How do I install the Unicode Color Accessibility skill?

Run npx skillmds@latest add josiahsiegel/unicode-color-accessibility in your terminal (requires Node.js), paste this page's agent-chat prompt into Claude, Cursor, or any MCP-connected agent, or download the SKILL.md file and copy it into your agent's skills directory.

Is Unicode Color Accessibility safe to use?

This skill has not completed SkillMD's automated safety review yet. Capability flags: docs only. SkillMD never runs a skill's scripts for you; review the SKILL.md before installing.

Which AI agents work with Unicode Color Accessibility?

This skill is tagged as working with Claude Code, Claude.ai, OpenAI Codex. SKILL.md is an open format, so most agents that read a skills directory can load it too.

Is Unicode Color Accessibility free to use?

Yes. Installing skills from SkillMD is free, and the skill stays under its author's original license.

Who published Unicode Color Accessibility?

josiahsiegel (@josiahsiegel) published this skill. Their other Agent Skills are listed on their SkillMD profile.

Unicode Color Accessibility by josiahsiegel

Name: Unicode Color Accessibility
Rating: 4.2 (5 reviews)
Author: josiahsiegel

Unicode Color Accessibility

This skill should be used when the user asks about Unicode rendering, wcwidth, grapheme clusters, emoji, combining marks, East Asian width, BiDi text, box drawing, Nerd Fonts, color themes, truecolor, 256-color fallback, NO_COLOR, contrast, accessibility, screen-reader behavior, keyboard access, reduced motion, or non-TUI fallbacks. PROACTIVELY activate for: Unicode width bugs, misaligned tables, emoji layout, ANSI-aware string measurement, color accessibility, screen-reader friendly CLI design, plain output mode, ASCII fallback, and terminal theme support. Provides: text measurement rules, color/fallback policy, accessibility checklist, and failure-mode fixes.

josiahsiegel Updated Sep 9, 2026

File contents

Unicode, Color, Accessibility, and Non-TUI Fallbacks

Use this skill when terminal output must be visually correct, readable, inclusive, and robust across fonts, locales, themes, and assistive technologies.

Text correctness rules

Display width is not byte length, code point count, or user-perceived character count.
Cursor movement and deletion should operate on grapheme clusters.
Layout should measure printable text after stripping ANSI control sequences.
Double-width characters, combining marks, emoji sequences, variation selectors, and zero-width joiners must be tested.
Treat ambiguous East Asian width as narrow by default unless the target environment explicitly differs.

Visual design rules

Use semantic roles: error, warning, success, info, muted, selected, focused, disabled.
Do not encode meaning by color alone; pair color with text, shape, icon, or position.
Provide ASCII fallback for box drawing, braille charts, block elements, emoji, and private-use icons.
Avoid assuming Nerd Fonts or patched fonts.
Support light and dark backgrounds, 16-color, 256-color, truecolor, and no-color modes.

Color preferences

Respect user and environment preferences:

NO_COLOR disables non-essential color.
CLICOLOR, CLICOLOR_FORCE, and FORCE_COLOR may force color depending on ecosystem conventions.
TERM=dumb, non-TTY output, and CI usually imply plain output unless overridden.
Provide explicit flags such as --color=auto|always|never, --plain, and --ascii.

Accessibility requirements

All functionality must be keyboard-operable.
Focus indicators must be visible without relying on color alone.
Avoid flashing more than three times per second.
Allow spinner, animation, and live-region suppression for reduced motion, logs, and CI.
Provide screen-reader friendly alternatives: plain prompts, line-oriented commands, --json, --plain, or documented stdin/stdout workflows.
Use meaningful labels, stable ordering, and visible status messages.

Failure modes

Symptom	Likely cause	Fix
Misaligned tables	byte length or ANSI counted as visible width	use ANSI-aware wcwidth/grapheme measurement
Cursor splits emoji	movement by code point	move by grapheme cluster
Borders look broken	font or width mismatch	provide ASCII mode and test common fonts
Error only shown in red	color-only meaning	add text/icon/label and contrast check
Screen reader unusable	full-screen repaint grid	provide non-TUI mode and line-oriented flows

Reference files

references/text-measurement.md - Unicode width, graphemes, emoji, BiDi, and ANSI measurement.
references/accessibility-fallbacks.md - Color policy, screen-reader alternatives, and inclusive UX checklist.

---name: unicode-color-accessibilitydescription: This skill should be used when the user asks about Unicode rendering, wcwidth, grapheme clusters, emoji, combining marks, East Asian width, BiDi text, box drawing, Nerd Fonts, color themes, truecolor, 256-color fallback, NO_COLOR, contrast, accessibility, screen-reader behavior, keyboard access, reduced motion, or non-TUI fallbacks. PROACTIVELY activate for: Unicode width bugs, misaligned tables, emoji layout, ANSI-aware string measurement, color accessibility, screen-reader friendly CLI design, plain output mode, ASCII fallback, and terminal theme support. Provides: text measurement rules, color/fallback policy, accessibility checklist, and failure-mode fixes.--- # Unicode, Color, Accessibility, and Non-TUI Fallbacks Use this skill when terminal output must be visually correct, readable, inclusive, and robust across fonts, locales, themes, and assistive technologies. ## Text correctness rules - Display width is not byte length, code point count, or user-perceived character count. - Cursor movement and deletion should operate on grapheme clusters. - Layout should measure printable text after stripping ANSI control sequences. - Double-width characters, combining marks, emoji sequences, variation selectors, and zero-width joiners must be tested. - Treat ambiguous East Asian width as narrow by default unless the target environment explicitly differs. ## Visual design rules - Use semantic roles: error, warning, success, info, muted, selected, focused, disabled. - Do not encode meaning by color alone; pair color with text, shape, icon, or position. - Provide ASCII fallback for box drawing, braille charts, block elements, emoji, and private-use icons. - Avoid assuming Nerd Fonts or patched fonts. - Support light and dark backgrounds, 16-color, 256-color, truecolor, and no-color modes. ## Color preferences Respect user and environment preferences: - `NO_COLOR` disables non-essential color. - `CLICOLOR`, `CLICOLOR_FORCE`, and `FORCE_COLOR` may force color depending on ecosystem conventions. - `TERM=dumb`, non-TTY output, and CI usually imply plain output unless overridden. - Provide explicit flags such as `--color=auto|always|never`, `--plain`, and `--ascii`. ## Accessibility requirements - All functionality must be keyboard-operable. - Focus indicators must be visible without relying on color alone. - Avoid flashing more than three times per second. - Allow spinner, animation, and live-region suppression for reduced motion, logs, and CI. - Provide screen-reader friendly alternatives: plain prompts, line-oriented commands, `--json`, `--plain`, or documented stdin/stdout workflows. - Use meaningful labels, stable ordering, and visible status messages. ## Failure modes | Symptom | Likely cause | Fix | |--|--|--| | Misaligned tables | byte length or ANSI counted as visible width | use ANSI-aware wcwidth/grapheme measurement | | Cursor splits emoji | movement by code point | move by grapheme cluster | | Borders look broken | font or width mismatch | provide ASCII mode and test common fonts | | Error only shown in red | color-only meaning | add text/icon/label and contrast check | | Screen reader unusable | full-screen repaint grid | provide non-TUI mode and line-oriented flows | ## Reference files - `references/text-measurement.md` - Unicode width, graphemes, emoji, BiDi, and ANSI measurement. - `references/accessibility-fallbacks.md` - Color policy, screen-reader alternatives, and inclusive UX checklist.

Frequently asked questions