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FW: non-underlined link - will bolding meet contrast requirement?

for

From: Joseph Sherman
Date: Jun 22, 2016 1:25PM

Forwarding for a colleague:

Hello,

I'm working with someone who has an externally-imposed stylesheet that has non-underlined links. These links do not meet the color contrast guidelines for non-underlined links<https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__webaim.org_blog_wcag-2D2-2D0-2Dand-2Dlink-2Dcolors_&d=CwMFAg&c=mRWFL96tuqj9V0Jjj4h40ddo0XsmttALwKjAEOCyUjY&r=NS7sMOEYVINwm3e4REboGQG-NnI841o0NWYqtIwWJ4U&m=P2vQSSDkXItr07tVBAKy_srbkrW6ORI9SU4DYjvt-3Y&s=CwjT4vpxlSY2q93bB2Jm2yltudtKKF4AiR-G6OgCjrM&e=>. The workaround this person uses is to bold the links since it is not currently possible to change the stylesheet to allow underlines. (Though I do believe the link will underline on focus)

Will bolding the links suffice for meeting the guidelines? (i.e., can we substitute bolding for underlines and not need to worry about the more stringent color contrast guidelines for non-underlined links?)

Thanks,
Vanessa

p.s. Along those same lines, I'm unclear on the relationship between bolding and color contrast. If foreground and background colors do not pass using the contrast checker, does bolding make any difference in the contrast assessment?


Vanessa Preast, Ph.D. DVM
Digital Accessibility & Instructional Specialist

Des Moines University
Center for Teaching and Learning
3200 Grand Avenue
Des Moines, IA 50312

515.271.1535
<EMAIL REMOVED> <mailto: <EMAIL REMOVED> >