Discord update includes options for colorblind users

Discord

Popular chat and voice service Discord has made its client easier to use for users with colorblindness. The latest update to its desktop client adds a Colorblind Mode, that makes its status icons distinct, even if you can’t distinguish between the colors its used up until now.

Discord lets you set your status to Online, Idle, Do Not Disturb, and Invisible, and a colored dot next to your name indicates which of these you’ve selected. However, these dots didn’t have any other details, and their similar values could make them very difficult or impossible to distinguish for users with various types of colorblindness.

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Colorblind Mode adds details to the dots that convey additional information, without changing their colors. Online is a solid green dot, Idle now has a pair of clock hands, Do Not Disturb has a horizontal line to make it look like a No Entry sign, and Invisible is indicated by hollow circle.

Discord’s developers said they’re working on making their platform accessible to everyone they can, and for colorblindness, the goal is to remove or rework anything in the app that relies only on color to communicate important information.

You can enable Colorblind Mode by going to User Settings, and then selecting Appearance, and clicking the toggle in Colors.

The new icons are well designed – simple and instantly recognizable. However, for now they’re only available on the desktop version of the app. Discord has some more details on colorblind mode, and on plans for future accessibility features, in this Help Center post.

The latest update also introduced the games tab, and users can now start empty group DMs and invite friends with links you can generate for them, which will be very handy for pulling Nightfall strike teams together.