Digital Accessibility: Color Blindness

As any web designer will know, one of the critical elements of your website is its color scheme. However, using a variated color scheme can sometimes make content challenging to read for people with color blindness or a color vision deficiency.

But never fear! Our handy guide takes you through everything you need to know about making your websites and apps more accessible for those who have trouble seeing specific colors. 

What is color blindness?

According to the American Optometric Association (AOA), very few people are truly color blind. To be medically color blind would be the complete inability to see colors, but this is exceptionally rare. The majority of people can see variations in color but have what is called a color vision deficiency. Color blindness is an inherited trait that makes it challenging to distinguish between specific colors. 

One of the most important things to know about color vision deficiency is that there are different types. Two of the better-known deficiencies include: 

1. Red-green color deficiency: someone with this color vision deficiency usually can’t tell the difference between reds, oranges, yellows, greens, and browns. Colors in this spectrum will also look duller, and distinguishing between shades of purple may be difficult. People with red-green color blindness often can’t differentiate between reds and blacks. 
2. Blue-yellow color deficiency: also known as Tritanomaly, is a blue-yellow color deficiency, and it is not as common, predominantly occurring later in life. People living with Tritanomaly find distinguishing between blues and yellows challenging. 

Color vision deficiency can make life difficult. People with a color-vision deficiency often see neutral or gray areas where color should appear. Reading labels and judging food suitability can be challenging, and things like links and buttons online can sometimes seem impossible. Navigating websites and apps is complex, and making your site easier to use for people living with these deficiencies is crucial. 

How do I make my website accessible for color deficiencies?

Most website platforms and apps have accessibility settings, so it’s worth checking with your web host, as they’ll likely assist you with color settings. Double-check that there’s more than one option, as you’ll need a few to cover the different types previously mentioned. 

Some of the critical things you’ll need to look at to make your website accessible for people living with color vision deficiency include:

• High color contrast is best for text readability, such as font, size, and color. Use the Web Accessibility Color Contrast Checker for assistance.
• Use minimal text over backgrounds in images, such as banner ads
• Always include descriptions for images
• Emphasizing links with underlining in addition to color
• Labeling textboxes, instead of using placeholders
• Emphasizing primary buttons with borders in addition to color
• Highlighting alert and error messages in different ways, such as with symbols
• Denoting required fields in different ways, such as with asterisks
• Using cross-hatching to highlight bars on graphs (shade (an area) with intersecting sets of parallel lines)

Moving forward

An accessible site is excellent for your business, as over 25% of the population has some form of disability. That means you’re excluding a large proportion of your user or customer base by failing to accommodate disabilities. Fortunately, there are some easy and valuable ways to improve your website’s accessibility. Designing with color vision deficiency in mind is one example.

For a complete check on how well your site meets Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG), use the WCAG Compliance Checker. It will test your site for accessibility and notify you of any actions you need to take.