Web Accessibility
The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) has created recommendations through the Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI).
Among these recommendations, there are those relating to web content, called the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG).
This set of recommendations makes the content of the web more accessible.
Following these recommendations will make the content accessible to a wider variety of people with disabilities, including blind and partially sighted people, deaf and hard of hearing people, people with learning disabilities, cognitive limitations, motor limitations, speech limitations, photosensitivity and people with a combination of these functional limitations.
Following these recommendations will also make web content often easier for users in general.
There are also specific guidelines or laws that derive from this set of recommendations:
- WCAG (Web Content Accessibility Guidelines).
See the Details.
- EN 301 549 in Europe. See the Details.
- Section 508 in the USA. See the Details.
Principles
The guidelines and success criteria are built around four principles, which provide the foundation for anyone who wants to access and use web content.
Anyone who wants to use the web must have content that is ...
Perceivable
Information and user interface components must be presentable to users in ways they can perceive.
Operable
User interface components and navigation must be operable.
Understandable
Information and the operation of user interface must be understandable.
Robust
Content must be robust enough that it can be interpreted reliably by a wide variety of user agents, including assistive technologies.
If any of these principles are not respected, users with disabilities will not be able to use the web properly.
Conformance requirements
Testable success criteria are provided for each rule to allow the use of WCAG where requirements and conformance testing are required, including design specification, purchase, regulation and contractual agreements.
To meet the needs of different groups and contexts, three levels of compliance have been defined:
- Level A: minimum level of accessibility.
- Level AA: improved level of level A.
- Level AAA: level higher than level AA.