Digital accessibility. WCAG – what is it?
WCAG (Web Content Accessibility Guidelines) are guidelines for facilitating access to content on a website. It is a set of documents that specify the conditions that a website must meet in order to be accessible to everyone, with particular emphasis on people with disabilities. WCAG was published by WAI, the Web Accessibility Initiative.
WCAG was created to clearly identify elements on websites and in mobile applications that may pose a problem for people with various types of disabilities. The documents that make up WCAG also specify solutions that, when implemented, will make a website user-friendly and accessible to people facing difficulties and limitations.
History of WCAG
The first version of the WCAG standard appeared in 1999. WCAG 1.0 indicated the need to make website content accessible to the widest possible audience.
In 2008, WCAG 2.0 was published, which defined much more precisely the criteria that must be met to ensure that a website is accessible to the widest possible audience. There were significantly more criteria than in WCAG 1.0, not only because of greater awareness of the needs of people with disabilities, but also because of the significant development of the Internet and its capabilities. The guidelines became an international standard and were then also adapted in the European standard EN 301 549.
The year 2018 brought an update to the standard – WCAG 2.1 was released. This version supplements the previous standard. It includes all the latest technical solutions, and all guidelines have been adapted to them. All previous criteria have been retained, but the description of some of them has been expanded, and new guidelines have also been added.
The emergence of WCAG 2.1 also led to the creation of Directive 2016/2102 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 26 October 2016. The introduction of the Directive necessitated an amendment to Polish law. In Poland, the EU Directive is implemented by the Act of 4 April 2019 on the digital accessibility of websites and mobile applications of public entities (Journal of Laws 2019, item 848). The Act updates the requirements to the WCAG 2.1 standard and, among other things, introduces the obligation to publish accessibility statements on websites, defines the scope of monitoring of websites and mobile applications and the rules according to which it is to be carried out, as well as the procedures to be implemented in the event of non-compliance with the applicable standards.
4 levels of accessibility
The WCAG standard consists of four main levels that must be met for a website to be considered accessible. These are:
- Perception – the content published on the website must be presented in a way that is suitable for all users, including those with disabilities. An example of this is adding alt attributes to images, which allows blind people to know that there is an image on the page and what it depicts.
- Functionality – buttons on the website, forms, navigation, controls – all these and other parts of the website should be accessible to people with various difficulties. Solutions should be implemented that, for example, allow navigation of the website using only the keyboard – for people who are unable to use a mouse. However, the most important thing is that the solutions and functionalities used work correctly.
- Comprehensibility – the content of the website and its operation should be as comprehensible as possible to all users. This applies not only to the meaning of the content itself, but also to the language used, among other things.
- Reliability – the robustness, structure and operation of the website should meet the standards appropriate for the technologies used, which will allow the website to function correctly. In addition, content and other materials should be made available in such a way that they work with assistive technologies (e.g. readers for blind people).
For each of these principles, detailed guidelines and criteria are provided to assess whether the objective has been achieved. The criteria have been assigned to specific accessibility levels. There are three accessibility levels: A, AA and AAA. Each higher level requires the criteria from the lower level to be met, which means that in order to meet the AAA criteria, all criteria from levels A and AA must also be met.
Who must implement the WCAG guidelines?
The standards and guidelines contained in WCAG 2.1 primarily apply to the websites of public entities. As these websites affect us all, they should also be accessible to everyone, regardless of limitations. All websites of institutions or organisations dedicated to people with disabilities and the elderly should also comply with the WCAG 2.1 standard. It should also be emphasised that the Act does not enforce the creation of a website or application, but if such an institution already has one or intends to create one, it must comply with the WCAG guidelines.
Examples of WCAG-compliant solutions
There are many solutions whose implementation and deployment will increase the accessibility of a website. First and foremost, users should have the option to significantly enlarge the view of the website using tools provided by browsers. A good and common solution is to allow users to change the colour contrast of the content and the font size on the website. This makes the website more readable for people with visual impairments. Blind users, on the other hand, use readers that convert text from the website into words and also use image alt tags to convey to the recipient that there is an image on the website and what it contains.
Another example of a WCAG solution is the aforementioned ability to navigate the website without a mouse, using only the keyboard.
How to implement WCAG on a website?
Designing and creating websites from scratch in accordance with WCAG 2.1 guidelines is not a problem for an experienced web developer. If you want to create an accessible website, it is best to go to a professional interactive agency, where experts familiar with WCAG will easily design a website that complies with the requirements of the standards.
A much greater challenge is the comprehensive adaptation of an existing website to meet WCAG 2.1 guidelines. Often, the graphic design is already non-compliant with WCAG guidelines, for example due to inadequate contrast between text, graphic elements and background. Our experienced team of designers will ensure that your designs comply with the WCAG standard.
If you are interested in implementing the WCAG 2.1 standard, please fill out the brief.
