WCAG compliance fundamentals
The Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) provide the international standard for making digital products accessible. These guidelines are organized around 4 core principles: content must be perceivable, operable, understandable, and robust. Meeting these standards ensures your product works across different assistive technologies and user needs.
WCAG has 3 conformance levels:
- Level A covers the most basic accessibility features that, if missing, make content completely inaccessible to some users
- Level AA addresses the major barriers and is the standard most organizations aim for, including many legal requirements.
- Level AAA represents the highest level of accessibility but isn't always achievable for all content types
Focus on Level AA compliance first as it covers most user needs and satisfies legal requirements in many jurisdictions. Common WCAG requirements include providing text alternatives for images, ensuring sufficient color contrast (at least 4.5:1 for normal text), making all functionality available via keyboard, giving users enough time to read content, and avoiding content that causes seizures. These aren't arbitrary rules but solutions to real problems people encounter daily.[1]
