Use colour carefully
Summary: Don’t use colour alone to create meaning in content.
Some users can’t identify or distinguish between certain colours:
- colour blind users can’t use content if colour is used to communicate meaning
- people with low vision may also have limited colour vision
- screen reader uses will be affected if the colour of a piece of text means something.
Success criterion 1.4.1 of the Guidelines says:
"Colour is not used as the only visual means of conveying information, indicating an action, prompting a response, or distinguishing a visual element".
Three ways to supplement colour
Don’t stop using colour. Just make sure you supplement it so that people who can’t see the colour can still use your content.
Three things you can add to supplement colour are:
- text
- patterns or symbols
- other visual cues.