Inertia is not just a physical phenomenon. Inertia, through habit and tradition, also slows humanity. Many inefficiencies, big and small, clutter our lives unnecessarily. Many began as quirks of history, gaining traction only as the inertia of habit and tradition set in. One famous example is the so-called QWERTY keyboard layout that we are so familiar with. Despite more efficient layouts being designed on the heels of the QWERTY roll out early last century, no one bothered to make the switch. Despite proven efficiency gains, early adopters would not spare the time to relearn to type. Now, QWERTY is an entrenched fixture in today’s society. There is little chance now that it will ever be dethroned.
The point here is about another ineffiiency mired in history, television and movie subtitles. For historic reasons, except for closded captioning fo rthe hearing impaired, these subtitles tend to be white. Given that modern technology allows a broader palette of colors and style to choose from, something different makes sense. To be legible a white subtitle needs to be shown against a darkerbsckground. As we have all noticed, this is not always the case. So why not design a better subtitle? Simply outlining each letter in black should d guarantee suffient contest while not causing visual clutter or distraction.
Such a small change would improve everyone’s ability to read subtitles. But for the visually impaired, where reading subtitles is barely possible under the best of circumstance, this tiny change would make a real difference. So why isn’t it commonplace? Inertia is my only guess.
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