Web accessibility refers to the practice of making websites and web applications usable by people with disabilities. The Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) are the international standards for web accessibility, and they provide a set of guidelines and recommendations for making web content more accessible.
WCAG 2.0 is the current version of the guidelines and it is divided into three levels of conformance: A, AA, and AAA. Each level has a specific set of success criteria that must be met to conform to that level. Here are some of the main guidelines:
- Provide text alternatives for non-text content, such as images and audio
- Make sure that text can be resized without assistive technology up to 200% without loss of content or functionality
- Provide a way for users to pause, stop, hide or adjust the volume of auto-playing audio
- Use the “alt” attribute to provide a text description for images
- Provide meaningful labels for form controls
- Use headings and other structural elements to create a logical reading order
- Provide a clear and consistent navigation
- Provide context and orientation information
- Provide error identification and suggestions for correction
It’s important to note that accessibility is an ongoing process, and you should regularly test and update your website to ensure that it continues to conform to the latest accessibility guidelines.
here are some links to websites that provide information on web accessibility standards and guidelines:
- Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.0: https://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG20/
- Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI) – https://www.w3.org/WAI/
- The Accessibility Guidelines – https://www.accessibilityguidelines.org/
- The Accessible Rich Internet Applications (ARIA) specification: https://www.w3.org/TR/wai-aria/
- The W3C Web Accessibility Evaluation Tool (WAVE): https://wave.webaim.org/
- The W3C HTML Accessibility API Mappings (AAM) specification: https://www.w3.org/TR/html-aam-1.0/
- The European Union’s Web Accessibility Directive (EN 301 549): https://ec.europa.eu/digital-single-market/en/web-accessibility-directive
- https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/Accessibility#:~:text=Accessibility%20(often%20abbreviated%20to%20A11y,people%2C%20technology%20makes%20things%20easier.
These websites provide detailed information on web accessibility standards, guidelines and best practices, including tutorials, articles, and reference materials. It’s important to note that accessibility standards vary depending on the country and region, some of these links may not be applicable for your area.