WCAG Compliance – Guidelines, Tools, and Steps to Comply

According to the latest survey by WHO, 16% of the global population – roughly 1 in 6 of us – experience significant disability. This means that if your website is not accessible to them, you could miss out on a substantial segment of the global population.

This is why WCAG compliance is important as it increases your pool of potential customers/readers by making your website accessible to individuals with disabilities. It also protects your website from potential lawsuits, ultimately saving you money.

In this concise guide, we will walk you through the WCAG guidelines, explain the different compliance levels, provide a comprehensive checklist, and outline the steps you need to take to achieve full WCAG compliance.

WCAG Compliance – 13 Key Guidelines You Need to Follow

WCAG includes multiple standards with various levels of conformance. As of 2024, WCAG 2.2 Level AA is the recommended standard for most websites. This version outlines 13 critical guidelines you should follow to achieve full compliance.

Perceivable

• Text Alternatives: Provide alternative text for non-text content forms such as images, so that the user can understand the content using their assistive technology.
• Time-based Media: Provide captions, alternatives, or audio descriptions for time-based media such as audio or video.
• Adaptable: Create content that can be presented in different ways (for example simpler layout) without losing information or structure.
• Distinguishable: Make it easier for users to see and hear content including separating foreground from background.

Operable

• Keyboard Accessible: Make all functionality available from a keyboard.
• Enough Time: Provide users enough time to read and use content.
• Seizures and Physical Reactions: Do not design content in a way that is known to cause seizures or physical reactions.
• Navigable: Provide ways to help users navigate, find content, and determine where they are on the website.
• Input Modalities: Make it easier for users to operate functionality through various inputs beyond the keyboard.

Understandable

• Readable: Make text content on your website readable and understandable.
• Predictable: Make your web pages appear and operate in predictable ways, so users can easily predict how to operate.
• Input Assistance: Provide clear instructions and messages to help users avoid and correct mistakes.

Robust

• Compatible: Maximize compatibility with current and future user agents, including assistive technologies.

“The power of the Web is in its universality. Access by everyone regardless of disability is an essential aspect.” – Tim Berners-Lee, W3C Director and inventor of the World Wide Web

WCAG Versions and Levels – Which One Do You Need to Meet?

As of 2024, three versions of WCAG are in use: WCAG 2.0, 2.1, and 2.2. While WCAG 2.1 remains the most widely used, WCAG 2.2, introduced in October 2023, is the latest version and is the recommended standard for most websites.

When it comes to levels, the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) outline three levels of conformance: A, AA, and AAA. Level A is the minimum level of conformance, addressing the most basic disability needs.

Level AAA represents the highest level of conformance, but it can be nearly impossible to achieve for some content. Level AA is generally recommended as it strikes the perfect balance between feasibility and accessibility.

WCAG Compliance Made Simple – Your Complete Checklist for Immediate Action

As mentioned earlier, WCAG 2.2 at Level AA is the recommended standard for most websites. To ensure your website is compliant, you can use the checklist below to verify whether it meets all the necessary WCAG guidelines for accessibility.

Perceivable

• Ensure text alternatives for all non-text content (e.g. images, icons, videos).
• Provide captions for all live and pre-recorded audio and video.
• Create content that can be presented in different ways (e.g. simpler layout) without losing information or structure.
• Ensure content is adaptable for different devices and screen sizes.
• Make text readable and understandable with sufficient contrast against the background.
• Use headings and labels clearly to describe the topic or purpose.
• Ensure all links, buttons, and controls have accessible names that describe their purpose and use.
• Provide visible labels for form elements like input fields.
• Ensure all interactive components are large enough to be clicked easily.

Operable

• Ensure all functionality is available from a keyboard (no reliance on mouse-only action).
• Provide users with enough time to read and use content (e.g., avoid time-limited content without alternatives).
• Avoid content that can cause seizures or physical reactions, such as flashing lights or animations.
• Provide users ways to navigate, find content, and determine whether they are (e.g., breadcrumb trails, clear menus).
• Include multiple ways to access pages, such as a search bar, sitemap, or navigation menu.
• Make interactive elements like links clearly distinguishable and easy to use.
• Implement focus indicators that are visible and clear for keyboard navigation.
• Make sure the focus order is logical and intuitive, ensuring your users can navigate your website predictably. 

