Web Color Accessibility and WordPress Accessibility Plugins

Color accessibility is critical because it enables people with visual impairments or color vision deficiencies to interact with digital experiences like their non-visually impaired peers. If you want to use WordPress accessibility plugins, make sure they won't jeopardize your website's design, including color accessibility.

 

Accounting for accessibility early in a product's lifecycle is ideal because it reduces the time and money spent making your products accessible after the fact. Color accessibility, for example, requires some thought when selecting your product's color palette, but ensuring your colors are accessible will pay dividends in the long run. Here are some tips to help you ensure that your WordPress accessibility plugins or other products are color-accessible.

 

1. Be Mindful of the Contrast

To achieve the W3C's minimum AA rating, your website's background to text contrast ratio should be 4.5:1. When designing buttons, cards, or navigation elements, consider the contrast ratio of your color combinations. Many tools, such as Colorable, can assist you in testing the accessibility of color combinations. For example, sliders allow you to change the hue, saturation, and brightness of a color combination in real-time to see how it affects the accessibility rating.

 

2. Do Not Rely Solely on Color

You can also ensure accessibility by avoiding the use of color to convey critical system information. When it comes to error states, success states, or system warnings, include messaging or iconography that communicates what's going on. Furthermore, giving users the option to add texture or patterns to graphs or charts ensures that colorblind users can distinguish between them without worrying about color affecting their perception of the data.

 

3. Consider The Focus State Contrast

Focus states make it easier for people to navigate your site with a keyboard by providing a visual indicator around elements. They are helpful for people with visual impairments, motor deficiencies, and those who prefer to navigate using a keyboard. Browsers have a default focus state color. However, if you intend to override it within your product, it's critical to provide adequate color contrast. In addition, it ensures that people with visual impairments or color deficiencies can use focus states to navigate.