WebAIM - Web Accessibility In Mind

E-mail List Archives

Re: Color Contrast Workaround?

for

From: Jesse Hausler
Date: Sep 22, 2014 1:39PM

Hi Ryan, Thanks for your comment. 22(c) more or less proves my point that
Section 508 doesn't have any hard requirements for color contrast ratios.
I agree with you about .21 and have long held the belief that it only
applies to thick clients. In recent years though I've had conversations
with people from many top a11y consultancies, and most (if not all?) treat
web "applications" like CRM as a .21 Software Application. It's really the
best way to cover keyboard access in a world complete with modals, hovers,
panels, menus and tabset components.

Jonathan, i've definitely seen Federal agencies flag contrast failures as
508 issues. I'm not sure what standard they're using (.31?), but I along
with the rest of us are waiting for WCAG-AA to finally become the new
Section 508. It will make things much simpler.

Since no one else has had any comment on using a dark 1px border on icons
and text.. i'll go with your initial thoughts that's a legit solution. :)

Take care everyone.
Jesse



On Fri, Sep 19, 2014 at 6:34 PM, Jonathan Avila < <EMAIL REMOVED> >
wrote:

> > >Section 508 had some leeway when it came to color combinations with
> 1194.21(b), essentially asking that applications respect user settings.
>
> At this point many Federal agencies are testing for/requiring contrast
> requirements from WCAG 2 Level AA. The baseline recommended by the CIO
> Council's accessibility committee has included this contrast requirement
> and the Section 508 refresh will almost certainly be going this route
> hopefully in addition to requiring operating system control over display
> options. Agencies have always had the ability to define procurement
> requirements around Section 508 -- getting them to be consistent and
> transparent, however, has been a challenge.
>
> Jonathan
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: <EMAIL REMOVED> [mailto:
> <EMAIL REMOVED> ] On Behalf Of Ryan E. Benson
> Sent: Friday, September 19, 2014 6:27 PM
> To: WebAIM Discussion List
> Subject: Re: [WebAIM] Color Contrast Workaround?
>
> >Section 508 had some leeway when it came to color combinations with
> 1194.21(b), essentially asking that applications respect user settings.
>
> you should be looking at 1194.22(c) for this not .21, unless you are
> creating a software application
>
> --
> Ryan E. Benson
>
> On Fri, Sep 19, 2014 at 6:15 PM, Jesse Hausler < <EMAIL REMOVED> >
> wrote:
>
> > In the sun, I don't believe there would be any difference between
> > showing a text combination that was 4.5:1 out of the box vs showing
> > 4:1 that got bumped to 4.5:1 using iOS's "Darken Colors" setting.
> >
> > The executives I am working with are very supportive of accessibility,
> > and we are working together to discuss all possible solutions for our
> users.
> > I'm trying to find out where the boundary for this guideline exists.
> >
> > Section 508 had some leeway when it came to color combinations with
> > 1194.21(b), essentially asking that applications respect user settings.
> > WCAG is much more strict requiring 4.5:1, regardless of increased
> > access to, as well as improvements in contrast enhancing AT.
> >
> > Thanks again,
> > Jesse
> >
> > On Fri, Sep 19, 2014 at 3:23 PM, Mallory van Achterberg <
> > <EMAIL REMOVED> > wrote:
> >
> > > On Fri, Sep 19, 2014 at 02:54:53PM -0700, Jesse Hausler wrote:
> > > > Back to text contrast ratios: When it comes to AT, it's difficult
> > > > to
> > > tell a
> > > > design executive who shows me the Darken Colors setting on an
> > > > iPhone
> > that
> > > > as cool as it is... it doesn't offset the 4.5:1 standard in the WCAG.
> > >
> > > Show it to the executive... in the sun.
> > >
> > > _mallory
> > > > > > > > > list messages to <EMAIL REMOVED>
> > >
> > > > > > list messages to <EMAIL REMOVED>
> >
> > > messages to <EMAIL REMOVED>
> > > >