WebAIM - Web Accessibility In Mind

E-mail List Archives

Re: Color Contrast for Inactive User Interface Components

for

From: Jared Smith
Date: Nov 27, 2012 3:23PM

I think that this would be a valid exception to the WCAG 2.0 contrast
requirements. As noted, contrast (or the lack thereof) is the most
common way of indicating disabled controls. While some level of
contrast would certainly be advisable, if it is a disabled control,
it's clearly exempted from the requirements.

A few additional thoughts:

- It seems it would be better to simply not present the link or text
at all. This would avoid all possible confusion. It's rare to see a
Previous/Next type link like this present at all if there is no
Previous/Next.

- The link should almost certainly NOT be a link at all, but simply
text. If it is marked up as a link, there is no easy way to indicate
that it is disabled to screen reader users. You could try adding
aria-disabled="true", but the last I checked, this provided no
functionality on links, only on form controls.

Jared Smith
WebAIM