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

for

From: Caitlin Geier
Date: Jun 22, 2016 1:40PM

Hi Vanessa,

I just learned about this myself. :) It is *technically* accessible to use
bold to denote a link within surrounding text. You're not beholden to the
link color contrast guidelines if you use any other visual signifier to
differentiate links from body text. That being said, it's not particularly
usable, as bolded text could be used elsewhere in paragraph text. A user
who can't distinguish the contrast may not be able to tell the difference
between a link and regular bolded text.

As far as I know, bolding doesn't make any difference when assessing color
contrast. The guidelines only talk about font size (in pixels).

-Caitlin

On Wed, Jun 22, 2016 at 3:25 PM, Joseph Sherman < <EMAIL REMOVED> >
wrote:

> 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> >
>
> > > > >



--
Caitlin Geier
User Experience Designer
<EMAIL REMOVED>