Nickel on Ghost Writer
#929292 on #bcb7ad
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
1.56:1
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 17.3
Clears Lc 15 — disabled or purely decorative text, which is not meant to be read.
Dark text on a lighter ground.
Colour difference
ΔE00 12.3
different colours
Above 10 — related only in the sense that both are colours.
What the text colour has to become
#494949 is the nearest colour of the same hue that passes AA on #bcb7ad, 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 1.55:1, ΔE00 12.2.
deuteranopia
Ratio 1.56:1, ΔE00 12.6.
tritanopia
Ratio 1.56:1, ΔE00 16.4.
The weakest of the three is protanopia, where the two are ΔE00 12.2 apart against 12.3 for a trichromat — still clearly two colours.
Both colours have pages of their own: Nickel ·Ghost Writer · the same pair the other way round ·all pairs