WCAG Principles
The four WCAG principles describe the “foundation necessary for anyone to access and use [content].” In order to make content accessible to anyone, the content must be:
You may see these four principles referenced using the acronym POUR.
WCAG Guidelines
WCAG 2.0 was published on December 11, 2008.
WCAG 2.1 was published on June 5, 2018, and an update was published on September 21, 2023.
WCAG 2.2 was published on October 5, 2023.
WCAG 2.0, 2.1, and 2.2 are designed to be “backwards compatible”, which means content that conforms to WCAG 2.2 also conforms to WCAG 2.1 and WCAG 2.0.
WCAG 2.0 has 12 guidelines.
WCAG 2.1 adds 1 guideline and 17 success criteria.
WCAG 2.2 adds 9 success criteria.
The WCAG Guidelines provide logical groupings of the Success Criteria. For each grouping, the Guidelines outline what is necessary to make content accessible to as many people as possible, whatever their abilities.
WCAG Success Criteria
The Success Criteria describe specifically what outcomes content must achieve in order to be accessible. Each Success Criterion is designed to be objective, measurable, and testable.
According to the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG), the success criterion levels are: Level A (lowest), Level AA (mid-range), and Level AAA (highest), representing the different levels of accessibility a website can achieve, with most organizations aiming for Level AA compliance.
Key points about WCAG success criterion levels:
Level A: Considered the minimum level of accessibility, essential for all websites.
Level AA: Represents a good standard of accessibility, considered achievable by most websites and often mandated by accessibility laws.
Level AAA: The highest level of accessibility, aiming for the most inclusive experience possible, but may not always be achievable depending on the content and context.
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