Why is everyone using gray text on light gray backgrounds lately?

I've noticed about 8 different designs this week where people are putting #999999 text on #EEEEEE backgrounds. At a WCAG AA level, that fails for anyone over 40 or with even mild vision issues. Did a new design trend pop up that I missed, or are people just skipping the contrast checkers?

2 comments

2 Comments

the_terry2d ago

Just run those colors through the WebAIM contrast checker real quick, it takes five seconds and it spits out the exact ratio so you can see for yourself if it passes. Most of those trendy low contrast combos come from designers working on glossy monitors in bright rooms, which totally skews how it reads on a regular laptop or phone. The real trick is to set your own display to about 60% brightness and use a color picker to find grays that still look soft but hit at least 4.5:1 against your background.

felix_martin562d ago

The real issue is colorblind users, not just brightness settings.