WebAIM - Web Accessibility In Mind

E-mail List Archives

Re: Minimal style needed to make links accessible?

for

From: Tim Harshbarger
Date: Aug 25, 2010 7:03AM

You should be able to use the Jucy Studio contrast analyzer to determine
the difference between link and non-link text. The formula that the
contrast analyzer uses isn't necessarily specific to foreground and
background colours. The formula basically determines the luminosity
index of colours and then calculates the ratio between the two colours.

The part I am less certain about is using the success criteria for the
colour contrast between foreground/background colours to determine if
there is enough contrast between link and non-link text. Since I don't
really have a better idea to offer, I guess it will do.

My difficulty with applying the foreground/background contrast ratios to
link/non-link text is that I am uncertain that the ratios may need to be
the same. In the case of foreground and background colours, we want to
ensure there is enough contrast to read the content. With link/non-link
text we are wanting to ensure there is enough difference between the
colours that the user can identify that there is a difference.

I think it might be possible that the contrast ratio can be lower, but
since the other ratio works and I don't have a ratio to suggest, I will
keep using the ones mentioned in WCAG 2.0.

I only mention this now in case someone else might have information that
would support using a different ratio or that would help me understand
that the ratios mentioned in WCAG 2.0 are equally valid for these type
of situations.

Thanks!
Tim
-----Original Message-----
From: <EMAIL REMOVED>
[mailto: <EMAIL REMOVED> ] On Behalf Of Jeevan Reddy
Sent: Wednesday, August 25, 2010 4:45 AM
To: WebAIM Discussion List
Subject: Re: [WebAIM] Minimal style needed to make links accessible?

Hi Friends,
Jared Smith has given great explanation on Distinguishable links.
Well, As an Accessibility tester how can we predict the Contrast between
link text and non- text.
Is there any Tool to predict that? Generally i use Juicy Studio
conntrast
analyzer, but it Predicts contrast of text and back ground. Any help is
Appreciated!

On Wed, Aug 25, 2010 at 12:22 AM, Jared Smith < <EMAIL REMOVED> >
wrote:

> On Tue, Aug 24, 2010 at 9:28 AM, Karlen Communications wrote:
> > We would be waving our mice over content looking for "hot
> > spots" we could activate.
>
> Assuming one had a mouse to wave around. Beyond the issues for those
> with some motor disabilities, I also don't have a mouse on my iPhone
> or iPad (assuming I actually owned one - something I do quite often).
> All :hover, :focus, and :active styles are ignored on touch screen
> devices. Additionally, color differences alone can be quite
> unnoticeable until fully zoomed into the text. If I'm just looking for
> 'clickable' elements in a page, the lack of underline could render
> these links invisible to users of these devices despite the fact the
> user may have good vision.
>
> It's quite likely that in a few years as touch devices replace today's
> massive, terribly inefficient computers that generally require both
> keyboard and mouse that the lack of underlined links will be viewed as
> a design faux pas of today. The non-underlined links of today will be
> as the animated gifs of the late 90s.
>
> In the meantime, until designers realize the folly of not underlining
> links, the solution is simply:
> 1. Ensure there is sufficient contrast between link text and non-link
> text. WCAG 2.0 provides a good measure.
> 2. Provide a non-color designator (usually the underline) on mouse
> hover AND keyboard focus.
>
> Jared Smith
> WebAIM
>