WCAG Compliance Guide
Everything you need to know about creating accessible, WCAG-compliant color palettes
What is WCAG?
The Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1 are international standards that ensure web content is accessible to people with disabilities, including visual impairments.
WCAG color guidelines focus on contrast ratios between text and background colors, ensuring content remains readable for users with low vision, color blindness, or other visual conditions.
15% of Population
Has some form of visual impairment
Legal Requirement
Required by ADA, Section 508, and EU law
Better UX
Benefits all users, not just those with disabilities
WCAG Compliance Levels
Requirements:
- • Normal text: 4.5:1 contrast ratio minimum
- • Large text (18pt+ or 14pt+ bold): 3:1 minimum
- • UI components: 3:1 minimum
- • Focus indicators: 3:1 minimum
Real-world Examples:
Requirements:
- • Normal text: 7:1 contrast ratio minimum
- • Large text: 4.5:1 minimum
- • All AA requirements plus enhanced contrast
- • Recommended for critical applications
When to Use AAA:
- • Government and public sector sites
- • Healthcare and financial applications
- • Educational platforms
- • High-traffic consumer websites
Using paletteIO's Contrast Checker
- 1Select your foreground (text) color
- 2Choose your background color
- 3Review the calculated contrast ratio
- 4Check AA/AAA compliance badges
- 5Preview text samples in different sizes
Green Check = Passes
Safe to use for that text size
Red X = Fails
Not accessible, choose different colors
Yellow Warning = Borderline
Consider improving for better accessibility
Best Practices & Tips
- • Test every text/background combination
- • Aim for AAA when possible, AA minimum
- • Use darker colors for better contrast
- • Test with actual content, not lorem ipsum
- • Consider users with color blindness
- • Test in different lighting conditions
- • Use paletteIO's live preview feature
- • Using color alone to convey information
- • Relying on light gray text (#999 or lighter)
- • Bright colors on white backgrounds
- • Low contrast for interactive elements
- • Assuming "it looks fine to me"
- • Ignoring focus indicators
- • Using pure red and green combinations
Safe Color Combinations
AAA ✓
AAA ✓
AAA ✓
AAA ✓
Additional Tools & Resources
- • paletteIO Contrast Checker (built-in)
- • WebAIM Contrast Checker (external)
- • Chrome DevTools Lighthouse audit
- • axe accessibility browser extension
- • Color Oracle (colorblind simulator)
Start Creating Accessible Palettes
Now that you understand WCAG compliance, put your knowledge into practice with paletteIO's built-in accessibility tools.
Questions about accessibility? Read our accessibility statement or check the troubleshooting guide.