Conveying information another way.
THE PROBLEM
A meaningful proportion of people cannot distinguish certain colours.
Anything communicated only by colour is lost to them.
WHERE IT HAPPENS
"Required fields are marked in red" Status indicated by a coloured dot alone Charts distinguished only by colour Links coloured but not underlined Error messages shown by turning a field red
THE FIX
Add a second signal: text, an icon, a pattern, underlining.
Required fields marked with an asterisk and stated in text. Errors shown with a message, not just a colour. Links underlined as well as coloured.
CHARTS
Use patterns, labels or direct annotation as well as colour.
A chart where three lines differ only in colour is unreadable to some people and unreadable in print.
LINKS IN BODY TEXT
Underline them. Colour alone is not sufficient contrast against surrounding text for some readers.
Many modern designs remove underlines. That is a genuine accessibility failure.
TESTING
View the page in greyscale. Anything you can no longer distinguish relies on colour alone.
