hi I’m an rp blog like the tens of thousands of you on here, I’m also autistic and have adhd!
a lot of rpers are like me but are discouraged to join the rp community because of something very simple: themes.
how can a theme make someone feel unwelcomed? well, I’ll break it down.
AUTOPLAY: ah autoplay, the age old neurodivergent mortal enemy.
autoplay is alarming! it’s sudden and without warning and it throws off our train of thought! it can also scare people with anxiety disorders into an episode of discomfort and high alert or worse.
it’s okay to have an aesthetic playlist, but please don’t make it play automatically! give us a warning before you blast us with sound!
THE TINY TEXT: my next mortal enemy, text so small or similarly colored to the background you can’t read it! (related: text with a glow so similar you can’t read it)
tiny text is HORRIBLE for your eyes, it causes you to strain your eyes to look at text on a bright screen which gives a lot of people (me included) a headache! not to mention if you’re dyslexic, you have enough trouble already when you can actually read the words clearly!
please make your theme’s text 12px or larger so it can be clearly read!
(as a sidenote: please don’t put special characters in your tags like fancy text, it breaks the tag system and makes finding things a insurmountable task)
THE BOX THEME: there is nothing I loathe more then box themes, having to squint at a tiny box in the middle of space it could have utulized is my personal hell.
box themes are okay if they’re larger then 700 px wide and 900px tall, but having to find all of the information you’re looking for crammed into a space tinier then that is a nightmare!
please utulize the space you’re provided with!
THE UNCLEARLY MARKED LINKS: if there is anything I hate more then the box theme it is themes with links in faded triangles that look like a part of the background.
the feeling I get when I click on a rp blog and see a cluttered “aesthetic” mess can only be described as “how the literal fuck do I navigate this”
your links do not have to be traditional buttons or even have text, just please make sure they stand out and look like somethkng that can be clicked!
(it would be even more helpful if you put a mobile link navigation in your description that links to your pages with text, of you do this you are a saint)
THE BLUR AT THE BOTTOM OF A THEME (ESPECIALLY BOX POSTS): Of all the things on this list that are completely unneccesary and drive me nuts, this is the most unnecessary.
being unable to see the post you want to because it’s at the bottom of the page is annoying even if you’re neurotypical and why you would think it’s a good idea is beyond me.
don’t do this at all please.
THE GLITCHY AESTHETIC PAGE WITH A LOT OF MOVING PICTURES: so do yall hate people with epilepsy or?
if someone with epilepsy visits your page they could have an episode from the flashing lights and rapidly moving colors, it gives people without epilepsy a headache.
please don’t do this and if you do at least put a warning in your header or description.
this has been your guide to picking/editing an accessible theme, thanks!
As someone who has migraine issues people with these themes drive me up a wall because a lot of these things TRIGGER my migraines. I can’t look at small text very long because it starts to trigger my migraines. Trying to read things on blurry backgrounds triggers my migraines and blinking or moving pictures is the WORST of them all. The legit makes me nauseas. Seriously I don’t care about your aesthetic. Peoples health is more important than an aesthetic.
