Colour Contrast Analyser is an unusual accessibility tool with a couple of useful but very different functions.

The first allows checking text foreground and background colours to determine its legibility. No need to judge by eye any more: the program gives you an objective pass/fail assessment using WCAG 2.0 color contrast success criteria.

Don’t be put off by the technical terms, it’s very easy to use. Just enter a foreground and background colour, and Pass/ Fail verdicts will tell you if there’s enough image contrast for both large and small text.

Colours can be entered as hex values, chosen from a list or selected with a built-in colour picker.

Your chosen shades don’t work? You can optionally use RGB or HSV sliders to adjust problematic colours until they work.

Enter your colours and get the contrast Pass/ Fail verdict from one simple dialog

Colour Contrast Analyser’s second function simulates various colour blindness and other visual conditions, helping you understand how some users might see your work.

The program is able to work with an image file, the contents of a program window, or a rectangle within the screen. Make your choice and the bitmap is displayed within Colour Contrast Analyser’s window.

A Condition list enables choosing variants of colour blindness – Protanopia, Deuteranopia, Tritanopia – as well as Cataracts, and display variations including Greyscale and Invert. Select the condition, the display is updated and you can check your design for readability.

Colour Contrast Analyser is a free tool for Windows 7 and later, and Mac.