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Web Accessibility - Priority 1

Web Accessibility: Priority 1

Web Accessibility: Color

Do Not Use Color Alone to Convey Information

For example, in addition to stating:

"Listed in red are the job requirements and the required qualifications are in purple."

use headings or another cue to indicate the different sections.

Similarly, rather than stating:

"At any point during the tutorial, you may click the green circle to continue and the red circle to go back."

try stating:

"...click the green circle to continue and the red triangle to go back."

Some Web designers remove the line from beneath hyperlink text, so that only color differentiates hyperlinks from regular text. If providing hyperlinks with no underline, provide a small graphic or other visual cue to represent a link.

Maximize Color Contrast

Enhance readability by maximizing contrast between foreground and background colors. Consider these suggestions when choosing color schemes:

Black on white is the most legible; white on black is reasonably legible; other colors on black are less legible.

Mixing yellow and black is fairly legible.

If using red or green text, make it large and bold enough to be legible in yellow.

Black on red and black on green are not legible, as some people will see them as black on black.

Combining blue and black is legible enough as long as it is not used for fine detail (e.g., paragraph text).

Combinations such as red-blue, green-yellow, green-white, green-gray (MS Windows "button gray") are poor because they have small brightness contrast and because red/green color blindness is the most common.

Lastly, avoid highly saturated backgrounds.