Nickel on Kelp
#929292 on #4d503c
Body text at this size
And the smaller size most interfaces actually use for paragraphs — the size that decides whether a pair is usable.
Caption text, which almost nothing passes.
WCAG 2.1
2.67:1
Fails AA
Not AAA (7:1). Swapping the two colours gives the same number — the ratio does not know which is the text.
APCA
Lc -29.0
Clears Lc 15 — disabled or purely decorative text, which is not meant to be read.
Light text on a darker ground — the negative sign is the polarity.
Colour difference
ΔE00 28.4
different colours
Above 10 — related only in the sense that both are colours.
What the text colour has to become
#bfbfbf is the nearest colour of the same hue that passes AA on #4d503c, at 4.50:1. Only the lightness moved — which is the point: your colour stays recognisably your colour.
And to someone missing a cone
protanopia
Ratio 2.66:1, ΔE00 28.2.
deuteranopia
Ratio 2.68:1, ΔE00 28.2.
tritanopia
Ratio 2.67:1, ΔE00 27.0.
The weakest of the three is tritanopia, where the two are ΔE00 27.0 apart against 28.4 for a trichromat — still clearly two colours.
Both colours have pages of their own: Nickel ·Kelp · the same pair the other way round ·all pairs