Text contrast

Silktide measures the difference in colour between the text on your pages and the background behind it, and reports text that is too close in colour to its background to read comfortably. This is the minimum contrast standard that most accessibility laws require.

Why this matters

Low contrast text is one of the most common accessibility failures on the web, and one of the most damaging. People with low vision, older readers, and anyone using a screen in bright sunlight or on low brightness can find pale grey text on white effectively invisible. Because contrast minimums are part of - the standard most laws and contracts reference - failing them also carries legal risk.

How to fix it

Darken the text or lighten the background (or the reverse on dark designs) until the pair meets the required ratio. Each finding shows the two colours, the measured , and the ratio required.
Change the colour in your site's stylesheet or theme settings rather than on individual pages, so the fix applies everywhere that style is used.
If a finding is acceptable to you - for example placeholder-style text that is intentionally subdued - you can instead.

How Silktide tests this

Examine every piece of visible text on the page, skipping hidden text, text inside SVG graphics, and any elements you have excluded from checking.
Resolve the effective text colour and background colour, taking transparency and parent elements into account. Only text over a solid background colour is measured here; text placed over images or gradients is handled by Text contrast over images.
Calculate the contrast ratio between the two colours.
Report text below the required minimum: 4.5:1 for regular text, or 3:1 for large text. Text counts as large when it is at least 18 points (24 pixels), or at least 14 points (about 19 pixels) with a bold weight (600 or heavier).

Troubleshooting

Text over a photo or gradient isn't reported here

When the background is an image or gradient there is no single background colour to measure against, so those cases are reported separately by Text contrast over images.

This check tests WCAG success criterion 1.4.3 (level AA), the widely required minimum. A stricter level AAA version, success criterion 1.4.6, is tested by High text contrast. The two checks share your decisions: approving or ignoring a finding in one applies to the same finding in the other.

The text looks fine to me

Contrast that looks acceptable on your screen can still fail for others - monitors, brightness settings, and eyesight vary enormously. The measured ratio is objective; trust it over a visual impression.