Web Accessibility at the University of California

Use Color Judiciously

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The Challenge
People who are color-blind will not necessarily see every color on a Web page. This is a problem if color is used as the only mechanism to indicate important information. For example, someone who can't see red and green won't distinguish between "stop" and "go" buttons in those colors, unless text is also included in the button.

Solutions

• Provide alternate text (alt text) when using color to indicate important information, such as a route on a map.
• Test your pages to ensure no meaning is lost when you remove color.
• Use Cascading Style Sheets to allow users to modify the screen according to their own visual needs for color.

Additional Information

• WebAIM article on color blindness
• WebAIM article on creating accessible CSS