Why are Inverted Colors considered an accessibility feature?

Why is it that, in most operating systems, the "Inverted Colors" display setting is considered an accessibility feature? Both Windows and OS X include this option so it seems to be a recognized feature and not a vendor-specific q…
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How can I deal with diverse gender identities in user profiles?

I’m trying to work out the wording for (preferably) a gender dropdown in a user profile of a site I’m working on. I want to be inclusive of people who don’t gender orient to either male or female ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gender_iden…
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Is there a problem with using black text on white backgrounds?

Why do a lot of websites use a text color other than #000000 black when the background is white?
For instance, this text will be displayed using a dark grey:
.post-text {
color: #333;
}
Have some studies been made on that topic?
…
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Is adding "Flag as inappropriate" button necessary for site with expiring content?

I am not sure if this is the right place to ask but we have an interesting situation going on.
We are making a web service that allows users to share files, however, they do not have to sign up and the files are only kept for 2 weeks, i.e…
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Up arrow for increase, Down arrow for decrease, what for no change?

We have a web application that lists prices of a stocks and we have a requirement to indicate a movement. When there’s an increase in price we add an up arrow, where there’s a decrease in price we add a down arrow.
My thoughts are that w…
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Is the Macintosh Menubar Preferred?

The Macintosh is one of the very few desktop operating systems that shares a central, common, menubar across all applications. Even NextStep and Be operating systems, which were founded by former Apple execs, avoided the MacOS style menub…
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Hierarchical structure design and usability

I created a website for learning languages with flashcard method. The website itself is http://www.vocableman.com
The problem I have run into is that users are complaining that they have problems with understanding the functions and the …
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How do we stop users overpaying in financial web forms?

Submitting my online council tax payment last week, I made a mistake. Instead of specifying £X.00 in a freetext payment field, I missed the dot and accidentally entered by £X000!
I’m currently waiting for my refund request, but in the mean…
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Should Navigation menu have a fix position in application with greater width?

I am developing a web app with 1280px width. Planning to keep 1024 for content and remain as Menu with fixed position. On scrolling main content the menu will not scroll.
Will this be a good for user exp?
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Making the user login again after registration

Is it a bad idea to automatically login a user after their registration was flawlessly completed? A majority of all the websites I visit does not use this behavior, which is the reason for my question:
Is there any reason why a user shou…