WCAG 2.2: what you need to know for your website

A recent conversation with the very talented Totem Branding Agency | Dublin, Cork, Waterford, Ireland team around web user experience got us thinking that perhaps not everyone is up to speed with what will be required of them on their website. Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) represents an online framework that’s been developing and evolving since the turn of the century – but what does all of this mean?

Developed through the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) process, WCAG 2.2 (the fourth iteration of the framework) aims to make web content more usable and accessible. Accessibility involves a wide range of disabilities, including visual, auditory, physical, speech, cognitive, language, learning, and neurological disabilities”.

Let’s consider the use of colour on a website – an increasing online consideration for all companies. Successful adherence to WCAG 2.2 means a web designer/editor doesn’t use colour as the sole means of distinguishing information. Colour, in addition to text and shapes, should be used to convey meaning since (a) we don’t all see colour and (b) we don’t all see colour in the same way.

According to the W3C’s official website: “Colour is an important asset in the design of web content, enhancing its aesthetic appeal, its usability, and its accessibility. However, some users have difficulty perceiving colour. People with partial sight often experience limited colour vision, and many older users do not see colour well. In addition, people using limited-colour or monochrome displays and browsers will be unable to access information that is presented only in colour.”

WCAG 2.2 features nine new success criteria, many of which deal with barriers for users living with visual, mobility, hearing and cognitive disabilities. It represents the fourth iteration of the framework, which was inaugurated in 1999.

Via the European Accessibility Act (EAA) which comes into effect on Saturday, June 28th, electronic products and online services – including websites – will need to comply with accessibility requirements for people with disabilities. The groundwork for this process has been provided via the WCAG framework.

As for how Green Acre Marketing will embrace WCAG 2.2 over the coming weeks and months? Watch this space! In the meantime, visit: www.wcag.com/resource/what-is-wcag/