Re: is any WCAG criteria to account both default and Dark mode for content

On 11/02/2023 15:55, Steve Green wrote:
> WCAG does not have any requirements relating to dark mode. It requires 
> that authors publish web content that meets the success criteria. The 
> author has no responsibility if users apply alternative colour themes.

Expanding on this, worth clarifying:

* if a user has set their preference (in the OS or application) for dark 
mode, and content does not switch to a dark theme but shows its regular 
colour scheme, that's not a failure
* if a user has set the preference for dark mode, and content does 
provide its own dark scheme (i.e. uisng @media (prefers-color-scheme: 
dark) in its CSS), *then* arguably authors are on the hook to make sure 
the colour combinations they have chosen have sufficient contrast
* if a user has forced colours using something like Windows' high 
contrast themes (which override author styles), then any problems there 
are not the author's responsibility
* jury is still out on whether or not authors are on the hook if they 
*also* defined their own custom forced colour styles (i.e. using @media 
(forced-colors: active)) - they can't actually define colours directly, 
but they *can* influence which system color combinations are being used 
(but not their contrast etc, so only allows for minor tweaks)

See also 
https://github.com/w3c/wcag/issues?q=is%3Aissue+is%3Aopen+dark+theme+whcm

P
-- 
Patrick H. Lauke

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Received on Saturday, 11 February 2023 16:23:51 UTC