ACCESSIBILITY

THE BASICS

WHAT IS ACCESSIBILTY AND COMPLIANCE FOR A WEBSITE?

The WCAG is an internationally recognized set of guidelines for digital accessibility. Website accessibility standards break down to four basic principles: Perceivable, Operable, Understandable, Robust.

WHAT IS CONSIDERED?

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.
This means that users must be able to operate the interface.

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.

WHO DOES IT EFFECT?

Audience with disabilities, but the practice of making sites accessible also benefits other groups such as those using mobile devices, or those with slow network connections

HOW DO WE MEASURE ACCESSIBILITY AND COMPLIANCE?

The most common way to measure accessibility and compliance is through the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG). WCAG is the international standard that explains the necessary rules that are needed to make web content more accessible for those with disabilities.

According to WCAG, there are three levels of accessibility conformance:

Level A (Basic Standard) - the minimum standard

Level AA (Average Standard) - includes level A and level AA requirements

Level AAA (Exceptional Standard) - includes level A, level AA, and level AAA requirements