How Color Affects Web Readability

When designing a web site, it’s straightforward (and enjoyable!) to give attention to format and content material. However one essential factor that usually will get neglected is colour. Colour performs a significant function in net accessibility, making certain that every one customers—no matter visible impairments or colour imaginative and prescient deficiencies—can simply navigate and have interaction together with your content material. 

Correct colour distinction is vital to creating textual content readable for these with low imaginative and prescient or colour blindness. On this put up, we’ll discover why colour is so necessary for accessibility and find out how to create a colour palette that ensures your web site is inclusive and user-friendly for everybody.

Why colour is necessary for accessibility 

Colour, particularly colour distinction, is central in making certain net content material is accessible, significantly for customers with visible impairments, colour blindness, or low imaginative and prescient. 

Somebody with low imaginative and prescient could wrestle to learn textual content with poor distinction, resembling mild grey textual content on a white background. Customers with colour blindness could discover it troublesome to distinguish between sure colours, resembling pink and inexperienced, if the distinction is inadequate. Excessive-contrast design helps bridge these gaps.

Not solely that, accessibility isn’t only a greatest apply—it’s changing into a authorized requirement in lots of components of the world. The European Accessibility Act (EAA), taking impact in 2025, would require digital services, together with some web sites, to fulfill sure accessibility requirements like ample colour distinction, avoiding color-dependent data, and following Internet Content material Accessibility Pointers (WCAG). Non-compliance may result in fines, making accessibility a necessary precedence for companies serving the EU market.

Past its affect on accessibility, correct colour distinction additionally advantages all customers, together with these viewing content material in difficult environments. Brilliant daylight, low-quality displays, or small display sizes could make low-contrast components tougher to see for anybody. 

What makes a colour palette accessible?

Whereas colour distinction is central to the accessibility of colour, there are different issues you are able to do to make the colour in your website much more accessible. All of those components come collectively to make sure optimum colour accessibility:

• Enough distinction: Colours should have sufficient distinction between the textual content and background to fulfill WCAG—extra on distinction ratios beneath. 
• Keep away from counting on colour alone: Info shouldn’t be conveyed by means of colour alone. For instance, add an underline to hyperlinks or use icons to assist color-coded components.
• Colour blindness issues: Select mixtures which are distinguishable for customers with widespread varieties of colour blindness, resembling red-green or blue-yellow deficiencies.
• Constant use of colour: Keep consistency in how colours are used all through your design. This helps customers rapidly perceive a component’s that means and performance.
• Testing throughout units: Colours could seem otherwise on numerous screens and beneath completely different lighting situations. Testing ensures accessibility in real-world eventualities.

By contemplating all these components, you may create a website that’s each purposeful and inclusive.

What’s a distinction ratio?

To higher perceive in case your website’s colour palette is accessible, it’s necessary to grasp how colour distinction is measured. 

Colour distinction ratio is a numerical worth that represents the distinction in luminance (mild depth) between two colours, such because the textual content and its background. It’s calculated as a ratio, with values starting from 1:1 (no distinction, e.g., white textual content on a white background) to 21:1 (most distinction, e.g., black textual content on a white background). The next ratio signifies better distinction, making it simpler for customers to tell apart between the foreground and background components.

The Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) recommends a minimal distinction ratio of 4.5:1 for many textual content and pictures of textual content, and three:1 for big textual content (a minimum of 18 point or 14 point bold and above).

Instance of a low distinction ratio

Take this instance of a lightweight inexperienced button with white textual content. It might look legible to you, however upon additional inspection, utilizing the Chrome Accessibility instruments within the Chrome browser, the distinction ratio is kind of low at 1.71:1. As such, the textual content on this button can be troublesome for a lot of customers to learn.

take a look at for accessible colour mixtures

Testing colour mixtures for accessibility is easy with the appropriate instruments. Listed here are a few of our most trusted instruments for testing colours:

1. Chrome Accessibility Report: This instrument is an easy-to-use useful resource constructed proper into the Chrome browser whenever you wish to rapidly take a look at a single web page or factor in your website. 
2. Equalize Digital Accessibility Checker: This freemium WordPress plugin from Equalize Digital goes past simply colours to make sure your website is accessible to a variety of holiday makers. 
3. WAVE Web Accessibility Evaluation Tool: A free instrument you should utilize to scan any web page in your website for accessibility points. If you’re trying to enhance colours, examine for the “distinction errors” a part of the report. 
4. Deque University contrast checker: Use this free instrument to examine a colour mixture you’re not sure about. 

Many design applications, resembling Adobe and Figma, embrace built-in accessibility instruments or add-ons that let you analyze colour distinction immediately inside your design recordsdata, permitting you to handle accessibility issues early within the design course of—even earlier than growth begins.

Some lovely, accessible colour mixtures and themes

Discovering accessible colour mixtures doesn’t imply sacrificing aesthetics. Listed here are a few of our favourite high-contrast designs in the WordPress.com theme directory:

Koinonia

The Koinonia theme is right for constructing community-focused web sites, resembling nonprofits and church buildings. It contains a clear, fashionable format with a give attention to readability and simple navigation. It adheres to accessibility requirements, with options like correct colour distinction, keyboard navigation assist, and display reader compatibility, which helps otherwise abled customers entry content material effortlessly. 

Convention

The Conference theme is thoughtfully designed for occasion and convention planners, combining performance with accessibility to create an inclusive expertise for all customers. Its design emphasizes clear, intuitive navigation and affords assist for high-contrast colour settings, making certain content material stays readable and usable for people with visible impairments. 

Fixmate

This theme from the WordPress.com team options clear, high-contrast textual content on mild backgrounds, making certain most readability for customers with visible impairments. The theme adheres to accessibility greatest practices through the use of logical heading constructions, keyboard-navigable menus, and hyperlink styling that avoids reliance on colour alone for identification.

Need a extra custom-made look? If you’re able to construct, WordPress.com makes it straightforward to define and implement an accessible color palette for your site on Premium plans and above. You may customise these themes with the colours of your selecting, however make sure to all the time confirm your colour distinction ratios and take a look at them in several contexts, resembling buttons, headers, and physique textual content. 

A last phrase on accessible colour

Accessible design is not only about assembly requirements; it’s about creating experiences that welcome everybody. By prioritizing colour accessibility, you’re taking a significant step towards a extra inclusive net.

Wish to study extra about constructing an inclusive WordPress website? Listed here are a couple of assets to get you began: