Feedback: Barriers to Adoption & Developer Experience

[meodai]

Hi 👋

First of all, thank you for all the work on APCA. I'm building accessibility-aware tools and really want to integrate APCA — I believe in the goals and the research behind it.

However, after reading the license and the minimum compliance guide, I’ve had to pause. While I fully understand the need to protect the integrity of the algorithm, the current process for integration feels difficult to follow — especially for non-native English speakers like me. (+ ADHD as a bonus :D)

Some feedback:

• The licensing and compliance docs are long, legalistic, and a bit intimidating.
• It’s unclear what’s actually required for small open-source tools that just want to show Lc values.
• The distinction between “APCA-compatible,” “compliant,” “certified,” etc., is hard to navigate.
• I’m worried about accidentally violating something if I misinterpret the docs.

I want to do this right, but the current entry barrier makes it hard to justify. It feels ironic that a tool meant to improve accessibility is, itself, not very accessible to me.

I hope this is received in the spirit intended: constructive and supportive. I’d love to see APCA adopted more widely, and I think improving the developer experience would really help with that.

Thanks again,
David

For context, trying / wanting to add it to:

• https://github.com/meodai/color-name-api
• https://farbvelo.elastiq.ch/
• And the upcoming https://rybitten.space/