Tuesday, February 12, 2008
Knowledge management - Using color as a semantic layer over content
On the use of color (or colour as we say in the old country) to capture semantics in textual content : Knowledge management - Using color to capture meaning
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6 comments:
Try working with a collaborator who is blind or partially sighted or colour blind. Makes it harder Sean.
Shouldn't that be "olde country"? ;)
Anonymous,
Yes, you are right. Just as color coded cables cause problems. Unlike cables though, at least here we are talking about software so we have options.
I would love a word processor with a style system integrated with the audio system so that the semantic layer could be communicated through sound. I don't think such a thing exists though.
Hearing is a very powerful sense and the human ear is incredibly sensitive to pitch changes. It is underutilized.
Sean
Dean,
Verily.
Sean
Developers have known this for years. Most editors and IDEs aimed at programmers support colour coding for keywords, variables, etc.
Because it is configurable you can choose the colour combinations which work for you; most people who are colour blind cannot distinguish between red and green but can tell the difference between blue and red or yellow and green.
Cheers, APC
Peter Coad came to the same conclusion back in 1999 in "Java Modeling in Color (sic) With UML":
http://www.informit.com/store/product.aspx?isbn=013011510X
Cheers, Tony.
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