What are the benefits of using WCAG 2.1 as a reference for web accessibility?

1 What is WCAG 2.1?

WCAG stands for Web Content Accessibility Guidelines, and it is a set of standards developed by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), the main international organization for web technology. WCAG 2.1 is the latest version, published in 2018, and it covers a wide range of recommendations for making web content more accessible to people with disabilities, such as vision, hearing, cognitive, or motor impairments. WCAG 2.1 is organized into four principles: perceivable, operable, understandable, and robust. Each principle has several guidelines, and each guideline has three levels of conformance: A, AA, and AAA.

2 Why use WCAG 2.1 as a reference?

Using WCAG 2.1 as a reference for web accessibility can benefit your technical services in several ways. First, it can help you comply with the legal and ethical obligations to provide accessible web content to your clients and users. Many countries and regions have adopted WCAG 2.1 as the basis for their web accessibility laws and regulations, such as the European Union, Canada, Australia, and Japan. Second, it can help you improve the quality and usability of your web content, as WCAG 2.1 incorporates the latest research and best practices on web accessibility, user interface design, and web development. Third, it can help you increase your customer satisfaction and loyalty, as WCAG 2.1 enables you to create web content that is more inclusive, diverse, and respectful of the needs and preferences of your users.

3 How to use WCAG 2.1 as a reference?

Using WCAG 2.1 as a reference for web accessibility does not mean that you have to follow every guideline and criterion exactly. Instead, it requires understanding the principles and goals behind them and applying them to your specific context and audience. To do this, you should review the WCAG 2.1 overview and quick reference documents, conduct a web accessibility audit to assess your content, choose the appropriate level of conformance based on legal requirements and user expectations, implement the relevant guidelines using techniques from WCAG 2.1 and other sources, and test and evaluate your web content for accessibility. Generally, level AA is considered the minimum acceptable level for most web content.

4 What are some web accessibility best practices?

In order to ensure web accessibility, WCAG 2.1 should be used as a reference and general best practices should be followed. These best practices include using clear and consistent navigation and layout, meaningful text for links and alternative text for images, sufficient color contrast, font size, and spacing for text and graphics, captions, transcripts, and audio descriptions for multimedia content, keyboard accessibility with visible focus indicators and keyboard shortcuts, adjustable presentation and functionality of web content, avoiding content that can cause seizures with warnings and alternatives for those sensitive to them, and valid and semantic HTML, CSS, and JavaScript code following web standards.

5 Where to find more resources on web accessibility?

If you want to learn more about web accessibility guidelines and best practices in the context of technical services, you can find many useful resources online. The W3C Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI) website provides official documentation, tutorials, tools, and resources on WCAG 2.1 and other topics. WebAIM provides practical guidance, training, articles, and tools for developers, designers, educators, and advocates. The A11y Project website is a community-driven collection of tips, patterns, resources, and tools. And the Accessible Techcomm website offers information, resources, and examples for technical communicators and content creators.