Color and Contrast
Color contrast impacts the readability of your content on the web and in print. It is especially important for users who are low vision or for users who are colorblind.
Color blindness is the decreased ability to see certain colors or distinguish differences in color. Red鈥揼reen color blindness is the most common form of color blindness, followed by blue鈥搚ellow color blindness and then total color blindness. Worldwide, there are approximately 300 million people with color blindness, almost the same number of people as the entire population of the United States.
The main symptom of color blindness is not seeing colors the way most people do. People who are color blind, may have trouble seeing:
- The difference between colors
- How bright colors are
- Different shades of colors
When creating web content, we must carefully consider the use of color. Color choices impact site visitors, who may be color blind, have low vision, or some other color-visual impairment.
There are two accessibility issues related to choice of color:
- Do not rely solely on color to convey meaning.
- Ensure that there is adequate contrast between foreground and background colors.
Avoid Using Color Alone to Convey Meaning
It is important to avoid using color alone to communicate information. For example, links in the School of Medicine (SOM) web system are colored blue. This can pose a problem to people who cannot see the color blue. They will be unable to distinguish links from surrounding text. To ensure that links are accessible, we’ve include an underline to ensure the links stand out, independent of color.
Images and Color
You do not typically need to include any information about colors in the alternative text for the images on your web site. However, if you are using images to provide an indication of function or meaning, you must include the color and/or meaning within the image’s alt text.聽If you use an image of a green circle to indicate that a ski trail you are describing is rated as an easy trail, then the ALT text for that green circle should be “green circle, easy” so that screen reader users know what is being communicated.
Provide Adequate Contrast
Color contrast refers to a calculated ratio of the difference between foreground and background colors. Some users have difficulty perceiving text if there is too little contrast. As such, we must ensure all content, such as text, links, buttons, etc., provide enough contrast so that users with low vision can see and interact with it. A high contrast ratio will also help users who are outside or in a bright environment.
Contrast between text and its background must meet required . 黑料网 adheres to the compliance for color contrast ratios. According to these standards, the contrast requirements are:
- 4.5:1 for normal sized text (standard links, body copy, etc.)
- 3:1 for large text. Large text is defined as:
- Bold font weight with an 18px or larger font size, or
- 24px or larger font size
- 3:1 for UI elements and graphics
The larger the font and wider the stroke, the more legible text will be at lower contrast. Therefore the contrast requirement for a larger font is lower. W3C recommends starting at 18px regular weight text or 14px bold text for what they deem as “large text.” The base font size for text in the School of Medicine web system is 16px and therefore does not fall within the large text size.
School of Medicine Colors
In general, the color choices on the School of Medicine (SOM) web site will be controlled by the default White Coat theme. Color, font family and font size for global elements (body content, headers, links, etc.) have been styled to ensure proper accessibility. These elements should not be modified.
There are some instances where editors are given the opportunity to select a color. In these instances it is up to our users to ensure they follow these guidelines and that they perform their own tests for compliance.
Below are the hexadecimal color codes of the primary colors used in the School of Medicine web system.
Color Example | Hex Color Code | Color Name |
---|---|---|
#e2eff8 | SOM Light Blue | |
#257cb7 | SOM Blue | |
#08446d | SOM Dark Blue | |
#000000 | Black | |
#ffffff | White | |
#ededed | SOM Light Gray | |
#2e2e2e | The default text color on SOM websites |
Are SOM Colors Accessible?
Below are various combinations of colors, using normal sized text, to demonstrate their contrast ratio and whether or not the combination is accessible. Remember, to meet WCAG 2.0 level AA conformance for color contrast, we must achieve a contrast ratio of 4.5:1 or better for normal sized text (standard links, body copy, etc.).
Example | Hex Color Codes | Contrast Ratio | Pass / Fail |
---|---|---|---|
Default text color on White background | #2e2e2e on #ffffff | 13.58:1 | pass |
Carolina Blue on White background | #4b9cd3 on #ffffff | 3:1 | fail |
SOM Blue on White background | #257cb7 on #ffffff | 4.52:1 | pass |
SOM Dark Blue on White background | #08446d on #ffffff | 10.2:1 | pass |
White on Carolina Blue | #ffffff on #4b9cd3 | 3:1 | fail |
White on SOM Blue | #ffffff on #257cb7 | 4.52:1 | pass |
Black on SOM Blue | #000000 on #257cb7 | 4.65:1 | pass |
SOM Dark Blue on SOM Blue | #08446d on #257cb7 | 2.26:1 | fail |
SOM Light Blue on SOM Blue | #e2eff8 on #257cb7 | 3.86:1 | fail |
White on SOM Dark Blue | #ffffff on #08446d | 10.2:1 | pass |
SOM Light Blue on SOM Dark Blue | #e2eff8 on #08446d | 8.72:1 | pass |
SOM Blue on SOM Dark Blue | #257cb7 on #08446d | 2.26:1 | fail |
Black on SOM Light Blue | #000000 on #e2eff8 | 17.94:1 | pass |
Default text color on SOM Light Blue | #2e2e2e on #e2eff8 | 11.6:1 | pass |
SOM Dark Blue on SOM Light Blue | #08446d on #e2eff8 | 8.72:1 | pass |
SOM Blue on SOM Light Blue | #257cb7 on #e2eff8 | 3.86:1 | fail |
#1c6fa6 on SOM Light Blue | #1c6fa6 on #e2eff8 | 4.63:1 | pass |
Black on SOM Light Gray | #000000 on #ededed | 17.94:1 | pass |
Default text color on SOM Light Gray | #2e2e2e on #ededed | 11.6:1 | pass |
SOM Dark Blue on SOM Light Gray | #08446d on #ededed | 8.72:1 | pass |
SOM Blue on SOM Light Gray | #257cb7 on #ededed | 3.86:1 | fail |
#1c6fa6 on SOM Light Gray | #1c6fa6 on #ededed | 4.63:1 | pass |
Red can be difficult to work with because the color is neither very dark nor very light and is hard to contrast to a sufficient level.
Example | Hex Color Codes | Contrast Ratio | Pass / Fail |
---|---|---|---|
Example Text | #ff0000 on #ffffff | 4.0:1 | fail |
Example Text | #cc0000 on #ffffff | 5.9:1 | pass |
Note that the default red color choice in the editor is #ff0000, which fails the contrast test. This color should be changed to #cc0000, a slightly darker red, that does provide sufficient contrast. The following video will show you how to use the appropriate red as well as choose other accessible colors.
Accessibility Videos
Improving Accessibility With Color Contrast
Discover how to identify whether the colors on your website have sufficient contrast between text color and its background.
3 min. 36 sec.
Understanding the Role of Color in Accessibility
Take the guesswork out of designing for color blindness and learn how to improve the accessibility of your websites.
4 min. 40 sec.
Resources
These free tools can help you make color-accessible choices.
- 聽– do you have an inaccessible color you wish to use? This checker will help you find the closest accessible variant.
- .
- .
- 聽– provide a url and preview what the web page looks like to a color blind person.
- – This utility allows you to upload an image in order to see how it would be viewed by users with different types of color blindness.
- – understanding success criterion.