Web Content Accessibility Guidelines: Things You Must Know

Web content accessibility is an important aspect of your business in the 2020s. This is still an often overlooked facet of daily business activities.

That is until someone finds themselves in a courtroom. When it comes to internet accessibility, here are some things that you must know:

What is Web Content Accessibility?

According to AudioEye, an ADA compliance checker is important because it can expose the potential that your website might have to be threatened with an internet accessibility lawsuit.

Making sure that your website is accessible means that people of all ability levels will be able to use it, regardless of their disability.

Four principles to Keep in Mind:

WCAG can be broadly broken down into four different principles. These would be concepts such as being perceivable, meaning that most users can perceive it with their senses.

It must be operable, giving users the ability to operate the website with not just their hands but voice commands and keyboards and mouse; it should be understandable, and it must be robust.

About WCAG 2.0-2.2

First of all, they published the 2.0 version on December 11, 2008. Additionally, they published the WCAG 2.1 option on June 5, 2018, and they are planning on publishing the WCAG 2.2 version later this year.

You should be aware that the content that matches with WCAG 2.1 will also match with 2.0. In other words, if you need to meet the requirements for both WCAG 2.0 and 2.1, simply just use 2.1 and there is no need to look at 2.0 at all.

Who Was the WCAG Developed For?

WCAG was primarily devised for those who are interested in developing web content.

Moreover, individuals who are involved with developing web authoring tools, those who are developing web accessibility evaluation tools, and those who are interested in ensuring that their website has mobile accessibility would want to fully study the WCAG.

The WCAG is also important for those who are policymakers, managers, activists, researchers, and many others.

What Do the WCAG 2 Documents Contain?

You will find a lot of interesting things in the WCAG 2 documents. First of all, there will be 12-13 guidelines that will illustrate the four principles of the WCAG, including things such as making it understandable, having it be operable, making it robust, and having it perceivable. There are a lot of supporting materials, including a quick reference for how to appropriately meet WCAG2, techniques for meeting it, and ways to understand it.

Other Guidelines

WCAG is just one part of a number of accessibility guidelines that would include several different other established guidelines. These guidelines are called the Essential Components of Web Accessibility and will give a full explanation of each of these different guidelines.

Who Develops WCAG

Finally, we arrive at who develops WCAG. These accessibility guidelines are normally developed by the Accessibility Guidelines Working Group (AG WG) and this is part of the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) Web Accessibility initiative. They have also provided some updated techniques for WCAG 2 on a regular basis.

Either way you look at it, the WCAG is an important set of guidelines for helping your website be as professional as possible.