Guideline 2: colour

Hi, I am currently reading through your "Web Content Accessibility
Guidelines". Good idea.

I have a comment on Guideline 2: "Don't rely on color alone". Your
checkpoints say "Ensure that all information conveyed with color is also
available without color, for example from context or markup." and
"Ensure that foreground and background color combinations provide
sufficient contrast when viewed by someone having color deficits or when
viewed on a black and white screen."

May I suggest adding something along the lines of "Ensure that if you
specify any one of foreground, background, and link colours, you specify
them all."? Otherwise we might have the following scenario:

Most graphical browsers have a white or light grey background by
default, on which black text shows up well. So page author A might
choose to specify that the body of his document be rendered in black.
However, user B might have set his browser to display white text on a
black background by default. Because A overrode the default with black
text, B will see black text on a black background. This wouldn't have
happened if A had specified both foreground and background colours.

Sincerely,
Philip Newton

Received on Friday, 7 May 1999 05:33:00 UTC