[Feature]: Colorblind support

[SebLunear]

Prerequisites

• All information in this issue is written in English. Issues containing non-English content will be closed without response.

Problem to Solve

Hi,
First : thank you for all the hard work and thank you for adding sector colors to F1 Sensor. Like 5% of the population, and 10% of the males, I’m colorblind and I’m now one step away from having a solution to a problem I’ve been having for years : not being able to see the difference between yellow and green sectors. Could you please add an option to somehow alter the colors in a future update please? Thank you very much!

Proposed Solution

An option so that we can chose the colors we want for the sectors seems to be the easiest way: everyone can chose the colors they can see.
You can also add options for the different colorblind types or write « yellow, green, purple » somewhere (but have to take all languages into account)

Alternatives

No response

[Nicxe]

Hi, and first of all thank you for raising this, it's something I haven't thought about and it's clearly a gap worth fixing.

I'm happy to add colorblind-friendly options to the cards. Before I implement it I have a few questions to make sure I do it well:

What's the scope? You mention green vs. yellow sectors, which are the "personal best" (green) and "timed" (yellow) states. There's also a purple state for the overall fastest sector. Is purple vs. green also a problem, or is it mainly yellow vs. green that's the issue for you?

Custom colors vs. presets? My initial thought is to add config options where you can set your own colors for each state (overall fastest, personal best, timed). That way anyone can pick colors they can see regardless of which type of colorblindness they have. Would that work for you, or would you prefer predefined presets (e.g. a "deuteranopia mode")?

Shape/icon as a complement? A more universally accessible approach is to also differentiate by shape or symbol, for example a small marker or icon alongside the time, so color isn't the only visual cue. Would that be useful, or is color customization alone enough?

Anything else in the card? Beyond sector and lap time colors, are there other parts of the card (flag status indicators, lap trend arrows, etc.) that are causing problems?

[SebLunear]

For me, it’s only yellow and green. I can’t see the difference. But I can see purple (I can’t tell the the difference between purple and blue but that’s not the issue here). The problem is that you want to fix this for everyone, not just for me. Maybe other colorblind will not be able to see the difference between the three colors. That’s why I think that the easiest fix is to let us chose the colors we want or write the name of the color. So, for your first question: Custom colors seems to be better.
I didn’t thought of shape/icon as a complement but it’s a really good idea, probably better than having the name of the color. I think you should do it, some people might like this.
For your last question, green flag vs yellow flag might be an issue too for me. But I manage with « track clear » to understand.
Thank you very much for replying so quickly!

[Nicxe]

Thanks for the detailed reply, this is very helpful!

The plan is to implement both: custom color settings per card so everyone can pick what works for them, and an optional shape/icon indicator alongside the time as a second visual cue independent of color. That way colorblind users have two ways to address it depending on what they prefer, and users who don't need it won't be affected.

Flag colors are noted, lower priority for now since the text label covers the key information, but I'll keep it in mind.

I'll get this added in an upcoming update for the card

[SebLunear]

Thank you soooo much! You have no idea how much it will improve my life for the better during qualifications... 🥇

[Nicxe]

Sneak peek of upcoming change, hope this will work out

[SebLunear]

That's perfect! I'm so happy right now! Thank you so much!!!

[SebLunear]

While I'm here, do you know if it's technically possible to create a new card with the track and dots moving on it for every driver? That would be an amazing feature but I don't know if you have access to this kind of information.

[Nicxe]

I do not yet know whether it is technically possible. The data is available in the API, but I am not sure whether Home Assistant can handle it properly. I have not gotten far enough to really start looking into it yet.

There is a lot of cool stuff you could do with a map, but for me at least, it is an extremely complex feature to build. It will take time to understand, learn, and figure out how to implement in a good way.

So I am not saying it cannot be done, I just do not know how to do it yet, and I am not sure whether Home Assistant is the right platform for that kind of functionality.

[Nicxe]

Thanks again for raising this. I went back through the open feature requests and this is still one I think matters. This is mainly an accessibility and card UX problem, so the challenge is getting it right in a way that helps people without making the cards more awkward for everyone else. I still think configurable colors plus an optional extra cue beyond color is the right direction here, but I do not want to over-promise scope or timing before I can give it proper attention.

[SebLunear]

Thank you!