Introduction to WCAG 2.2

What is Accessibility

Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG 2.2) defines how to make web content more accessible to people with disabilities. Accessibility involves a wide range of disabilities, including visual, auditory, physical, speech, cognitive, language, learning, and neurological disabilities. Although these guidelines cover a wide range of issues, they are not able to address the needs of people with all types, degrees, and combinations of disability. These guidelines also make web content more usable by older individuals with changing abilities due to aging and often improve usability for users in general.

Essential Components

The Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI) states that it is essential that several different components of web development and interaction work together in order for the web to be accessible to people with disabilities. These components include:

• content – the information in a web page or web application, including:
  • natural information such as text, images, and sounds
  • code or markup that defines structure, presentation, etc.
• web browsers, media players, and other “user agents”
• assistive technology, in some cases – screen readers, alternative keyboards, switches, scanning software, etc.
• users’ knowledge, experiences, and in some cases, adaptive strategies using the web
• developers – designers, coders, authors, etc., including developers with disabilities and users who contribute content
• authoring tools – software that creates websites
• evaluation tools – web accessibility evaluation tools, HTML validators, CSS validators, etc.

Accessibility Testing