Be Sure to Use Contrasting Colors

Requirement: Colors and images on a page should provide sufficient contrast. No background color should be set in a style sheet or HTML without a corresponding and contrasting foreground color set in the same style sheet or HTML. By the same token, no foreground color should be set without a corresponding background color.

Sufficient contrast makes pages more readable for all visual users. For those with low-vision or color deficiencies, good contrast is essential.

Not only should developers be aware of color contrasts, but they should also be aware of color and images when an image is used in the background. Often using a background image with text over it only makes the page more difficult to read and bulkier to download.

Remember that foreground and background colors should always be set together. Otherwise it is possible that your page with white text on a black background will show as black text on a black background on someone else's machine.