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Month: April 2025

A11y 101: 1.4.11 Non-text Contrast

A11y 101: 1.4.11 Non-text Contrast

Published on April 28, 2025

We previously discussed contrast under Guideline 1.4.3 Contrast. So why is there a second AA criteria for contrast? The earlier guideline covers only text. With the introduction WCAG 2.1, we need to start being aware of the contrast of graphical items, particularly active controls. But the way we test contrast for graphics is different than how we test contrast for text, kind of…

Just as we did in testing text contrast, we’ll need a contrast checker. There are many out there, but for this article I’ll be using Level Access’s Accessible Color Picker. The one you use may be different, but the concepts should be the same.

What does WCAG say?

The visual presentation of the following have a contrast ratio of at least 3:1 against adjacent color(s):

User Interface Components: Visual information required to identify user interface components and states, except for inactive components or where the appearance of the component is determined by the user agent and not modified by the author;

Graphical Objects: Parts of graphics required to understand the content, except when a particular presentation of graphics is essential to the information being conveyed.

Technical words for technical people. Welcome to the world of writing standards!

“The visual presentation…contrast ratio of … 3:1 against adjacent colors.” Cool. We’re familiar with 3:1, we know how to use the contrast checker, let’s test!

If it were that simple

There is a key phrase here that complicates the testing, “adjacent colors.” Our control must have a 3:1 contrast ratio against adjacent colors. Colors. How often have you tried to make a color palette with three colors that all have a 3:1 ratio? If you haven’t yet, it can be quite difficult. The more colors you add to the palette, the harder it gets.

But this adjacent colors is not expecting you to have a 3:1 contrast between all colors. The second bullet contains important information too. “Parts of graphics required to understand the content…” Of course there is more to it, but let’s start here. We’ll start with a simple button for a disclosure. Let’s get our example from WCAG.

This button has blue text on a gray button. The button has a darker gray border and sits on a white background. Most people will test the background color of the button to the white. And that is one way to do it. In this case, it will result in a false positive. First, because there is a border, the gray background is not adjacent to the white. So we measured the wrong thing. We need to compare the border with both the white background and the gray button background. This is because the border defines the edge of the control. This success criterion is about discerning actionable controls.

When we do this test, we find out that neither passes.

Border of #EEEEEE against a background of #E1E1E1 showing a contrast ration of 1.127:1

The border is #E1E1E1 and the gray only has a 1.127:1 contrast.

Border of #E1E1E1 against a background of #FFFFFF showing a contrast ration of 1.308:1

When the border is against white, it only bumps up to 1.308:1. But we’re not done testing this unit. We’ve checked the border against adjacent colors and it fails. But WCAG gave us an out that the W3C is using on their own site. “Parts of graphics required to understand the content…”. What is important to understand the content? Is it the background, the border, or is it something else, say the text of the button.

The text on its own has enough contrast against the gray. No additional graphic is needed to understand the control.

Text color of #1F6DA6 and background of #EEEEEE showing a contrast ratio of 4.768:1

As seen in this image, the blue text against the gray has enough contrast to meet the 1.4.3 Text Contrast rules, and it still supports 1.4.11 despite the background failing.

Summation

When testing 1.4.11 non-text contrast:

You need a contrast checker
Check the graphic for any borders
If there are borders, use the border for the foreground
Check colors on both sides of the borders
If that fails, check the content of the control
If one of the three pass, the control passes this guideline

Thoughts, questions, have a different method? Reach me on LinkedIn and BlueSky to discuss the topic!

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A11y 101: 1.4.10 Reflow

A11y 101: 1.4.10 Reflow

Published on April 21, 2025

We live in a time where our digital device screen sizes vary. We have 1 inch watch screens, phones, tablets, and even TVs with 100 inch screens. We never know what the end use will be using for a device. Reflow is needed to adapt to many of these screens. However, the core of what reflow is about has little to do with screen size. Let’s look at what we really need to know about 1.4.10 Reflow.

