Comments on: New tool: evaluate color contrasts for WCAG 1 and 2

By: David Owens

David Owens — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 09:03:49 +0000

Cheers. I’ll take a look at that.

By: Joe Dolson

Joe Dolson — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 15:41:42 +0000

I think it’s pretty acceptable. I’ve seen a number of arguments that it’s “too strict,” but given that it’s actually less strict in many ways than the color contrast tests previously used to test contrast compliance, I think it’s reasonable.

The reasoning behind the decision can be found in Understanding WCAG 2 / Contrast (Minimum). That document includes links to the relevant specifications used for their decision making.

By: David Owens

David Owens — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 15:22:57 +0000

What do you think of the current 5:1 ratio for Level-AA in WCAG 2.0?

We find it’s a little too strict for the default version of a website. WCAG 2.0 does allow for the stronger contrast to be on an alternative stylesheet, but I prefer to have the default as accessible as possible.

It would be nice to see the research which led them to that figure.

By: Joe Dolson

Joe Dolson — Thu, 11 Sep 2008 14:42:41 +0000

I’ve looked at that page before, but (to be honest) I’ve never actually downloaded it. On the whole, for something as simple as a color comparison, it seems a bit much to download software — although the fact that it does simulations of visual disabilities is appealing.

Thanks, David!

By: David Owens

David Owens — Thu, 11 Sep 2008 11:49:12 +0000

Hi Joe,

You might want to check out the latest version of the Color Contrast Analyzer. It’s something that the company I work for use a lot when we’re designing pages.

The UI could be friendlier though, I agree. David