The CSS Anthology: 101 Essential Tips, Tricks & Hacks- P16:Apart from writing books like this one, I write code. I make my living by building web sites and applications as, I’m sure, many readers of this book do. I use CSS to complete jobs every day, and I know what it’s like to struggle to make CSS work when the project needs to be finished the next morning. | Accessibility and Alternative Devices 277 color FFFFFF background-color transparent content h2 font 120 Georgia Times New Roman Times serif padding-bottom 3px border-bottom 1px dotted CCCCCC In Figure you can see how the page displays when the user selects the alternative style sheet from Firefox s View menu. Firefox File Edit View History Bookmarks Tools Window Help Figure . Switching to the High Contrast style sheet in Firefox Discussion Utilizing this browser functionality is easy and allows you to add valuable features for users with a minimum of effort. Typically it takes very little time to create a style sheet that tweaks the color scheme. Simply save your existing style sheet and tweak the fonts colors and layout as required. Unfortunately browser support for this feature is still limited and absent in Internet Explorer. However users who find this functionality beneficial may choose a browser specifically because it gives them access to these features. Download at 278 The CSS Anthology Look How Thoughtful I Am As very few sites utilize this feature at present it would be a good idea to let your users know that you offer alternative style sheets. Perhaps include the information on a separate page that explains how to use the site which is linked clearly from the home page. Zoom Layouts A step on from simply creating a large-print style sheet is the concept of the zoom layout. Popularized by Joe Clark the zoom layout uses CSS to refactor the page into a single-column layout with high-contrast This is most useful for visitors who use the zoom feature in modern browsers as it increases the size of the whole layout rather than just the text or use software that magnifies the screen to make reading easier. When a design is magnified in this way the sidebars often move off the side of the viewport resulting in a page that contains only essential content. Zoom layouts can make it easier for visually impaired users by enlarging the .