320 by 256

Looking at the WCAG Quickref, we see the following:

Content can be presented without loss of information or functionality, and without requiring scrolling in two dimensions for:

Vertical scrolling content at a width equivalent to 320 CSS pixels;

Horizontal scrolling content at a height equivalent to 256 CSS pixels;

Except for parts of the content which require two-dimensional layout for usage or meaning.

Reflow talks about having no loss of functionality without having to scroll in two directions on screens as small as 256 pixels wide. It tells us that when the screen is at 256 pixels wide we can have horizontal scrolling, but not vertical. At 320, we can have vertical but not horizontal scrolling.

As a matter of good web principle, it is better to design vertically than horizontally in the majority of cases. For news, reading, and shopping it is easier to consume the content and it is the expected method of scrolling.

But what does it mean if not mobile?

Remember, we are talking about web content accessibility guidelines. For whatever reason, every time I discuss reflow with developers they automatically think it is for mobile devices. And yes, it benefits everyone on any device when implemented correctly. But so does just about everything listed under WCAG (Not all screen reader techniques benefit the able-bodied). And there is a key word that gets left out during those conversations.

Accessibility

This guideline is about making websites more accessible. Reflow wants to ensure that the site does not hide any functionality when any user is on the site. It should not obstruct, obscure, or remove functionality. This includes when that user adjusts their monitor to a different resolution.

A huge number of people on this planet have issues with vision. For most of them, a pair of glasses will correct it. We’re told by our doctors that 20/20 is the most accurate a human can expect. When a person’s vision reaches 20/200 after correction, they are considered legally blind. They have some vision though and decide to increase the resolution on their screen to read it easier. Likely they may not be aware of screen readers yet. Our volunteer here increases his screen resolution to 300% at which he can read it.

When discussing this addition to the guidelines, 1280×1024 was the most dominant screen size for desktops and laptops. There was also thinking that most disabled people are on fixed income and can’t afford current tech. This lead to thinking the disabled to be on older devices.

If we were to increase our zoom from 100% to 400% starting at 1280×1024, the page is rendered at 320×256. If something requires two way scrolling at this point, you need to revisit the reflow rules. We do not want to remove functionality, but it is ok if functionality goes into a menu or disclosure. We want to stack content in the scroll direction.

There are pieces of content that can have horizontal scrolling including carousels and tables. With carousels, ensure the controls are on the screen, but the contents can overflow. You can swipe, but provide buttons for fallback. For tables, ensure the header column is always visible with at least one other full column.

How to test

I’m not writing to a generic audience here. I hope you have deduced a method for testing, but I won’t leave you hanging. Testing is simple, set you browser viewport to 1280 by 1024. Load the page, then use Control/Command and the plus (+) key until you reach 400% zoom. Review the content to ensure nothing is removed. Make sure content is stacked or hidden by disclosures. Ensure there is no horizontal scrolling. You can flip the dimensions for horizontal scrolling sites.

Alternatively, open your developer tools in mobile emulation. You can leave zoom at 100%. Change the viewport to 320×256.

Have some thoughts or more questions on Reflow? Find me on LinkedIn or Bluesky to keep the conversation going.

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A11y 101: 1.4.5 Images of Text

A11y 101: 1.4.5 Images of Text

Published on April 14, 2025

I’ve been in developing websites for over twenty years. When I started in the industry, we had to create images of text if we wanted to use a specific font. This was necessary to make things work the way we wanted visually.

The problem of images of text is that screen readers can’t see the text. Like other images we need to provide alt text that reflects the text in the image. It was early in my career, so I tried to find a way to write. I used individual PNGs of letters with the alt text set to that letter. What I didn’t fully understand was assistive technology. My attempted method ended up with the AT announcing each letter. This is because they read each image as a separate unit of text. Spelling my name would be announced as, “N image, A image, T image.” This doesn’t help anyone.

