I finally stopped using heavy contrast on my forms

I used to think high contrast was always the answer for accessible design. Last year I worked on a sign-up page for a library system in Austin. I put black text on white backgrounds with bright red error messages. A user who is dyslexic told me the red text vibrated on the page. That made me look into color blindness and reading comfort. Now I use softer tones like dark gray on off-white and avoid pure red or green for feedback. I tested it with 5 users who have different vision needs and they all said it felt easier on their eyes. Has anyone else found that too much contrast actually makes things harder to read?

2 comments

2 Comments

felix48813h ago

Agree, that vibrating red text is the worst.

betty_fisher53h ago

Oh man, tell me about it! That red text is like a strobe light or something, I can barely read what it says without getting a headache. Who thought that was a good idea? It's like they wanted to punish people for trying to use the forum. Every time I see it I have to look away for a second, it's that bad. Maybe they think it makes things look "edgy" or something but it just makes me want to close the tab.