RE: Proposed Final Design for W3C Technical Reports style in 2016

fantasai [mailto:fantasai.lists@inkedblade.net] wrote:

> > Fantasai, while I appreciate that you've made the link less faint, the

> > color used (#C0C0C0) still fails a color-contrast test.

> > ( <http://snook.ca/technical/colour_contrast/colour.html#fg=C0C0C0,bg=FF> http://snook.ca/technical/colour_contrast/colour.html#fg=C0C0C0,bg=FF

> > FFFF)

> >

> > To be crystal clear, the WCAG 2.0 Recommendation only speaks of “text”

> > when referencing color contrast (so for example, it does NOT speak to

> > icons, etc.), however since **underlined text** is indeed recognized

> > as a link, I would argue that the color contrast requirement would be

> > in play here, as the underlining is part of the active text, and that

> > the visual indicator should be as visible as the text it is underlining.

> 

> It's a reasonable argument on the surface, but actually, I think the contrast

> requirement for an underline isn't as stringent.

 

Therein lies one of our problems: this has not been definitively clarified. I believe this is an open question for the Low Vision Task Force (now copied on this thread), who are addressing issues related to this user-group that were not addressed in the original WCAG 2.0 publishing time-frame. I'll gently push back on your assertion, as I believe it is the combination of text and underline - together as a visual whole - that signals to most readers that a link is indeed a link. In other words, it's not "  link text ", nor is it _______, but rather, the combination of the two:  link text

 

 

> Unlike text, for an underline you

> only need to be able to distinguish that it's there, not distinguish which of a

> variety of shapes it is.

 

Correct, the low vision user needs to distinguish that it is there. If it is too faint in color contrast, it is not perceivable.

 

> I've tried increasing the contrast, but I run into a few problems trying to do that.

> I have to balance:

>    * contrast with the foreground color, so that it's visible

>    * contrast with the text color, so that it's easy to visually filter

>      out the link style and focus on the paragraph text

>    * contrast between visited and non-visited links, so that they can

>      be distinguished

> 

> One thing I could do is to swap the darker color for unvisited links, and the

> lighter color (harder to see, but also less intrusive) for visited ones.

 

Balancing all of the functional requirements you’ve listed, I’d say that this is a compromise that might work, but I am loathe to be the final arbitrator of that decision. W3C also has a mandate to be conformant to WCAG, and how we thread this particular needle will require some consensus. I will take the Action to socialize this further inside of the WAI domain, and specifically will ask the LVTF to weigh in here.

 

> 

> > Suggestion: could you lighten the line weight, darken it and perhaps

> > use dashes or dots instead? (see in-page links at WCAG -

>  <http://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG20> http://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG20).

> > I’m not a graphics person however, so feel free to explore other

> > alternatives. Jonathan Snook’s online color contrast tool is quite

> > useful

> > there:  <http://snook.ca/technical/colour_contrast/colour.html> http://snook.ca/technical/colour_contrast/colour.html

> 

> Lightening the weight or using dashes/dots instead would allow me to follow

> the letter of the WCAG rule without actually following its

> spirit: lighter-weight or discontinuous lines are perceptually lighter in color, even

> though the screen pixels will test at a higher contrast.

> So I don't think that's actually helping real people, even though it'll help the

> color-contrast checker.

 

LVTF, do we have any research or feedback on this point that either supports or dispels?

 

> 

> I can do the opposite, though: make them thicker, so that they're easier to

> perceive even though the colors are the same. :)

> 

> It would look like this:

>     <http://fantasai.inkedblade.net/style/design/w3c-restyle/2016/sample> http://fantasai.inkedblade.net/style/design/w3c-restyle/2016/sample

 

This looks better *to me*, but again I’ll seek some other feedback going forward. Thanks for being patient Fantasai! :)

 

JF

 

> 

> ~fantasai