Eli Lambez, Founder of WEB-A

I'm Eli Lambez, founder and CEO of WEB-A. For 9+ years my work has had one goal: making digital services usable for everyone. My background mixes health systems administration and law. Health systems showed me how people with different physical and cognitive needs actually experience a service. Law taught me to turn long regulations into clear, practical steps a team can follow.

At WEB-A we test every project by hand, with screen readers, keyboard and testers who live with disabilities. No shortcuts and no automatic overlays. Here I write about what we see in real audits of websites, apps and documents: what breaks, why it matters to the person using it, and how to fix it in code. If something here helps your team, that's the point.

What is WCAG?

Before moving to the essentials, it is necessary to know what WCAG stands for. WCAG are the initials for “Web Content Accessibility Guidelines”. This notion elaborates on advancing web content to the extent that individuals with disabilities can easily access the web and benefit from it as people usually do.

Over the years, a lot of WCAG versions have been released starting from the year 1999. The first version was WCAG 1.0, replaced by a second version called WCAG 2.0 in 2008.

This version was deemed a definitive world standard; however, the latest update was released in 2018, labeled as WCAG 2.1, an advanced version of WCAG 2.0, having all its features along with additional support facilities for the disabled on the web content over all devices, including mobile phones.

The Guidelines and Pillars of WCAG

For all the versions of WCAG, there has been a standard set of guidelines laid down prior to designing the web content. For the 2.0 version, there are twelve guidelines that have been followed for the 2.1 version as well, except the latest version has an addition of rule, making the count a total of 13.

The following are the guidelines set for the second version; WCAG 2.0:

The content should be perceivable.

Make flexible content so that it can be expressed or produced in different forms of presentations. While keeping in mind that the information supposed to be passed through doesn’t cut down or disintegrate.
There should be substitutions for time-based media for people who can’t process information quickly. Projector slides can be taken as an example here.
There should be alternatives to a single form of sense. For example, if there is a voice recording of certain content, then text or subtitles should be added to change the work into other forms of expression like sign languages or speech symbols.

Content should be functional.

All functions and assistance should be accessible with a keyboard.
There should be given enough time for users to read and process the content for better understanding.
Refrain from designing any type of content which could cause seizures of any kind.
Ease the usability of the website so that everyone easily navigates each section. Make the subheads or redirects more prominent or highlight them.

Content should be understandable.

Text and font should be comprehensible and readable.
Design the web pages in a way that users can predict their navigation.
Try correcting mistakes and make them avoidable.

Strengthen the content

Make the site in a way that it can be valid for current users and future users. The assistive support should also be simple to use so that both tenses can easily figure out the site’s usage.

The latest WCAG 2.1 version also includes a 2.5 pointer accessibility feature, making it easier for users to access features and functionality through other means of devices aside from keyboards.

The Success Criteria

The success guidelines criteria are simplified into 3 different levels.

Level A – This level isn’t really as strict compared to the other two and is considered fundamental. However, it is essential that your website should pass this level because if it doesn’t pass a basic accessibility test, then the site has major accessibility issues and is not feasible for individuals with disabilities to use.
Level AA – This is the most common level that is passed by websites for accessibility tests. This level ensures that the website is satisfactory enough for individuals with disabilities to use. According to the success criteria, for a site to be considered reasonably accessible, it needs to pass both level A and level AA.
Level AAA – This level exceeds performance from both levels mentioned above. It is considered highly accessible for people with disabilities. Passing level AAA means passing every guideline deemed essential in the WCAG criteria. These levels are usually pretty strict so passing level AAA is generally hard.