Website Accessibility Guidelines: WCAG Explained

Website accessibility guidelines are the rules that make a website usable for people with disability, including people who are blind, have low vision, are deaf, can’t use a mouse or have cognitive disabilities. The standard most people mean is WCAG (the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines) from the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C). The current version is WCAG 2.2, and most businesses aim for its Level AA.

What is WCAG?

WCAG is an international standard published by the W3C’s Web Accessibility Initiative. It explains how to make web content more accessible, covering text, images, sound, video, forms and the code behind them. It doesn’t tell you what your site should look like; it sets testable rules, called success criteria, that a page either meets or doesn’t (W3C: WCAG overview).

There have been three versions of WCAG 2:

• WCAG 2.0, published in December 2008.
• WCAG 2.1, published in June 2018, which added criteria for mobile use, low vision and cognitive and learning disabilities.
• WCAG 2.2, published in October 2023, which is the current version.

Each version builds on the one before, so a site that meets WCAG 2.2 also meets 2.1 and 2.0.

What are the WCAG guidelines?

WCAG is organised under four principles, often shortened to POUR. Under them sit 13 guidelines (W3C: WCAG 2.2):

How many WCAG guidelines are there?

There are 13 guidelines in WCAG 2.2, spread across the four principles. Each guideline has success criteria underneath it, and those are what a site is actually tested against.

What do the WCAG levels A, AA and AAA mean?

Every success criterion has a level:

• Level A is the minimum. Without it, some people can’t use the site at all.
• Level AA covers the most common barriers and is the level most organisations aim for, and the level most accessibility policies refer to.
• Level AAA is the highest. W3C doesn’t recommend it as a general target for whole sites, because some content can’t meet every AAA criterion.

For a business website, WCAG 2.2 Level AA is a sensible target.

What changed in WCAG 2.2?

WCAG 2.2 added 9 success criteria and removed one, 4.1.1 Parsing, which is no longer needed (W3C: what’s new in WCAG 2.2). The new criteria focus on people with low vision, motor disabilities and cognitive disabilities:

• Focus not obscured: when you move through a page with the keyboard, the highlighted item shouldn’t be completely hidden behind sticky headers, cookie banners or chat buttons.
• Focus appearance: the keyboard focus indicator should be easy to see (Level AAA).
• Dragging movements: anything you can do by dragging, such as a slider, should also work with a single tap or click.
• Target size (minimum): buttons and links should be big enough to tap, generally at least 24 by 24 CSS pixels, or spaced well apart.
• Consistent help: help options such as a phone number or contact link should sit in the same place on every page.
• Redundant entry: people shouldn’t have to type the same information twice in one process.
• Accessible authentication: logging in shouldn’t depend on remembering or transcribing things, such as solving a puzzle, when there’s no alternative (with a stricter Level AAA version).

Is WCAG a legal requirement in Australia?

WCAG itself isn’t written into Australian law for private businesses. But the Disability Discrimination Act 1992 makes it unlawful to discriminate against people with disability when providing goods, services and facilities, and a website can be part of how you provide them. The Australian Human Rights Commission has published advisory notes on web access that point to WCAG as the benchmark, and says a complaint is much less likely to succeed if reasonable steps were taken to address accessibility. The Commission notes those advisory notes date from 2014 and are being updated.

In practice, meeting WCAG 2.2 AA is the clearest way to show you’ve taken reasonable steps. This is general information, not legal advice, so speak to a lawyer about your own obligations.

How do you check if a website is WCAG compliant?

No single tool can tell you a site meets WCAG, because many criteria need a person to judge them. A good check combines:

1. An automated scan. Free tools such as WAVE flag missing alt text, low contrast, empty links and form fields without labels.
2. A keyboard test. Put the mouse away and press Tab through the page. Can you reach every link, menu and button, see where you are, and use the forms?
3. A zoom test. Zoom the browser to 200% and check nothing gets cut off or overlaps.
4. A screen reader test. Try VoiceOver (Mac and iPhone) or NVDA (Windows) on key pages to hear how headings, images and forms are announced.
5. A content check. Look for captions on videos, clear link text (not “click here”), plain language and helpful error messages.

W3C’s How to Meet WCAG quick reference lists every success criterion with techniques you can filter by level.

Quick wins for most business websites

Most small business sites can fix the most common problems without a rebuild:

• Add meaningful alt text to images that carry information, and leave decorative images empty.
• Check text and button colours against their background for enough contrast.
• Use real headings (H1, H2, H3) in order, not just bold text.
• Label every form field, and explain errors in words, not only in red.
• Caption your videos and give audio a transcript.
• Make sure menus, pop-ups and sliders work with a keyboard.
• Don’t let cookie banners or chat buttons cover the content when people tab through the page.

How we approach accessibility on the websites we build

When we build or redesign a site, we design to WCAG 2.2 Level AA: readable contrast, real heading structure, labelled forms, keyboard-friendly menus and alt text on images. If you already have a website, our website accessibility service checks it against WCAG 2.2 AA and fixes what we find, charged at $175 + GST an hour. If the problems run deep, a website redesign can be the better investment, and our website care plans help keep new content accessible as you add it. We won’t promise a site is “fully compliant”: accessibility is ongoing, and every new page, image or video needs the same care.

Frequently asked questions

What is WCAG 2.1?

WCAG 2.1 is the version of the guidelines published in June 2018. It added success criteria for mobile devices, low vision and cognitive disabilities to WCAG 2.0. WCAG 2.2 replaced it as the current version in October 2023.

How do I meet WCAG 2.2?

Aim for Level AA: work through the success criteria at Levels A and AA using W3C’s quick reference, test with an automated tool, a keyboard and a screen reader, and fix what fails. Then keep checking new content as you publish it.

Is my website WCAG compliant if an automated tool shows no errors?

Not necessarily. Automated tools catch only some issues. Things like whether alt text is meaningful, whether the keyboard order makes sense, or whether error messages help, need a person to check.

Does WCAG apply to PDFs and documents on my website?

Yes. WCAG applies to web content, including documents you publish on your site. Where you can, put important information on a web page as well as, or instead of, a PDF.

Do accessible websites rank better on Google?

Accessibility isn’t a direct ranking factor, but much of the work overlaps with good SEO: clear headings, descriptive link text, alt text on images and fast, well-structured pages help both people and search engines.

The short version

Website accessibility guidelines mean WCAG 2.2: four principles (perceivable, operable, understandable, robust), 13 guidelines and testable success criteria at Levels A, AA and AAA. Aim for Level AA, test with tools and people, and keep checking as your site changes.

If you’d like your website checked or rebuilt with accessibility in mind, book a free 30-minute discovery call.