Colorblindfriendly

Type	Python Script
Download	colorblindfriendly.py
Author(s)	Jared Sampson
License	MIT
This code has been put under version control in the project Pymol-script-repo

Introduction

Certain colors are indistinguishable to people with the various forms of color blindness, and therefore are better not used in figures intended for public viewing.

This script generates a palette of named colors for PyMOL that are unambiguous both to colorblind and non-colorblind individuals.

The colors listed here are defined according to recommendations found at J*FLY. This website is a good reference to consult when making all kinds of figures, not just those made using PyMOL.

Colors

These are the 0-255 RGB values from the J*FLY page that are used in the script, with the defined color names and alternate names.

	name	R	G	B	alternate names
	cb_black	0	0	0
	cb_orange	230	159	0
	cb_sky_blue	86	180	233	cb_skyblue, cb_light_blue, cb_lightblue
	cb_bluish_green	0	158	115	cb_bluishgreen, cb_green
	cb_yellow	240	228	66
	cb_blue	0	114	178
	cb_vermillion	213	94	0	cb_red, cb_red_orange, cb_redorange
	cb_reddish_purple	204	121	167	cb_rose, cb_violet, cb_magenta

Usage

Screenshot of the cb_colors color menu in the OpenGL GUI in PyMOL 2.0.

After importing the module, call the set_colors() function to add the colors to PyMOL's color palette. Then, use these color names just like any other named color, using the color command.

import colorblindfriendly as cbf

# Add the new colors
cbf.set_colors()
color cb_red, myObject

The colors can also be made to replace the built-in colors (i.e. they are created both with and without the "cb_" prefix.). Do this by passing the replace keyword argument.

# Replace built-in colors with cbf ones
cbf.set_colors(replace=True)
color yellow, myOtherObject   # actually cb_yellow

One can also add an entry to the color menu in the right-side OpenGL GUI. So clicking on [C], there will now be a cb_colors menu item, which expands to give all the color blind-friendly colors, except black, which is available in the grays menu.

# Add a `cb_colors` menu to the OpenGL GUI (see screenshot)
# This will also add the colors if `set_colors()` hasn't yet been run.
cbf.add_menu()

Requirements

The cb_colors GUI menu (generated by the add_menu() function) requires PyMOL 1.6.0 and later.