> Upcoming WCAG 3.0 adds a new exploratory requirement for “Maximum text contrast” and I hope the working committee will address the issue of high contrast text in dark mode and provide suitable recommendations.
APCA is a proposed replacement contrast calculation that was in discussions for WCAG 3 that mentions a maximum contrast value to avoid eye strain like this (https://www.myndex.com/APCA/, I'm getting SSL errors right now though).
I wrote an accessible palette creator tool where you can switch between WCAG 2 and APCA contrast checking to see how they compare (go to "... > Flip to dark/light palette" to explore a dark mode palette):
Along with not having a maximum recommended contrast, WCAG 2 is also meant to be really inaccurate at measuring dark mode contrast, where it'll say colors contrast well when they don't. APCA is meant to fix both these problems.
APCA is a proposed replacement contrast calculation that was in discussions for WCAG 3 that mentions a maximum contrast value to avoid eye strain like this (https://www.myndex.com/APCA/, I'm getting SSL errors right now though).
I wrote an accessible palette creator tool where you can switch between WCAG 2 and APCA contrast checking to see how they compare (go to "... > Flip to dark/light palette" to explore a dark mode palette):
https://www.inclusivecolors.com/
Along with not having a maximum recommended contrast, WCAG 2 is also meant to be really inaccurate at measuring dark mode contrast, where it'll say colors contrast well when they don't. APCA is meant to fix both these problems.