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Color -- Dos and Don'tsSee also: Standard 4 -- Contrast.
Why: Using color alone to identify links, buttons, navigation paths, or other content means those who cannot distinguish the colors or those with colors turned off or using monochrome monitors (such as on PDAs or cell phones) are unable to use your page. How: Along with color, use graphic symbols such as underlining, asterisks, or borders to identify special content (including links). Label buttons and navigation bars with text. Test your page by printing on a black and white printer.
Why: Style sheets allow you to turn-off the default underlining of links. While these may be advantageous for menu items (which are usually distinguished by location, background color, and border as well) links in the body of the page need to be clearly differentiated from other text. A good way to frustrate and alienate users is to make them "hunt" for the links on your page. How: Do not turn off underlining for links in the body of your page or use other non-color distinction such as bold, asterisk, or other character or symbol.
Get more help with information and color, read the iGeek article "Color to convey information." Want to see what colors look best on your background? Want to know which groups of colors work well together? Check out the Color Laboratory. This color laboratory allows you to select colors and see how they appear next to one another, and in various foreground/background combinations. It also allows you to see those colors as they might appear to color-blind users. See what your pages look like to a users with different levels of colorblindness. Process your pages through the Colorblind Web Page Filter.
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