What does a palette audit check?

Five things. Legibility: every color as text on every other, plus white and black, against the WCAG floor. Comfort: pairs that will strain the eye even though they pass, such as pure white on pure black or two vivid complements side by side. Hierarchy: whether the color meant to lead actually stands out. Color vision: which pairs merge under each of the eight common deficiencies. And both modes: what a light and a dark theme built from the set would have to change.

Why is comfort a separate check from contrast?

Because passing contrast is not the same as being pleasant to read. Pure white on pure black reaches 21 to 1 and many readers find it harsh at body size; softening one side to a near-black keeps AAA and reads more calmly. Contrast checkers stop at the floor. This check looks at what happens above it, and it says plainly that it is a heuristic rather than a standard.

What is hierarchy, in color terms?

Whether the eye goes where you meant it to. The color you label primary should be the most salient in the set and should clear 3 to 1 against the background, so a button reads as a button. A labelled link should be distinct from the primary, or links and buttons will read as the same thing. Give colors roles and the check uses them; leave them unlabelled and it picks the most vivid color as the lead and says so.

Do I need roles for the checks to work?

No. Legibility, comfort and color vision need only the colors. Hierarchy and both modes are better with a primary and a background named, because then they check your intent rather than a guess. Roles are optional and you can add them one at a time.

Can I audit a palette from somewhere else?

Yes. Paste hex codes, color names or rgb() values into the field, or open this page with a palette in the address bar in the same format the palette generator and the extractors use. If you keep projects on this site, the load control brings a project or a saved palette in directly.

What is in the exported report?

The colors with their names and roles, every check with its summary and each finding as one sentence with the fix where there is one, and the date. It opens as a page you can print or save as a PDF from the browser. Nothing is uploaded; the report is built in your browser and stays there.

Palette audit

A palette can pass every contrast check and still be hard to live with. This audit runs the five things designers weigh when they choose colors: whether text is legible, whether the set is comfortable to read for an hour, whether the color meant to lead actually leads, whether any pair merges for the one reader in twelve with a color vision deficiency, and what a light and a dark theme would have to change. Every finding is one sentence with the fix.

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What the five checks are, and are not

Two of them are standards. Three of them are judgement, written down.

Legibility is WCAG, exactly

Every color as text on every other color, and on white and black, against 4.5 to 1 for body text or 7 to 1 if you set the target to AAA. Where a pair fails, the nearest shade that would pass is named, holding hue and moving only lightness.

Comfort is what happens above the floor

Pure white on pure black passes everything and still makes many readers squint. Two vivid near-complements pass and still vibrate when they touch. A vivid color labelled as a background will tire the eye across a whole page. None of this is in a standard, which is why no other checker says it.

Hierarchy is whether the eye goes where you meant

The primary should be the most salient color in the set and should stand off the background at 3 to 1, so a button reads as one. A link should be distinct from the primary. Label the roles and the check tests your intent; leave them blank and it says which color it picked to lead, and why.

Vision and modes reuse the site's own tools

The color vision check is the simulator's collapse test under all eight deficiencies, naming each pair that merges. The modes check runs the set through the theme builder in light and dark and reports what it had to move to meet a floor, and by how much.

Common questions

What does a palette audit check?: Five things. Legibility: every color as text on every other, plus white and black, against the WCAG floor. Comfort: pairs that will strain the eye even though they pass, such as pure white on pure black or two vivid complements side by side. Hierarchy: whether the color meant to lead actually stands out. Color vision: which pairs merge under each of the eight common deficiencies. And both modes: what a light and a dark theme built from the set would have to change.
Why is comfort a separate check from contrast?: Because passing contrast is not the same as being pleasant to read. Pure white on pure black reaches 21 to 1 and many readers find it harsh at body size; softening one side to a near-black keeps AAA and reads more calmly. Contrast checkers stop at the floor. This check looks at what happens above it, and it says plainly that it is a heuristic rather than a standard.
What is hierarchy, in color terms?: Whether the eye goes where you meant it to. The color you label primary should be the most salient in the set and should clear 3 to 1 against the background, so a button reads as a button. A labelled link should be distinct from the primary, or links and buttons will read as the same thing. Give colors roles and the check uses them; leave them unlabelled and it picks the most vivid color as the lead and says so.
Do I need roles for the checks to work?: No. Legibility, comfort and color vision need only the colors. Hierarchy and both modes are better with a primary and a background named, because then they check your intent rather than a guess. Roles are optional and you can add them one at a time.
Can I audit a palette from somewhere else?: Yes. Paste hex codes, color names or rgb() values into the field, or open this page with a palette in the address bar in the same format the palette generator and the extractors use. If you keep projects on this site, the load control brings a project or a saved palette in directly.
What is in the exported report?: The colors with their names and roles, every check with its summary and each finding as one sentence with the fix where there is one, and the date. It opens as a page you can print or save as a PDF from the browser. Nothing is uploaded; the report is built in your browser and stays there.

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