly for testing purpose. If a user wants to deactivate the software temporary, "Hide Lens" mode is recommended.

  • Protanopia

    Red and green hues, which are difficult to discriminate for protanope, are converted to similar colors. The conversion matrices are taken from Viénot et al. [1]

  • Deuteranopia

    Red and green hues, which are difficult to discriminate for deuteranope, are converted to similar colors.

  • Tritanopia

    Blue and yellow hues, which are difficult to discriminate for tritanope, are converted to similar colors.

  • Grayscale

    The image is converted to grayscale.

• Options

  • Always on Top

    Show the menu window always on top of other windows.

  • Minimize to Tray

    Become an icon in the notification area when the window is minimized. The window is restored when the notification icon is clicked.

• Help

  • View Help

    Open the help (this document) in a web browser.

  • About Color Demagnifier

    Show the version and the license of the software.

Known Issues

• This software does not interact well with GTK+/Qt-based applications on Windows. Menu or toolbar items may not respond to clicks through the conversion window. To workaround this issue, switch this program into "Hide Lens" mode while operating those GTK+/Qt applications.
• Much CPU power is consumed on OS X.

References