I have a request and I’m wondering if others may agree. I notice on certain themes (like Beige Box, for example) that when you type an item in a list, the font doesn’t have a shadow as you type, but when you press “Done” and enter the item into your list, the item’s text gets a shadow added to it. Here is a photo so you can see what I mean:
I much prefer how the text looks without the shadow, both from an aesthetic standpoint as well as a legibility standpoint. I know this is subjective and that there is a desire to not overload Clear with too many fiddly preferences, but is there potentially a way where we can toggle/disable these shadows?
I feel like with Beige Box the drop shadow may simply not be necessary so maybe we will just adjust that one or adjust it down a lot. (Dropshadow could be a stylistic choice but also in general I would say we’ve reached for it in lower contrast themes etc. to up legibility.) Would be curious on other examples like this.
Was trying not to be nitpicky, but now that you mention it I do dislike the shadows. Think they disrupt a lot more than they help. I try to look at them through the lens of added contrast, and always conclude that things would work fine/better without them. Strawberry Milkshake sticks out to me the most, Glacial for sure, I’m sure there are more.
This has become a bit of a personal bugbear of mine also. Drop shadows definitely work better with some themes than others. For example, with the Ceramic theme, I actually quite like it as it really helps ‘lift’ the text off the background:
I’m guessing like so many other aspects of Clear, it comes down to personal preference - you’ll never be able to ‘tune’ the shadows to everyone’s satisfaction. Out of interest @phillryu how easy would it be to add a simple toggle to the Fonts menu to turn drop shadows on and off?
Meanwhile as someone with poor vision, the drop shadows help me quite a bit. I really like the drop shadows on Beige Box, for example.
Legibility is already quite dicey in Clear (not many larger font size options versus all the VERY tiny font size options, relatively few legible serif fonts, a lot of heavily stylized fonts that simply aren’t usable at all, low color contrast on many themes between font and background like e.g. Blacklight, no fonts for dyslexics whatsoever—which can be really helpful for anyone if you simply have bad eyesight, etc.).
Drop shadows are one of the few things in Clear that prioritize readability and accessibility over aesthetics. This should definitely be a complication, not something that outright changes the themes for everyone.
I really appreciate the perspective. It’s funny how something that decreases legibility for me increases it for you. Hopefully within this conversation is some opportunity for growth in terms of options for people with eyesight issues. I’m actually surprised there isn’t a font to help people with dyslexia already, I would have guessed there was before your comment just because there are so many that have been made available in the past three months and I’ve seen them elsewhere.
