Web designers typically aim to create a beautiful and eye-catching website. But beyond aesthetics, accessibility should also be a top priority.
This is where Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) come in. WCAG are the technical standards or criteria designers must meet to ensure that websites are accessible for everyone, including those with disabilities.
By following them, you provide web experiences that are not only visually appealing but user-friendly as well.
Understanding WCAG might be difficult, especially with its long list of rules and technical jargon. But don’t fret! Today, we’ll walk you through everything you need to know about WCAG—its principles, the conformance levels, and how to apply the concept to your web design.
What Is WCAG?
WCAG is a set of globally recognized guidelines that aim to make websites more accessible to people with disabilities.
It was developed by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) through its Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI) in 1999. Initially called WCAG 1.0, it focuses primarily on HTML content accessibility.
As technology progressed, so did the WCAG. By 2008, we had WCAG 2.0, which offered more comprehensive guidelines and introduced their four fundamental principles (which we’ll discuss later).
WCAG 2.1 was released in 2018 to focus more on mobile usability and support users with cognitive and learning disabilities.
The latest iteration is the WCAG 2.2 in 2023. This version features more targeted improvements such as better keyboard navigation, simplified authentication processes, and requiring focus indicators.
You may now be wondering why there are so many versions. Well, technology continues to progress rapidly. When WCAG was created in 1999, websites were simpler and had fewer elements. If we continue to use that version, we won’t be able to keep up with technological changes such as mobile apps or voice recognition software.
If you’re building a website, WCAG always recommends using the latest version to ensure the final product is as user-friendly as possible.
Fundamental Principles of WCAG
WCAG is built on four principles: Perceivable, Operable, Understandable, and Robust (POUR).
Perceivable
This principle ensures that users can perceive or experience content through one or more of their senses.
This means providing alternative ways to access information, such as text descriptions for images (alt text) for visually impaired users or video captions for deaf users.
Another is adding text or visual cues instead of relying solely on colors. For example, you can add a “Required” label on your forms instead of simply using red-colored text to convey importance. This way, even colorblind users can easily use your forms.
Operable
This principle focuses on usability—meaning your users can use, navigate, or interact with your website regardless of their physical capabilities.
This includes making all functions available via keyboard or voice control for users with motor impairments and not using flashing content that can trigger seizures or other physical reactions.
Enough time should also be given for users to read your content. Avoid time-based media, such as forms with countdown timers, as this can cause issues with users with cognitive disabilities (as they need more time to process information) or who need assistive technology.
Understandable
This principle ensures that users can easily comprehend your website—both the content and navigation.
This means using clear and simple language, providing enough information to help users complete tasks, and ensuring your navigation and interfaces work consistently and predictably.
For example, a checkout form on your e-commerce site should have labels like “Step 1,” “Step 2,” and so on to reduce confusion. Entered the wrong information? An error message that explains why it’s wrong, e.g., “Password must contain 6 characters”) instead of saying “Error” or “Try Again” is more helpful.
It is also crucial to make navigation easy and intuitive. For instance, clicking the logo should return you to the homepage. A magnifying glass means search. Dragging the scroll bar downwards returns you to the bottom of the page.
Following typical web conventions like these is advisable since users already understand what to do based on what they see on other websites.
Robust
The principle ensures that your website is compatible across different devices, browsers, and assistive technology such as screen readers or voice recognition software.
You can do this by using clean, structured, and semantic code. This ensures that screen readers can interpret your content correctly. Another is to avoid using outdated technology like Flash or Java, which no longer works with modern technology.
Make sure your site is mobile-friendly as well. Use responsive design so that your text, images, and layout automatically adapt to smaller screens.
WCAG Conformance Levels
How do you measure a website’s compliance with WCAG? There are three conformance levels: A, AA, and AAA.
- Level A (Basic)—This is the bare minimum level at which the website provides basic accessibility features.
- Level AA (Good)—This level provides more comprehensive accessibility. It is also the standard level that most laws and regulations require.
- Level AAA (Advanced)—This is the highest level of conformance. Meeting this means you satisfy the requirements for Level A, Level AA, plus 28 other standards. Because of this strict criterion, it’s not required to reach this level.
Let’s say you have a website that offers online courses. Level A means you provide basic captions, Level AA means you provide additional SDH subtitles and transcripts, while Level AAA means you have sign-language interpretation on your videos.
Implementing WCAG in Design
While WCAG is most evident in technical and UX elements, it can also be applied in design decisions.
Some examples are:
Color and Contrast
Sufficient color contrast is necessary if you want your site to be readable.
Let’s say you have a light gray background and light teal text. Because of the low contrast, it’s going to be too difficult to read.
The opposite is just as bad. A neon red background with bright yellow may have a high contrast, but it’s too overwhelming for your users.
A good rule of thumb is to use dark text with a light background and vice versa. Think black text with white background—plain and simple, but readable. It’s why it’s the most used color combination on websites.
WCAG requires a contrast of 4.5:1 for normal text and 3:1 for headers or large text. To meet Level AAA, you’ll need a 7:1 contrast.
You can use tools like WebAim Contrast Checker, Accessibility Checker, or Colour Contrast Analyser (CCA) to check if your website colors meet the requirements.
Let’s now move to the colors itself. Colors like red and green won’t register the same way to people who are colorblind.
Source: Datylon
The best thing to do is to avoid color combinations like red-green or red-brown and instead go for blue-yellow or blue-orange. Blue is generally perceived well by people with visual impairments, so it’s a safer bet.
Use tools like Chrome’s Colorblind Simulator, Coolors Colorblind Palette, or Color Oracle to check if your palette is color-blind-friendly.
Typography and Readability
How do you ensure that your typography is accessible?
First, look at the style. Sans-serif fonts like Helvetica, Arial, or Verdana are considered more accessible because they lack decorative serifs. Since they are simpler and cleaner, they are easier to read for people with dyslexia or low vision.
Go for fonts with distinct features as well. You don’t want to use fonts where the uppercase “I,” lowercase “l,” and numeral one “1” look identical to each other since this can cause confusion.
The alignment matters as well. Left-aligned and justified text creates a more natural reading flow. However, right-aligned, centered, or asymmetrical can be more difficult to follow since the user will need to find the starting point every time.
Source: Typographic Web Design
For your text size, a size of 12pt (16px) for your body text and a size 18pt (24px) for your headers is generally suggested.
Line height and letter spacing also impact readability. If there is too much space, your text will drown out. Too little space can be too crowded and hard to decipher for people with dyslexia.
Forms and Interactive Elements
Forms may be essential for lead generation and data gathering for business owners and marketers, but for users, they are just more work for them to do.
Keep the forms short and to the point to make them more accessible and user-friendly. One page is ideal. Break it up into multiple screens if you can’t make it short. You can also add a progress bar so that your users know how much is left for them to do.
Have clear labels and instructions as well. For instance, if you have specific requirements for the password, make sure to indicate your rules. Adding extra cues like red text, “!,” “?,” or “??“ can give more context to the users.
Inline validations can also help users spot errors faster and guide them on how to correct them.
Source: CXL
Adding interactive elements can also help. For example, changing the button color or putting a thicker frame on the form fields can help your users identify that their form is done.
Conclusion
WCAG provides a framework for creating accessible digital experiences. Whether you’re a UX designer, web developer, graphic artist, or business owner, understanding these guidelines will help you build a website accessible by anyone, regardless of their physical or mental abilities.
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Written by DesignCrowd on Thursday, March 27, 2025
DesignCrowd is an online marketplace providing logo, website, print and graphic design services by providing access to freelance graphic designers and design studios around the world.