Why WCAG Conformance Doesn’t Mean “Perfectly Accessible"

The Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) are an excellent set of standards, and WCAG conformance is achievable — regardless of the size of your website, the complexity of its features, or any other factors. 

That’s why we recommend using Level AA conformance with the latest version of WCAG (currently, WCAG 2.2) as one of the goals for your web accessibility initiative. However, note that we said “one of the goals,” not “the only goal.” 

Most Level AA web content will provide a reasonably equivalent experience for users with disabilities, including those that use assistive technologies (AT) such as screen readers. 

But while WCAG conformance is a worthy goal, it needs to be part of a broader commitment to your users. Here’s why.

Websites Can Follow WCAG, But Still Create Barriers for Users with Disabilities

WCAG is written as pass-or-fail rules (or success criteria) that can be used to test web content. They’re intentionally written to provide some room for interpretation — that approach ensures that they can apply to a wide variety of digital products, including mobile apps, web apps, PDFs, and technologies that haven’t been invented yet.

The downside is that you can meet certain WCAG criteria without improving the core experience for users with disabilities. For example: 

• An image might have alternative text (alt text) that explains its purpose and puts it in context. That meets the requirement of WCAG 1.1.1, “Non-text Content.” However, if the alt text is extremely long, screen reader users will have to listen to all of it in order to use your website, which might be an unpleasant experience.
• Videos might have captions that include all of the nuances of natural speech — including “ums,” “uhs,” and repeated words, which can make the captions less understandable for Deaf users. Read more: Avoid These 4 Mistakes When Writing Video Captions for Accessibility.
• Tables can have proper markup, but still present the information in a way that’s virtually incomprehensible without the visual elements. Read more: How To Build Accessible Tables. 
• A website might follow WCAG’s requirements for pointer target size, but that won’t matter much if slow page speeds cause the layout to suddenly shift when the user tries to activate a button. 

Note that these issues probably won’t lead to a web accessibility lawsuit — if a website follows WCAG Level AA, it’s hard to make the case that it discriminates against users with disabilities (even if the overall experience is poor for certain AT users). 

But web accessibility is about much, much more than compliance! In order to realize the benefits of digital access, you need to start with an accessible mindset.

Related: Why Your Accessibility Strategy Shouldn't Stop with ADA Compliance

Avoid WCAG "Fixes" that Harm the User Experience

When tackling any accessibility issue, remember this: Every change will impact real, human users. 

You’re not just checking boxes on a list; you’re actively trying to make improvements. To that end: 

• Don’t rely on automated audits alone. Automated tools (such as BOIA’s free website analysis) are excellent at finding issues that fail simple rulesets, but they’re less useful when issues require human perspective. To learn more, read: What’s the Difference Between Manual and Automated Accessibility Testing?
• Involve actual assistive technology users wherever possible. People who use AT regularly can tell you how to fix issues in ways that go above and beyond WCAG guidelines — and they can also tell you when a “barrier" isn’t actually an issue for AT users. 
• Read through the WCAG Understanding documents. The World Wide Web Consortium’s online “Understanding WCAG" guides go much further than the core Guidelines by providing examples and explaining why each success criteria is important. 
• Don’t fix accessibility issues if you can’t understand how they help real users. Otherwise, you might end up with fixes that make things much worse (for example, using unnecessary ARIA to mark up important interactive elements, which could render a site unusable). 

To be clear, WCAG Level AA conformance is extremely important. Our point here is not that you can simply ignore WCAG. 

But when you treat WCAG as a tool — not a checklist — you can start to build a better understanding of your website’s users. You can approach each issue thoughtfully, which will help you avoid “second-round" fixes. Most importantly, you’ll know that each remediation will improve your site or app in a meaningful way.

If you’re ready to build an accessibility strategy, we’re here to help. Get started with a free WCAG Level A/AA accessibility analysis or send us a message to start building a plan for digital compliance.