Success Criterion 1.4.11
Conformance level AA

Icon-Only Button Glyph With Contrast Too Low to See

1.4.11 — Non-text Contrast

Scenario

Setting

A photo-sharing app's upload screen

What’s wrong

Icon-only buttons (hamburger, search, close ×) with glyph <3:1.

Example

border: 1px solid #dcdcdc; /* icon outline, ~1.2:1 against white */

Why it matters

Low-vision and color-blind people who need to perceive controls and meaningful graphics.

How to test

Measure icon-only button glyphs (hamburger, search, close ×) against their background: 3:1 minimum.

How to fix

The visual element (border, icon, indicator, state marker) must have at least 3:1 contrast against adjacent colors in every state. border: 1px solid #767676; /* ~4.5:1 */ Icons, borders, and other non-text UI elements need at least 3:1 contrast to stay visible.

Outcome

On a photo-sharing app's upload screen, this barrier is gone for low-vision and color-blind people who need to perceive controls and meaningful graphics — they get the same result as anyone else here.

Who is affected