20 years later…

The folks at the W3C’s CSS working group have been working overtime. They have provided us ways to import fonts from CDNs. We have the ability to clip with text. Drop shadows, gradients, transforms provide additional customization.

We also have SVGs. They allow us to put text directly into an image as text. This text is available to AT. This allows us to put stylized text on a path for display.

And…

We do not need to put text in our images anymore. And I’m not referring to logos. That another can of worms. We have multiple ways to add stylized text with unique fonts. We don’t need to use text in images anymore. Just don’t do it.

But…

I know what you are thinking, “My current platform doesn’t allow me to…” or “That requires me to work with IT to make changes and I don’t have many hours…”

There are always constraints. What I described earlier is a best case scenario where all conditions are right to make this problem go away. But that’s not how life works. You will need to use a custom font as an image of text at some point.

And it isn’t difficult. We treat it just like we do with other images. We use alternative text to supplement the image with a text equivalent. In the case of text in an image, that includes all the text.

If you alt text is over 150 characters, I want you to pause. When alt text gets really long it can overwhelm some users. Neuro-typical brains will probably be fine. But neuro-divergent users will have problems. This may be an area where you can break up the image into smaller images. Break the text up to match the images. You can also use figure and figcaption. Here, everything is wrapped in a figure. The alt text is placed on the image. The figcaption contains the rest of the explanatory text.

<figure>
  <img src="https://placekitten.com/200/300" alt="Text in the image." />
  <figcaption>The remainder of the the text described in the image to complete the message needed to express things.</figcaption>
</figure>

And the most important tip I can leave you with is:

Always put sentence ending punctuation at the end of your alt text.

When you don’t use closing punctuation, most AT browser combos will start reading the next item. They will read it as if it were a run-on sentence. This causes added confusion. With the punctuation in place, the AT will pause or announce the punctuation. This is determined by the user’s settings. In either case, the user understands the concepts better without the run-on sentence.

Have some thoughts on this topic? Let’s talk over on LinkedIn and BlueSky!

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A11y 101: 1.4.4 Resize Text

A11y 101: 1.4.4 Resize Text

Published on April 7, 2025

Unless you have bionic eyes, at one point or another a computer screen will become difficult to read. For most of us, we’ll reach for glasses or call to make an appointment for an eye exam. But at some point, the glasses just aren’t enough.

I just got my first pair of bifocals. I’ve been using two pairs of glasses – one for distance and one for reading. Before I got the bifocals I had already increased the resolution of my monitor to 125%. All of this to put less strain on my eyes while reading.

And that is the core reason for 1.4.4 Resize Text.

Following WCAG’s QuickRef, we see:

Except for captions and images of text, text can be resized without assistive technology up to 200 percent without loss of content or functionality.

Without assistive technology our digital assets need to increase their font size to 200%. PDFs you can zoom in on to increase the font size. To test in a browser, press CTRL or CMD and the Plus key. The browser will show you the zoom level as you do this.

Now with the page zoomed to 200%, we need to look for the following:

Are any controls hidden or otherwise inaccessible?
Is any content cut off?
Do I need to scroll in two dimensions?
Is the design broken?

You should have no problems if you’ve ensured that your fonts and containers use relative sizing like EM, REM, or percentage. This also includes viewport width or height. Text and containers will resize smoothly.

It’s 2025. Not all applications are feasible on mobile, but we need to rid ourselves of this thinking. It’s 2025 and there are so many screens in the world, we will never know what the user has. We must make our interfaces flexible. Responsive design is not “feature” we add on to be nice. It is a requirement.

Users with low vision don’t start with third-party assistive tech. They start with what they can adjust on their device. When they zoom in from 1280×1024 to 200%, the view should match what is seen on a mobile device. Comparatively, this device would have a 640×512 pixel resolution.

Enjoy this post? Have questions on it? Find me on LinkedIn and BlueSky!

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