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https://accessibility.blog.gov.uk/2018/08/01/supporting-users-who-change-colours-on-gov-uk/

Supporting users who change colours on GOV.UK

Posted by: , Posted on: - Categories: Accessibility
A woman looking at a computer screen where the text has been rendered in blue
How GOV.UK can look when colours are overridden

By default on GOV.UK we try to use the most accessible colours, however there are still times where some users may need to change them.

For example, those who are sensitive to light may find a white background too bright, or a user with dyslexia may find certain colours easier to read than others.

We’ve researched and spoken before on the Accessibility blog about how and why users change colours on websites and some of the issues teams need to think about.

On the Design System team we aim to make any components in GOV.UK Frontend as accessible as possible, so we took our previous research and tried to improve the latest version.

I’ve picked out a few examples below to demonstrate some of the improvements that have been made.

Back link component

The back link component has a triangle arrow icon which we implemented using the CSS triangle method.

This method relies on manipulating the CSS ‘border’ property to make make certain sides of the border invisible.

When overriding colours the previously invisible borders become visible, resulting in a rectangle being rendered where the triangle arrow should be.

Three versions of the back component: one rendered as intended with a left-facing triangle, the second displaying as broken with a rectangle when colours are overridden and a third displaying a left-facing triangle when the fix has been implemented.
Three versions of the back component: one rendered as intended with a left-facing triangle, the second displaying as broken with a rectangle when colours are overridden and a third displaying a left-facing triangle when the fix has been implemented.

By adding ‘clip-path’ we can draw a polygon that matches the original triangle to ensure the rectangle does not appear.

Note that ‘clip-path’ only works in some browsers which is why we're using both the CSS triangle method and ‘clip-path’.

To make it easier to make triangles like this, we have created a SCSS mixin.

Breadcrumbs component

The breadcrumbs component has chevrons that separate each link.

The breadcrumbs component rendered as intended

The original version made use of PNG images, which disappear when colours are changed.

The breadcrumbs component with chevrons missing when colours are overridden

To fix this we made use of CSS again to create the chevrons but you could also consider using SVG icons here.

The breadcrumbs component with chevrons reinstated after the fix was implemented and colours are overridden

Read the code for the breadcrumbs example in GOV.UK Frontend

Radios component

The radios component predates GOV.UK Frontend and is a good example of ensuring changed colours are respected.

When we brought the radios component over we found there were opportunities to improve the focus indicators.

Focus state is important for keyboard users to know what they are interacting with - without focus state interactions it’s not clear what part of the interface you will interact with when pressing ‘enter’.

The radios component rendered as intended

Previously, when colours were changed the focus indicator was lost because it relied on ‘box-shadow’ as ‘outline’ does not allow for curves.

The radios component with the focus indicator missing when colours are overridden

To ensure an indicator is visible, we included a transparent outline in addition to the box-shadow which is shown when colours are overridden.

The radios component with a rectangle around the indicator after the fix was implemented and colours are overridden

Read the code for the radios example in GOV.UK Frontend

Header component

The header component includes the GOV.UK logo, but the icon disappears when overriding colours as it was originally implemented as a PNG image.

The header component rendered as intended with the GOV.UK logo

The header component with logo missing when colours are overridden
The header component when colours are overridden

To fix this, we used an inline SVG that makes use of currentColor for it’s ‘fill’ property.

The header component with logo reinstated after the fix was implemented and colours are overridden

Read the code for the breadcrumbs example in GOV.UK Frontend

Panel component

The panel component uses a solid background to make it stand out, but it’s lost when colours are changed.

The panel component rendered as intended with solid background

The panel component with the background missing when colours are overridden
The panel component when colours are overridden

We chose to add a transparent border that will be shown in every scenario.

Read the code for the panel example in GOV.UK Frontend

This blog post features just a small fraction of the work we’ve done to make our components more accessible. Check the GOV.UK Design System for more.

Nick Colley is a Frontend developer working on the GOV.UK Design System.

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7 comments

  1. Comment by Pail posted on

    Thanks for sharing Nick. There is a range of approximately half a dozen high contrast and colour possible settings for a wide range of vision impairments. How have you validated for every one? Do you use some kind a matrix to check all types when QAing?

  2. Comment by Kim McGreal posted on

    Thanks for this post. I've been using more CSS, but it didn't occur to me that some elements of my design might not be accessible if the colours are changed. Definitely food for thought.

  3. Comment by Francois Jordaan posted on

    Can you just explain what makes the transparent borders become visible when users change their colours?

    • Replies to Francois Jordaan>

      Comment by Nick Colley posted on

      Hello Francois,

      I'm not entirely sure why browsers override colours in this way, I imagine it's for pragmatic reasons that they have to override so much.

      In terms of the logic when overriding colours the browsers seem to do the following:

      1. force all text to be the colour specified by the user
      2. force all borders to be the same colour as the text
      3. remove all backgrounds to be the colour specified by the user

      If I were to implement this logic in CSS this would look something like:

      ```css
      html {
      color: white !important;
      background: black !important;
      }
      *, *::before, *::after {
      color: inherit !important;
      border-color: inherit !important;
      background: inherit !important;
      }
      ```

      • Replies to Nick Colley>

        Comment by Francois Jordaan posted on

        Thanks Nick!

  4. Comment by Mike Gifford (@mgifford) posted on

    It is great to have more support for users to customize their colors. Even things like Windows High Contrast Mode throws off many sites. Many users aren't technical enough to set up their own custom CSS. That's one of the reasons why I suggest that more sites take up a Preferences Editor like this https://build.fluidproject.org/infusion/demos/uiOptions/

    Quite useful for testing out alternative color combinations as well as fonts, spacing, etc.