WebAIM - Web Accessibility In Mind

E-mail List Archives

Re: CSS link backgrounds

for

From: Tony Trott
Date: Jul 8, 2002 12:44PM

MessageThanks, Paul. I am just learning CSS and seeing as that background for links is so easy to implement and helpful, why is not totally standard?

Does it do anything to JAWS or Window Eyes (or any other screenreader)?

Tony
----- Original Message -----
From: Paul Bohman
To: <EMAIL REMOVED>
Sent: Monday, July 08, 2002 3:13 PM
Subject: RE: CSS link backgrounds


WebAIM did not implement this only for accessibility purposes. At the time the site was designed, it was done more for the style and "artistic" effect, if you want to call it that. Still, we were aware that such effects may be of benefit to those with low vision, or even to the general population, because links are more easily identified as such. The links become more obvious. Visual cues can be useful when used properly.

If you're wondering about the choice of yellow versus some other color, we chose yellow because of it is an eye-catching color that stands out against most backgrounds. We could have chosen orange or red, or some other color (assuming that the text is still readable when the highlighted color shows up), but yellow seemed to work better with our color scheme on the site, and its usage, as you pointed out, is fairly common.

Paul Bohman
Technology Coordinator
WebAIM (Web Accessibility in Mind)
www.webaim.org
Center for Persons with Disabilities
www.cpd.usu.edu
Utah State University
www.usu.edu