AccolorHelper
AccolorHelper (accessible color helper) is a simple tool which helps you determine whether the colors you want to use can be distinguished from each other by people with color deficiencies. It will do so by showing the color as seen by these people. It will also calculate brightness and color difference values for all color combinations of your colors, so the rating of a color combination is not dependent on the viewer.

System requirements
  • Minimum JRE: 1.6.0


AccolorHelper on an eComStation machine with Open JDK
 
 


Installing AccolorHelper
Download the file accolorhelper-1.02.01.zip (126Kb). Create a directory/map "accolorhelper". Open the zip file and copy the files and the subdirectory/submap "documentation" to the new created directory/map. That's all!

The accolorhelper.cmd file
With this file the program AccolorHelper starts. I have made a accolorhelper.cmd file with the following contents; 
@echo off
set BEGINLIBPATH=[drive: java]\JAVA160ga5\bin
set path=[drive: java]\JAVA160ga5\bin
SET CLASSPATH=
[drive: accolorhelper]
cd [drive: accolorhelper]\accolorhelper
java -Duser.home=[drive: accolorhelper]\accolorhelper -jar accolorhelper-1.02.01.jar 2>accolorhelper-bugs.txt
I use 2 separate folders (directories), one for Java and one for AccolorHelper with the files created by this program. The references used in the cmd file;

  • [drive: java] = drive with Java
  • [drive: accolorhelper] = drive with AccolorHelper

should be replaced with real drive letters. Edit and save the file "accolorhelper.cmd" from the distribution. This file is copied to the "accolorhelper" folder (directory). Furthermore, different paths?, adjust according to your needs. Create a new program object. Specify the path and file name: "[drive: accolorhelper]\accolorhelper\accolorhelper.cmd". In the tabpage Session check the boxes "OS/2 window", "Running as an icon" and "Close Window to end program". In the tabpage General you can enter the name "AccolorHelper". You find enclosed in the file a suitable OS/2 icon.

Parameters / options explained
  • The specification "-Duser.home=[drive: accolorhelper]\accolorhelper" ensures that AccolorHelper will save all necessary files in own directory instead of saving them in the home directory.
  • The addition "2>accolorhelper-bugs.txt" ensures that errors are saved in the file "accolorhelper-bugs.txt". The 2 in "2>" is not a typo!

Download
In the file you can find the above command file (all driveletters are set to C:) and an OS/2 AccolorHelper icon: ecs-accolorhelper.zip.

revision December 17, 2016