Solutions: Checkpoint C, color

How would I know if my colors contrast well or not?

You have to use a tool, such as the Juicy Studio Contrast Analyser to determine if your colors have a contrast ratio of 5:1. The Colour Contrast Analyser tool will also show you just how much you have to darken or lighten a color to make it compliant. These tools are part of the Evaluation Questions and can be downloaded from our Evaluation Tools section.  Keep in mind that this tool cannot determine the thickness of your contrasting elements, which is a contributing factor in determining the accessibility of contrasting colors.

Does this mean that all pages have to be displayed in black and white?

No, 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, must be combined with the use of color. This provision addresses not only the problem of using color to indicate emphasized text, but also the use of color to indicate an action. For example, a web page that directs a user to "press the green button to start" should also identify the green button in some other fashion than simply by color.