Dropped $30 on a dark theme palette generator and it actually fixed my contrast problems

I used to just guess my dark mode colors by eye, tweaking hex codes until things looked okay. Last week I finally caved and bought a proper palette generator that checks WCAG contrast ratios automatically. Turns out my "dark gray" background was way too light for people with astigmatism. Now my buttons actually pass AAA ratings. Anyone else just eyeball contrast and hope for the best?

2 comments

2 Comments

wren3011d agoMost Upvoted

You mentioned "AAA ratings" which is a common misunderstanding. WCAG contrast minimums cap out at AA for most content, AAA is only for specific things like large text or UI components. Your buttons would need a 7:1 ratio for AAA, which is overkill for a button background. You're probably hitting AA at most even with the generator.

blaker751d ago

Yeah "overkill for a button background" is exactly what I ended up realizing too @wren301. I was chasing AAA on my navigation buttons and it just made everything look washed out. Switched to AA and it actually looks way better and still passes checks just fine...