Valhalla Island

Firstly I want to say that I have absolutely no trouble reading jimwhimpey.com, I don’t strain, I don’t move my face closer to the screen, I don’t bump up the text size. I find the body no more difficult to read than the titles and headings. I’m sure the large majority of people are just like me. That said, my website and web browsers are made to be easily altered by individuals to more closely suit their needs.

Chances are that if you find my website difficult to read there’s hundreds of others you find even more difficult to read. When I come across a website I find difficult to read I don’t leave an angry comment or send an email full of outrage — I press a key combination. Command + in just about every modern browser will bump up the text size (Ctrl + on Windows). Press it twice if you have to.

I see this solution as part of a universal state of mind regarding everything you do — if you can fix a problem easily yourself, shut up and just do it.

If, with the text size increased, you still can’t read my content use Firefox, use the web developer toolbar and turn styles off. Instant high contrast. It even has a keyboard equivalent.

As readable as jimwhimpey.com can get.

I don’t provide a toggle switch for a high contrast layout like 456 Berea Street and Maniacal Rage for the same reason I don’t provide spoken word audio files attached to each of my posts for blind users – they use screen readers for that exact purpose. If you don’t want to use Firefox and a plugin to make this website as readable as you require then don’t come crying to me. If you’re not prepared to help yourself I’m not going to help you.

Update — as mentioned in the comments by Chris, it’s possible to turn off styles in Firefox without a plugin, View -> Page Style -> No Style. Unfortunately there’s no keyboard equivalent.