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Re: rely on a browser's high contrast mode

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From: Patrick H. Lauke
Date: Jul 31, 2019 10:06AM

On 31/07/2019 16:28, Mike Warner wrote:
> Hi all,
>
> we've got a website redesign in process and when I pointed out contrast
> issues where we're not completely AA complaint, I was asked this:
>
> "To what degree can we rely on a browser's high contrast mode? When I turn
> on chrome's high contrast mode, it solves any contrast issues the pages may
> have had. Do we need a policy for such a thing? "
>
> I'd prefer to be at least AA as a minimum, but wanted to get expert
> opinions. I couldn't find anything that directly answered the question in
> my searches on the google.

The short answer is no, you can't rely on high contrast mode, as it may
not be available to all users.

For what it's worth, Chrome itself doesn't have a high contrast mode, it
only has an extension that would need to be separately installed.

Not all operating systems provide the same level/type of high contrast
mode. Windows' High Contrast mode is fairly unique in that it completely
overrides colors (in IE/Edge/Firefox). On other platforms like Android,
iOS, MacOS OS-level high contrast mostly (last time I looked anyway)
increase the contrast, which can actually lead to text being harder to
read (as it can wash out, say, light text on light background even further)

P
--
Patrick H. Lauke

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