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Accessible
WCAG 2.1
The internet is a vast and ever-expanding resource, but for people with disabilities, accessing information online can sometimes be a challenge. Fortunately, web accessibility guidelines exist to bridge this gap, ensuring everyone can experience the web in an inclusive and user-friendly way. Here we will delve into these guidelines, developed by WCAG 2.1, the global standard for web accessibility, explaining their core principles, success criteria, and practical methods for making your website WCAG 2.1 compliant.
What is WCAG 2.1?
The Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) are set by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), the international governing body for web standards. WCAG 2.1 is one of the latest versions that outlines the technical requirements and best practices for creating websites that are accessible to people with disabilities. These disabilities include visual, auditory, cognitive, motor, speech, and neurological impairments.
WCAG 2.1 builds upon its predecessor, WCAG 2.0, by introducing new success criteria specifically addressing mobile accessibility, low vision, and cognitive and learning disabilities. This ensures that a wider range of user needs are considered when building websites.
What are the benefits of WCAG 2.1?
There are several compelling reasons to prioritize WCAG 2.1 compliance when developing or maintaining your website:
Inclusivity: WCAG 2.1 promotes a more inclusive online environment, allowing everyone, regardless of ability, to access and use websites effectively.
Legal Compliance: While legal requirements around web accessibility vary by region, WCAG 2.1 conformance is widely recognized as best practice and can be a strong defense in accessibility-related lawsuits.
Improved SEO: Search engines like Google consider accessibility a factor in ranking websites. A website that adheres to WCAG 2.1 may experience a boost in search engine visibility.
Enhanced User Experience: WCAG 2.1 focuses on clear, concise content, logical navigation, and keyboard accessibility. These principles benefit everyone, not just users with disabilities, leading to a more positive user experience for all.
Understanding the POUR Principles of WCAG 2.1
WCAG 2.1 is built on four core principles, often remembered by the acronym POUR:
Perceivable: Information and user interface (UI) components must be presented in a way that can be perceived by all users. This includes providing alternative text descriptions for non-text content (e.g., alt text for images), ensuring sufficient color contrast for readability, and offering captions or transcripts for multimedia content.
Operable: User interfaces and navigation must be operable by all users. This means ensuring the website can be navigated entirely using a keyboard, allowing users enough time to interact with content, and avoiding content that could cause seizures.
Understandable: Information and the way users interact with the website should be clear and easy to grasp. This involves using plain language, avoiding technical jargon, and providing clear instructions and error messages.
Robust: Content must be presented in a way that’s reliable and compatible with a wide range of assistive technologies (AT) and user agents. This ensures the website works well with screen readers, voice recognition software, and other tools people with disabilities might use.
WCAG 2.1 conformance levels: understanding A, AA, and AAA
WCAG 2.1 offers three levels of conformance: A, AA, and AAA. These levels provide a roadmap for achieving accessibility, with each level representing a growing commitment to best practices.
Level A (Minimum): This is the foundational level of accessibility, ensuring basic usability for users with disabilities. Meeting Level A ensures your website is somewhat accessible but may not address all accessibility needs.
Level AA (Recommended): This is the recommended level for most websites and offers a significant improvement in accessibility. Level AA conformance addresses a wider range of disabilities and user needs, making it the optimal target for most websites.
Level AAA (Conformance): This is the most stringent level and addresses the broadest possible range of disabilities. Level AAA conformance is not always necessary or achievable for all content, but it represents the highest level of accessibility.
When aiming for WCAG 2.1 compliance, striving for Level AA conformance is generally recommended for most websites. This level offers a good balance between effort and outcome, ensuring a high degree of accessibility for a broad audience.
WCAG 2.1 success criteria
WCAG 2.1 outlines a comprehensive set of success criteria categorized under 13 guidelines. These criteria define specific technical requirements for creating accessible web content, categorized under the three levels of conformance (A, AA, and AAA) discussed in the previous section.
Here’s a list of the new WCAG 2.1 success criteria (with level of conformance) added from WCAG 2.0, without getting into the excessive technical details of each criterion:
Practical methods for making your website WCAG 2.1 compliant
Conforming to WCAG 2.1 might seem like a daunting task, but there are several practical methods you can implement to make your website more accessible:
Content Creation:
Focus on Clarity: Use clear and concise language throughout your website. Avoid technical jargon and complex sentence structures. Favor shorter sentences and active voice for better readability.
