SpringSaLaD viewer: default site colors are confusable under color blindness (#1605 audit X1)

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Assessment

Difficulty
3/5
Estimated time
1-2 days
Newbie friendliness
64/100
Issue type
Bug
Clarity
Mostly clear
Activity status
Active
Tech stack
java
Domain
accessibility

Research direction

Start from org.vcell.util.springsalad.Colors.COLORARRAY and the two default-assignment sites in SpeciesContextSpec (around lines 855 and 874), keeping existing saved model colors untouched. The palette check to satisfy is ColorAccessibilityTest (used by the #1605 remediation); extend or run it to confirm the new default sequence measures ΔE′ ≥ 10 under protan, deutan and tritan simulation. Done means new sites get the revised sequence, the test passes, and a deuteranopia-simulated screenshot of SpringSaladViewerCanvas shows each site type distinguishably; note the issue leaves options 1-3 undecided, so confirm the chosen option with maintainers first.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.

Description

Accessibility Requirement Java-based User Interface

Follow-up from the #1605 color audit, row X1 (docs/accessibility/color-audit.md).

Finding. In the SpringSaLaD particle viewer, site type is shown only by sphere color. The default colors are assigned in org.vcell.util.springsalad.Colors.COLORARRAY order (RED, BLUE, LIME, ORANGE, …; see SpeciesContextSpec around lines 855 and 874). Simulated for deuteranopia, the first 8 defaults have a worst-pair color difference of ΔE′ 2.2 (CAM02-UCS), so two of them look the same. Red/lime is the red/green pairing UConn's color guidance says to avoid.

Constraint. Site colors are model data. They are saved with the model and written by name into SpringSaLaD input files, so this is not a free palette swap. The viewer's species legend with show/hide toggles (SpringSaladSpeciesLegend) is an existing non-color way to find a site type.

Options, to decide.

  1. Change the default order for new sites only, to a sequence that measures ΔE′ ≥ 10 under protan, deutan and tritan simulation. Existing models keep their colors.
  2. Label spheres on hover or selection in SpringSaladViewerCanvas.
  3. Vary sprite size or outline per site type.

Acceptance.

  • The default sequence for new sites passes the palette check used by the #1605 remediation (ColorAccessibilityTest).
  • A reviewer can identify each site type in a deuteranopia-simulated screenshot without toggling the legend.

Related: #2072 (anchor site defaults to near-invisible DARK_GRAY). Part of #1603.

Dominant language
Java
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Forks
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Avg merge
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Merged PRs (30d)
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