Legibility of required fields requires a different text or backqground color

[aharonium]

Currently, required fields have a maroon background color. The default gray text inside the field text boxes becomes difficult to read (for me) when set against this background color.

Either the required field background color needs to be changed or the the default text (or both) in order to indicate to communicate with the user the desired input.

I would remove the maroon background color entirely and indicate required fields with the word "Required" in red above or to the side of the text field. However, other design strategies are possible. Black text on a yellow background would also provide the needed contrast to remain legible.