Use of Color on Web Pages

General Comments:

This provision prohibits the use of color as the sole method of indicating important information on a Web page.  When colors are used as the only method for identifying screen elements or controls, persons who are color blind as well as those people who are blind or have low vision may find the Web page unusable.  This provision does not prohibit the use of color to enhance identification of important features.  It does, however, require that some other method of identification, such as text labels, be combined with the use of color.

Helpful Hints

While good Web page design often uses color effectively, pages should be fully understandable even by those who cannot discern or differentiate colors.  For example, if a Web page has one green button and one red button that are identical except for color, the Web page should not state, "press the green button to go to the next page or press the red button to start over."  Making this element accessible merely requires the buttons to be labeled: "green" and "red," or "next" and "start over."

Two simple ways to test a Web page for appropriate use of color are:

  • viewing the page on a black and white monitor;

    and
  • printing it on a black and white printer.

Department of Commerce Web Advisory Council (WAC)
U.S. Department of Commerce

Send questions and comments about this page to WAC@doc.gov
Page last updated October 12, 2010