How to Design an Accessible Website for Color-Blind People
Colors are key to the perception of information. This is why every business has its brand colors, and people often remember brands by their colors. For instance, when we think of Starbucks, we think of green, and Coca-Cola is associated with red.
However, when designing your company's website, it's important to consider that there are people who don’t see colors the same way as others. These people are known as color blind or individuals who have color vision deficiency.
But what is color blindness, its main types, and how to design an accessible website for color-blind people?
What is Color Blindness?
Color blindness is a condition that makes it hard for people to differentiate between specific colors. Another term used to describe the condition is color vision deficiency.
Don't be surprised to learn that more than 350 million people in the world are affected by this condition with over 10 color-blind babies being born every minute.
Whether you create or update your company website, it is important to consider accessibility.
The good news is that you can perform an audit for web accessibility and start enhancing and updating your website to make it more accessible for color-blind people after completing a detailed audit.
Types of Color Vision Deficiency
People with color blindness mostly have difficulty in differentiating green and red hues, as well as some shades of blue.
If you want to improve the authority and accessibility of your website, you need to understand how the various types of color vision deficiency impact people.
Red-green Color Vision Deficiency
Persons with this condition see the green color redder. It has 4 types from mild to severe when a person can not differentiate green and red at all.
Blue-yellow Color Vision Deficiency
This comparatively rare form of color vision deficiency causes difficulty in distinguishing between various color combinations including blue, yellow, purple, green, and pink.
Complete Color Vision Deficiency
Persons with complete color deficiency are not able to see colors at all. This is an extremely rare type of color vision deficiency.
Tips to Make Your Website Accessible for Visitors with Color Vision Deficiency
Here are the top strategies for making your website accessible for visitors with color vision deficiency.
Do Not Use Only Color to Communicate Information
Avoid relying only on color to communicate information. Instead, combine color with other elements like symbols, icons, error messages, and so on. This way, you will help persons with color deficiency to grasp your message easily and correctly.
Pay Close Attention to Color Contrast
Color contrast should be effectively added to your website by setting the right brightness, tone, and color combinations. Remember to adjust brightness when contrasting colors, otherwise the elements on your website will look muddled or blended.
Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.2 mandates certain contrast ratios for certain website content types. For example, the contrast ratio of images and texts should be greater than or equal to 4.5:1 for small text and 3:1 for large-scale texts and images. So, you need to keep the required color contrast ratio to make your website accessible.
Some color-blind-friendly color combinations include blue and red, orange and yellow, blue and brown, etc.
Use Descriptive Labels for Links and Buttons
Avoid using any short labels for links and buttons. Persons with all kinds of visual impairments including color blindness depend on screen readers to access website content. These screen readers require detailed text descriptions to help users understand the context. Be sure to provide long and descriptive labels for all links and buttons on your website.
Write Descriptive Text for Images
Be sure to provide thorough and descriptive website image descriptions that are long enough for screen readers, yet avoid redundancy.
Use alternative text (ALT text) to describe all images on your website. By applying this practice, you can enhance accessibility and potentially boost your website traffic as well, enhancing your site's search engine optimization (SEO).
Use Icons and Symbols
Never skip using icons and symbols on your website. They are a great way to supplement color. Icons and symbols help to grab the users' attention. Consider using them for displaying errors, sharing information, and in other parts of your website.
You can find a ton of color-blind-friendly icons in online libraries to use for your website.
Avoid Combining Certain Colors
Along with color-blind-friendly colors, there are color combinations that you need to avoid if you want to make your website accessible for persons with color vision deficiency. These color combinations include:
green and red
green and black
green and brown
green and gray
yellow and light green
blue and green
blue and purple
blue and gray
Use Textures and Patterns
It is always a great choice to use textures and patterns, especially when you have graphs and charts on your website. When you add patterns and textures such as dots and lines, you help every item distinguish as unique and easily recognizable making your website more user-friendly for color-blind people.
Website accessibility matters more than ever. It is both a legal and moral obligation for businesses to ensure accessibility for all people regardless of their disability type.
Color-blind accessibility is a key element of the overall accessibility strategy, and you should keep it in mind when creating a new company website or making updates to an existing one. It will help you enhance user experience, boost your website’s traffic, and promote a more inclusive and fair online environment for everyone.
