Web Accessibility Checklist and WCAG Guidelines

For a website to be accessible to users with various disabilities, it needs to conform to the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG). Ensuring your web content adheres to these internationally recognized standards will deliver a better experience for all users, not just those with disabilities.

Below is a checklist of some of the most common things to look for in order to conform to WCAG 2.0 and WCAG 2.1:

• Prioritize simplicity and ease of consumption when creating content in ways that will not sacrifice information or structure
• Provide text alternatives for visual images that communicate relevant information
• Provide captions or audio descriptions for videos and audio
• Ensure content is fully accessible using only a keyboard
• Offer markers or other aids to help users understand where they are during the entire experience and find what they need
• Avoid design layouts that are known to cause seizures
• Programmatically determine the language of the page
• Include form input error identification and description in text format
• Use clean markup languages: elements with start and end tags and are properly nested; maintain unique IDs and attributes
• Enable reflow such that a user need not scroll in two dimensions after enlarging text
• Utilize a 3:1 color contrast ratio for text