openedx / openedx/paragon

a11y: Links distinguished only by color

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Dominant language
JavaScript
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140
Forks
100
Avg merge
1h 3m
Merged PRs (30d)
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Description

Bugs

Not 100% sure this is a Paragon issue, but in the default theme hyperlinks in course content are differentiated only by color. Specifically:

Where
The course overview field, rendered on the About page inside div.xblock-student_view-about → div.course-about-overview). Measured on a default Tutor install with the default “Open edX” theme.

Finding
Axe link-in-text-block (serious, WCAG 2.1 A, SC 1.4.1 Use of Color) fails on one node of the Demo Course:

Open edX® FAQ page

Both of the rule’s conditions fail:

Contrast against surrounding text is 1.72:1 (minimum 3:1) — link #006daa on body text #454545
text-decoration-line: none, so nothing but color distinguishes it

I've added a bug to the Demo Course to override the default as well (https://github.com/openedx/openedx-demo-course/issues/73), but as part of end-to-end testing I'm starting to see more of these.

If this isn't the right place, just let me know and I'll move it!

Contributor guide

Open the contributing guide

First steps

  1. Read the whole issue, then the project's contributing guide.
  2. Comment on the issue to say you are picking it up — it saves two people doing the same work.
  3. Fork the repository and make your change on a branch.
  4. Open a pull request that references the issue number.

Research direction

Start at the course overview on the About page, specifically the div.xblock-student_view-about > div.course-about-overview path, and reproduce the Axe link-in-text-block failure with the default Open edX theme. Trace the hyperlink styling and verify that the FAQ link meets the stated contrast and non-color distinction requirements.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.

Assessment

Tech stack
javascript, react
Domain
accessibility, frontend
Issue type
Bug
Difficulty
3/5
Estimated time
1-2 days
Activity status
Active
Clarity
Mostly clear
Newbie friendliness
68/100

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