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Understanding and Evaluating Color and Contrast Requirements in WCAG

Scheduled at 1:45 pm in Mattie Silks on Thursday, November 14.

#39599

Speaker(s)

  • Jonathan Whiting, Director of Training, WebAIM

Session Details

  • Length of Session: 1-hr
  • Format: Bring-your-own Device Workshop: Computer with Chrome browser
  • Expertise Level: Beginner
  • Type of session: General Conference

Summary

In this workshop, we will explore all of the requirements for contrast and color use in in WCAG 2.2 We will then practice evaluating electronic documents for contrast using several free tools including the WebAIM contrast checker and link contrast checker and Chrome Developer Tools (DevTools).

Abstract

Contrast and color use are two of the trickiest areas within the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG). There is a great deal of fine print that can make these topics overwhelming for designers, developers, and others who create or evaluate web content. A custom checkbox with a text label and link needs 15 unique color and contrast checks—more if there are any error messages—and a few of these checks can be done with automated accessibility tools.

In this hands-on session, we will review color and contrast requirements in the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG), and the evolution of these guidelines in versions 2.0, 2.1, and 2.2. Among other requirements, we will explore: 1.4.1 Use of Color , 1.4.3 Contrast (Minimum), 1.4.11 Non-text Contrast, and 2.4.13 Focus Appearance (new in WCAG 2.2).

Bring your computer and practice using free tools to evaluate color use and contrast. For those who are a bit more comfortable with HTML and CSS, we will practice testing contrast using and Chrome Developer Tools (DevTools), but you do not need to be a developer to participate in this workshop.

Keypoints

  1. Only a small fraction of WCAG color and contrast requirements can be tested with automated tools.
  2. Complete evaluation of color and contrast requires a deep understanding of WCAG requirements
  3. Contrast and color use can be thoroughly evaluated using freely-available tools

Disability Areas

Vision

Topic Areas

Accessible Course Design, Uncategorized, Web/Media/App Access

Speaker Bio(s)

Jonathan Whiting

Jonathan is the director of training at WebAIM. His main passion is helping others learn to make the web more accessible to people with disabilities. With a master's degree in Instructional Technology and 20 years of experience in the field of web accessibility, Jonathan has published dozens of articles, tutorials, and other instructional resources. He has traveled extensively to train thousands of web developers and other professionals who develop or maintain web content.