The CMS does not allow editors to choose their own colors for both general design purposes and for ADA-compliance. What’s provided below is for information purposes.

Color Blindness and the Web

Using colors as a method of distinguishing between information leaves out people who cannot perceive those colors. There are various forms of color blindness: Red–green color blindness is the most common form, followed by blue–yellow color blindness and total color blindness.

Instead of just using color and using text formatting tags like “bold” <strong>, italics <em>, and “underline” <ul>; we can differentiate between information using tags that screen readers understand, and text formatting that all visual users can see.

Example of an equation as an color accessibility violation:

  • Coefficient
  • Variable
  • Operator
  • Constants

4x - 7 = 5

Example of an equation that addresses color accessibility issues through text formatting:

  • Coefficient
  • Variable
  • Operator
  • Constants

4x - 7 = 5

Example of an equation that addresses color accessibility issues through text formatting and text explanations:

  • Coefficient (figure 1)
  • Variable (figure 2)
  • Operator (figure 3)
  • Constants  (figure 4)

4(figure 1)x(figure 2) -(figure 3) 7(figure 4) = 5(figure 4)