New Guidelines for Making Web Content More Accessible for All

June 2018 – The Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG), an internationally established set of guidelines for accessibility of content on the Internet, have released version 2.1 of their guidelines to be implemented in summer 2018. These guidelines are not restricted to people with disabilities, as they also ensure greater accessibility of all web content on a variety of platforms (e.g. desktop, mobile phones, tablets). WCAG is maintained by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), which published the previous guidelines (2.0) in 2008. WCAG 2.0 was notable because it codified twelve guidelines divided into four main categories: perceivable, operable, understandable, and robust. The new WCAG 2.1 guidelines are backward compatible with the 2.0 meaning that all previous guidelines will remain in effect. New accessibility guidelines in 2.1 include, among other features: 

 

 Identify common purpose (wherein a piece of code must be able to tell the user what is expected to be input by the user).

 Identify purpose (wherein interface components such as icons and certain sections must be identified programmatically, for example, so that a user can understand what a button on a website does and what its purpose is).

 Reflow (wherein websites must have a responsive design that allows them to remain accessible when viewed on different platforms).

 Non-text contrast (wherein high contrast must extend from the web page to text, to text on interface components as well as colors used in non-text content).

 

For more information on the updated guidelines, please visit: https://developer.paciellogroup.com/blog/2018/06/web-content-accessibility-guidelines-wcag-2-1/

 

[Source: Patrick Lauke, The Paciello Group]