Patch 6.1 adds new colorblind support UI

Colorblind support was added to World of Warcraft all the way back in Cataclysm, but it’s getting a big revamp in the way of a facelift and new, better controls in patch 6.1. A new Accessibility section has been added to the Interface menu, and players can access three different accessibility options from the new menu — the Movepad, UI Colorblind Mode, and Colorblind Filters. UI Colorblind Mode adds text enhancements to the UI to better define what’s being seen on the screen — for example, mousing over blue and purple gear will also add Rare and Epic to the tooltips for those items, for better clarity. Basically, anything that is usually denoted by color in game is given additional text as well, for further clarification.

The Colorblind Filters are the really nice part. You can choose from three sets of filters: protanopia and deuteranopia (Two forms of red-green color blindness), or tritanopia (Blue-yellow color blindness). You can choose which version is most applicable to you, but beyond that, there’s also a slider that allows you to adjust the strength of the adjustments made to graphics. As you move the slider, more problematic wavelengths of color, allowing you to more easily discern what’s on the screen. Colorblind options have been available for some time now, but they were never this easy to access, or this easy to adjust. It’s nice to see the feature given a proper place and controls within the UI, where people can easily find it and adjust it to suit their individual needs.