Use Color Wisely
From the Quick Access series
April 2026 marks the federal deadline for digital accessibility under ADA Title II. At UC Davis, our commitment to accessibility will honor both the mandate and our Principles of Community as we remove barriers for all learners. Part of a series to be published during the fall of 2025, this post explores what accessibility means in practice and ways we can all contribute. Find all the posts in this series by clicking the yellow "Quick Access" label at the end of the post.
For more on campus compliance with this law, see UC Davis Digital Accessibility Program Manager Brad Starkey-Owens’ conversation on digital accessibility with Dr. Andy Jones and check the campus Accessibility site. Also consider joining the UC Accessibility Project or registering for the Universal Design for Learning Institute this fall (held each Friday this fall at 10:30AM on Zoom) for additional accessibility support.
Low color contrast can make text and images unreadable for people with vision impairments. To address this difficulty, have at least a 4.5:1 contrast ratio between adjacent colors. Find more information about text size and other contrast details.
The Canvas Accessibility Checker addresses text contrast in Canvas. The WebAIM Contrast Checker can check content outside of Canvas. Click the color bar, indicated by arrow #1 in the screenshot below, then use the eyedropper tool, indicated by arrow #2, to select colors to check. The Contrast Checker will tell you if there is adequate contrast.
In addition, use a variety of means, and not only color, to convey information. For example, if you write new vocabulary words in a different color from the rest of the text, readers who can’t perceive the difference between the two colors won’t know which words are new. A better practice is to use color along with another indicator - perhaps you underline the words as well as using a color. That way, readers aren’t relying solely on color to know which words are new vocabulary.
Be aware of color in graphs or other types of visuals as well. Even with a legend, some folks will not be able to tell the difference between a blue bar and a green bar in a bar chart, for example. Using even a simple pattern in one of the bars will allow all viewers to understand your data.
Please email [email protected] with questions or for a consultation.