Web accessibility is the practice of making websites usable by all people, regardless of disability or adaptive technology.
It’s a complicated issue, but one that’s also relatively simple: to make sure that the content on your website is accessible to everyone. Of course, that means following WCAG 2.0 (Web Content Accessibility Guidelines) standards.
What are WCAG Compliance Standards?
According to the experts at AudioEye, “The Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG), created by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), are a set of web standards that aim to make the Internet a more inclusive and accessible space for all.” It is a technical standard designed by The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), which sets guidelines for how to make web content more accessible to persons with disabilities.
This standard applies to all types of websites, including HTML, CSS, PDF, and other digital content.
Why is WCAG 2.0 Standards Important?
WCAG standards make it possible for individuals to use the internet freely and independently. For example, users should always be able to adjust their font sizes, read content that’s light enough to read on-screen, and have access to appropriate alternatives when multimedia is necessary.
How is WCAG Compliance Standards Used?
There are multiple accessibility standards in the United States covering nearly all types of infrastructure and commercial spaces. Institutions of higher education, K-12 schools, private enterprises, and state and local government offices all have accessibility requirements.
Many factors determine whether a website is accessible to people with disabilities. The W3C Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) provide one of the most widely followed frameworks for developing accessible websites.
There are three levels of conformance for the WCAG compliance standard. The first level is Level A. It strives to make websites with text content readable and navigable, making them useful for people with disabilities.
Level AA improves on Level A by enhancing usability for people with cognitive, language, and learning disabilities. Finally, Level AAA enhances Level AA’s features by including specialized widgets that aid accessibility in a device-aware way.
What Level of Conformance Is Suitable for Your Website?
Web pages and user interfaces are conformant Level A if they satisfy all the Level A Success Criteria, or there’s a conforming alternate version, such as a PDF file. This level includes criteria such as making sure all non-text content has a text equivalent. Making sure that users can navigate all content via the keyboard. All form elements have appropriate labels or instructions.
As a level AA page, the website should have all of the features stated in Level A, plus additional attention to color contrast and emphasizing text. For example, if a primary button is blue, that button’s text should be a good contrast against that background and have some sort of border or outline with enough width.
Level AAA includes additional criteria recommended for extremely tech-savvy websites, but Level AA criteria are generally suitable for any type of website. Level AA consists of the majority of recommendations.
It includes text contrast ratios and contrast colors that are more specific – along with many others, such as the need to have a sign language translation for pre-recorded videos or the inclusion of user feedback for live chats.
Hopefully, this helps you create an excellent experience for all of your users. We strive to provide practical, actionable information so that your website will be in good shape. Thank you for reading our blog on the WCAG Conformance guidelines.
