Color Contrast

Let’s discuss the color and contrast in this section.

Do you think all the users see the same color and contrast in the documents? For example, those who use magnifiers or those who operate computers in high contrast mode, can they recognize all the color and contrast which we use in our documents? No, always not. Especially, partially sighted people who use magnifiers which increase the font size of the documents and those who have color blindness they operate computers in high contrast mode. So that they can see different colors and contrasts in our documents.

Not only that, if anyone opens the document in a mobile outside environment at the time of a sunny day or if anyone opens it in the older version of the monitor, they may see different colors.

As the document creators, we can never control how users view our documents. However,

we can ensure accessibility features in our documents by applying two rules of colors and contrast.

Let’s discuss these two rules in depth.

Do not use color only, to indicate important points.

According to this rule, we shouldn’t use color only to denote any information. Instead, we can bold the word along with using color or increase the font size or we can use some shape or symbol. So that it will be beneficial for wide range of users, like: 

• people having color blindness.
• people with low vision.
• elderly people who have vision problems.
• People who are using older version of screen
• People using the document in an outside environment at the time of a sunny day.

For example, using red color in the text to indicate its importance is not good practice. Along with color if the word is bold, it will become accessible.

Sometimes, we use color coding in our document or mail. For example, we use blue color to indicate answers or for some important paragraphs. But it is not good at all because people with color blindness or who use assistive technology can’t access there. Therefore, we should avoid it as much as possible.  You can bold text along with color and let them know what there in the bold text with color is. For example, you can write – the bold blue texts are answers.

Ensure balanced color contrast between background (back) and foreground (front).

According to this rule, we should ensure balanced color contrast in our documents. The color contrast simply means the ratio between lightness and darkness of the colors used in the documents. Usually, the lightness of the background and the darkness of the for-ground is measured for accessibility. Therefore, there should be enough lightness in the background and darkness in the foreground for balanced color contrast. For example, black font text in white background is considered as the best practice.

If you want to use other colors and are interested to know their color contrast, you can access the internet where you can find some tools. They are freely available, and you can access them easily.

Summing Up

Different users view the colors used in our documents differently. The documents containing color text or components can be made accessible by focusing on two rules.  According to the rules, we shouldn’t use color only to denote any important information, instead we can add other features like bold, underline along with coloring styles. Also, we should have enough lightness in background and darkness in foreground for balanced color contrast in our documents.