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Re: conundrum with sufficient contrast on menu items

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From: Mallory
Date: Nov 18, 2017 1:27AM

> So, the contrast validators don't take into account the font family do
> they?
They don't, but the rule about the algorithm does-- it states the font
family, style (thin vs thick fonts), and OS play a role.
You'll get anywhere from 18px to 19.5px as necessary size if you're
barely passing the large-fonts exception, depending on what you use for
calculation. The font-smoothing and added fatness of fonts on MacOS for
example could mean something may just pass the algorithm on a Mac but is
too thin to pass on Windows.

tbh the hover colour has another, non-WCAG problem: it's very close to a
set of colours that "jump". Like when red sits over green, blue sitting
over orange makes some brains see the letters "move" or jump.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chromostereopsis

I would think branding guidelines could take a step back in the interest
of humans performing tasks and let the hover text colour be one of the
blacks (000, 222, 444...). It's only visible on hover/focus rather than
the page at default so if there ever could be pushback on brand, this
would be the place. A black on the orange is much, much easier on the
eyes.

cheers,
Mallory

On Sat, Nov 18, 2017, at 12:45 AM, Angela French wrote:
> So, the contrast validators don't take into account the font family do
> they? Here is a sample page I made. The menu items are 19px bold and so
> is the middle example in my main content area, but the menu items are
> larger. The difference is the font family.
>
> https://dev.sbctc.edu/_testing/test-contrast.aspx
>
>