Level AA · WCAG 2.1
1.4.11 Non-text Contrast
The parts of a control that identify it — borders, icons, focus rings, chart lines — need 3:1 contrast against what is next to them.
Partly automated Some failures are detectable, others need judgement.
How it fails in practice
An input whose border is a 1.4:1 grey, so the field is invisible against the card it sits on. A toggle whose “off” state is a pale track on white.
How to fix it
Treat control boundaries as content, not decoration. If removing the border would make the control unfindable, the border has to meet 3:1.
At a glance
- Level
- Level AA — the level EN 301 549 requires, and therefore the level the BFSG and the EAA are measured against.
- Principle
- Perceivable
- Guideline
- 1.4 Distinguishable
- Added in
- WCAG 2.1
- EN 301 549
- 9.1.4.11
- Automated check
- Partly automated
Partly automated
How far an automated check gets
A tool finds some failures here and cannot see the rest. A clean automated result means the checks that exist found nothing — not that the criterion is met. This is the gap that makes a green scan look like an accessible site, and it is where our agents and a human reviewer do the remaining work.
Related criteria
Other criteria under the same guideline.
Find out which criteria your site fails
We scan up to 100 pages against WCAG 2.2 AA, run the agent protocol on one key journey and send you the report — free, once, no strings.