Understandable

• Ensure the language of each page is programmatically defined.
• Use consistent navigation across pages to help users predict where content is located.
• Ensure input errors are identified clearly, with suggestions provided to fix the issue.
• Make it easier for users to understand and interact with content (e.g., using plain language, providing instructions)
• Avoid unusual words or abbreviations without explanations.

Robust

• Ensure content is compatible with assistive technologies (e.g., screen readers).
• Use standard HTML/CSS practices to ensure content works across different browsers and devices.
• Regularly test your website with various assistive technologies to ensure accessibility.

How to Achieve WCAG Compliance – Two Ways

To achieve WCAG compliance, you need to audit your website and fix all the accessibility issues detected in the audit. There are two primary methods to audit your site to detect accessibility issues: manual and automated.

In the manual method, you can either hire a person who has expertise in web accessibility or take on the task yourself. This involves thoroughly reviewing the WCAG guidelines and then cross-checking them with your website for compliance.

While the manual method can be effective, it is time-consuming and expensive, particularly if your site has many pages. Therefore, to achieve WCAG compliance, the popular approach is to use automated tools to scan for accessibility issues and address them.

The most efficient method is hybrid auditing, which blends automated tools with expert manual testing. This approach ensures a thorough assessment of your website’s accessibility. It covers both common automated issues and complex problems that require human evaluation.

Note that automated tools alone won’t make you WCAG compliant. These tools help you identify accessibility issues and provide actionable insights, but you need to implement the necessary changes to ensure full WCAG compliance.

Use WebYes to Detect Your Site’s Accessibility Issues for Free

To audit your website for free, simply submit your website’s URL to WebYes. The free online accessibility checker will scan for accessibility, SEO, quality, and performance issues, and provide solutions to fix them.

WebYes performs automatic checks to identify issues and flags areas that require further review by a manual tester. This ensures the accessibility audit is thorough, combining the speed of automation with the precision of manual testing.

Your audit report categorizes issues affecting your website as critical, medium, or low, allowing you to prioritize and address them accordingly. The tool also includes a screenshot of the element causing the issue for easier identification.

Benefits of WCAG Compliance

You shouldn’t see WCAG compliance as something you are forced to do or just another expense to implement. There are numerous benefits besides protecting you from a lawsuit, making it a valuable investment for your website.

Wider Audience Reach

WCAG compliance ensures that your website is accessible to everyone, including the millions of people who live with a disability. By making your website usable for a broader audience, you significantly increase your potential customer base.

Better User Experience

WCAG encourages the best practices in design, such as logical navigation, clear content structure, and easy-to-read text. These improvements make it easy for all users, not just those with disabilities, to navigate and interact with your website.

Improved SEO

Adhering to WCAG guidelines results in a better user experience which often results in increased dwell time and reduced bounce rates, both of which are strong positive signals to Google. However, accessibility is not a direct ranking factor (yet).

“No, not really. So I think accessibility is something that is important for a website because, if you drive your users away with a website that they can’t use, then they’re not going to recommend it to other people. But it’s (accessibility) not something that we would pick up and use as a direct ranking factor when it comes to search. Maybe that will change over time.” – John Mueller, Search Analyst at Google

Avoid Potential Lawsuits

Accessibility lawsuits are on the rise, and UsableNet’s midyear 2024 report estimates that the number will exceed 4,000 by the end of the year in the U.S. Ensuring WCAG compliance protects your business from lawsuits, saves money, and improves your brand’s reputation.

Sued for website ADA inaccessibility
byu/Remarkable-Elk6297 insmallbusiness

Staying Ahead – How to Maintain WCAG Compliance as Standards Evolve

Maintaining WCAG compliance is not a one-time task but an ongoing process, especially as the web accessibility standards continue to evolve. To stay ahead, it’s important to implement future-proof strategies that ensure your website remains accessible to all users.

Start by committing to regular audits. These audits can help you identify any accessibility issues that may have arisen due to changes in web content, design, or technology. A good practice is to audit your website once a month.

Also, keep an eye on updates to the WCAG guidelines themselves. As technology advances and user needs change, the guidelines are revised to address new challenges. In case you didn’t know, W3C is currently working on WCAG 3.0, which will introduce new guidelines.

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