Wikipedia:Manual of Style/Accessibility/Colors

This help page is a how-to guide. It details processes or procedures of Wikipedia:Manual of Style/Accessibility. It is not one of Wikipedia's policies or guidelines, and may reflect varying levels of consensus and vetting.

Shortcut MOS:COLORS

These color tables should help editors choose accessible backgrounds matching various color schemes. The first table contains WCAG AAA compatible for 14 different hues, plus grey and brown. In each row, the "base color" is the simplest representation of the hue. The other colors are derived from the base color by varying its lightness in HSL to achieve the necessary WCAG contrast ratio, which is defined as a ratio of slightly modified CIE relative luminance values.

It is best to choose background colors that offer sufficient contrast in relation to text and blue links, which is also the color of references, both of which are very common in most articles. Use the WCAG link contrast checker to ensure that the chosen background color offers the recommended WCAG AA level of contrast against normal text (#202122) and blue links (#3366CC for the default Vector 2022 skin).^[1] WCAG AA is required by various government bodies in the US, EU, UK and Canada.

When links and references are not present, extra contrast is possible by setting the text color to pure black (#000000). If a dark background is desired, it should be used against white text (#FFFFFF) without links or references.