What are the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines?

The Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) were developed by the World Wide Web Consortium with guidance from subject matter experts in the field (both disabled and non-disabled contributors).

The WCAG covers a wide range of recommendations for making Web content more accessible. Following these guidelines will make content more accessible to a wider range of people with disabilities, including accommodations for blindness and low vision, deafness and hearing loss, limited movement, speech disabilities, photosensitivity, and combinations of these, and some accommodation for learning disabilities and cognitive limitations; but will not address every user need for people with these disabilities. 

WCAG success criteria are written as testable statements that are not technology-specific. Guidance about satisfying the success criteria in specific technologies, as well as general information about interpreting the success criteria, is provided in separate documents.

Higher Education adheres to the latest version of the WCAG per the Department of Justice's recent rulings, which is version 2.1. We must meet both A and AA, and where possible, do our best to meet AAA success criteria.

Tips for Designers Getting Started with WCAG

There are several success criteria provided, so it can be hard to determine which ones fall under development, design, or content. The W3C has developed Tips for Designing, which highlights the key areas that designers should focus on. They are as follows:

  • Provide sufficient contrast between foreground and background
  • Don’t use color alone to convey information
  • Ensure that interactive elements are easy to identify
  • Provide clear and consistent navigation options
  • Ensure that form elements include clearly associated labels
  • Provide easily identifiable feedback
  • Use headings and spacing to group related content
  • Create designs for different viewport sizes
  • Include image and media alternatives in your design
  • Provide controls for content that starts automatically


Tips for Developers Getting Started with WCAG

There are several success criteria provided, so it can be hard to determine which ones fall under development, design, or content. The W3C has developed Tips for Developing, which highlights the key areas that developers should focus on. They are as follows:

  • Associate a label with every form control
  • Include alternative text for images
  • Identify page language and language changes
  • Use mark-up to convey meaning and structure
  • Help users avoid and correct mistakes
  • Reflect the reading order in the code order
  • Write code that adapts to the user’s technology
  • Provide meaning for non-standard interactive elements
  • Ensure that all interactive elements are keyboard accessible
  • Avoid CAPTCHA where possible

Useful Resources that Help You Learn WCAG

The A11y Project WCAG Checklist

Created by the A11y Project, this interactive checklist groups WCAG success criteria by helpful topic areas, such as Content, Global Code, and Keyboard. 

WCAG of the Day Emails

Just like the "Word of the Day" email services, except for the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) instead. Each day it sends out a short summary of a different success criterion.

Where's WCAG Game

The Grid Games app contains three puzzle games: Squares, Pairs, and Where's WCAG? The app explores how traditional puzzle apps can provide an accessible experience as possible for all players. Particular attention has been paid to the screen reader experience when playing the games, and the source code for the app is publicly available for all software developers.