Structure for Understanding: Organize your content logically using headings, subheadings, and bullet points. This creates a clear hierarchy of information and makes it easier for users to scan and navigate the content.
Alternative Text Descriptions: Don't forget about non-text content! Provide clear and descriptive alt text for images, charts, and infographics. These descriptions help users with visual impairments understand the content using screen readers.
Design and User Interface:
Color Contrast: Ensure sufficient color contrast between text and background colors. This is crucial for users with visual impairments or color vision deficiencies. WCAG 2.1 provides specific guidelines for color contrast ratios.
Keyboard Navigation: Make sure your website can be fully navigated using just a keyboard. This includes allowing users to access all interactive elements, menus, and forms using the keyboard Tab key and arrow keys.
Focus Indicators: Provide clear visual indicators to show which element on the page has keyboard focus. This helps users with motor impairments or using screen readers understand where they are on the webpage.
Resize Text and Content: Allow users to adjust the size of text and other content on your website. This caters to users with visual impairments who might require larger fonts for better readability.
Multimedia Considerations:
Captions and Transcripts: For video and audio content, provide captions or transcripts. This allows users who are deaf or hard of hearing to access the information.
Audio Descriptions: Consider adding audio descriptions for complex images or visuals. This provides additional context for users who are blind or visually impaired.
Coding and Development:
Semantic HTML: Use semantic HTML elements to structure your content. This means using tags that accurately convey the meaning and purpose of the content, not just its appearance. For instance, use heading tags (H1, H2, etc.) for headings, and paragraph tags (
) for paragraphs.
Error Handling: Implement clear and informative error messages for forms and other interactive elements. This helps users understand when they've made a mistake and how to correct it.
Accessible Forms: Make sure your website forms are accessible to users with disabilities. This includes using clear labels, providing keyboard navigation for form fields, and ensuring compatibility with assistive technologies.
Testing and Maintenance:
Accessibility Testing Tools: Utilize online accessibility testing tools to identify potential WCAG 2.1 compliance issues on your website. These tools can provide a starting point for addressing accessibility problems.
Manual Review: While automated testing is helpful, it's not a substitute for manual review by accessibility specialists. A human touch is essential for ensuring your website meets the nuances of WCAG 2.1 and caters to the diverse needs of users with disabilities.
Ongoing Monitoring: Accessibility is an ongoing process. As your website grows and evolves, it's important to regularly monitor and address any accessibility issues that might arise with new content or features.
There is a lot of content here, so if you feel overwhelmed right now, know that it’s perfectly fine. This is where EqualWeb enters the picture and helps you achieve all of the remediation requirements above at ease and with no effort on your part. Let us see how.
How EqualWeb simplifies WCAG 2.1 conformance
We have demonstrated that creating a website that adheres to WCAG 2.1 guidelines can be a complicated task, and quite a daunting one too.
We have also touched upon the benefits of WCAG 2.1 conformance, so we know that this undertaking does not come without its advantages. However, the technical aspects and ongoing maintenance can feel overwhelming. That’s where EqualWeb steps in.
Offering an array of simple solutions to streamline the process of achieving WCAG 2.1 conformance for your website, EqualWeb can perform all of the practical methods outlined above, or part of the methods, depending on your specific needs and budget.
EqualWeb offers a simple integration method for all its web accessibility enhancement tools and remediation solutions. Join or add any of our following plans and tools to enhance your WCAG 2.1 accessibility levels for ADA compliance: AI-powered widget solution, testing tools like the Checker, real-time and periodic scanning with the Web Accessibility Monitor and Crawler, in-house remediation and review by certified experts, PDF auto-tagging for documents, alt text generator, automated captions for video and audio, legal consultation, staff training, and much much more.
EqualWeb acts as a bridge between website owners and WCAG 2.1 compliance. By providing an automated, user-friendly platform with ongoing monitoring and expert support, EqualWeb empowers you to create an inclusive and accessible online experience for everyone.
Talk to one of our experts to understand what options lie before you and how best to achieve WCAG 2.1 conformance.
