Troubleshooting - User Verification - Use of Color

Product

Simplified Editor (Web-based CL PDF)

Advanced Editor (Web-based CL PDF)

CommonLook PDF Desktop Version

Feature

Color

Document Element

Use of Color 

Issue

Color — or another visual-only design technique — is being used as the only way to convey information in the document. Depending on the standard(s) selected in the verification phase, this can trigger a "User Verification" checkpoint. 

Symptom 

Content depends on visual perception alone to be understood. For example, in a data table, negative numbers are shown only by coloring the text red, with nothing else in the document indicating that a number is negative. 

Causes

The document was designed relying on a visual signal — color, or a formatting style — as the sole way of distinguishing or conveying meaning, with no redundant text-based or structural cue provided alongside it. 

Affected Users

People who are blind, people who are color blind (in the red/negative-number example, specifically people unable to distinguish red), and people with low vision who may not perceive the color difference clearly. People with limited vision may also struggle to read text formatted using the additional techniques listed below. 

Accessibility Guidelines

WCAG 1.4.1 Use of Color (Level A) 

Resolution Steps

Place the color-dependent content in a Span tag and give that Span appropriate Actual Text so assistive technology announces the same information that is being conveyed visually. Using the negative-number example: tag the number as a Span and set its Actual Text to "negative [number]," so a screen reader user hears that it's negative rather than just hearing the number on its own.  

Additional failures of the Color checkpoint: Other design techniques besides color are often used the same way — to convey information with no accompanying text or structural cue. Assistive technology will not detect or announce any of the following, so avoid conveying information solely through:

• ALL CAPITAL LETTERS
• Bold
• Italics
• Underlined
• Struck through (this is particularly difficult to read for people who are visually impaired)
• Inconsistent font