Accessible Web Content: A Series

Welcome to our Accessible Web Content series: our hub for best practices and guides for making accessible digital content! This is a great page to bookmark as it will take you through to other articles in the series.

What is web accessibility and WCAG?

Very simply, by the W3C, “Web accessibility means that websites, tools, and technologies are designed and developed so that people with disabilities can use them.”

The W3C authors an international set of standards for web accessibility which is called Web Content Accessibility Guidelines, or WCAG for short. It’s not perfect by any means, but it’s the best thing we have at the moment. Currently, WCAG Version 2.1 is the most updated, non-draft version.

We strongly suggest that before beginning content development for your new site, you read through pages 13-14 and 33-35 in the RGD Access Ability 2 handbook. Accessibility issues can often start with language usage and it is important to be aware of potential accessibility content issues. The handbook will go over some of the same topics that we do, however it offers an additional, valuable, perspective.

Quick tips

A great tool to get all our best tips is through our Make-It-Accessible project.

• Links: The purpose of each link should be understandable from the link text alone. Do not use “click here”.
• Alt text: Always write descriptive alt text unless the media is a decoration.
• All caps: All caps should only be used within paragraph content if necessary for acronyms. It is best to avoid it if the purpose is to style text.
• Videos: Upload video content to YouTube or Vimeo so you can write captions.

WCAG compliance and other legislation

Article 1: Accessibility Testing

WCAG compliance is not the end-all be-all of accessibility. Even if your website is 100% AAA WCAG compliant, it still won’t be accessible to everybody. That said, it’s a great tool to use to gauge needs and how to move forward.

Recommended Reading

• A Guide to Accessibility in Web Development and Design
• The Accessibility for Manitobans Act: Is Your Website Compliant 

Accessibility statements

Article 2: How To Write an Accessibility Statement 

Accessibility statements are generally a page of content outlining existing and future accessibility considerations. Sometimes it’s legally required, and other times its purpose is for clear communication.

How much content to write?

Article 3: Writing Guidelines for Accessible Websites

Content does not have to be long in order to be useful in navigating and finding content. We have compiled a list of the most common types of content, and how many words we find to be best for user experience.

WCAG Criterion

For more detailed information straight from the source, visit the following page:

• Item 2.4.6 – Level AA – Headings and Labels

Alt text

Article 4: Alt Text

Alternative text (known as alt text) for images and other media is incredibly important. Not only for visitors using a screen reader, but for SEO as well. Writing thorough, concise captions can also help increase comprehension for all visitors. An example of great image alt-text.

WCAG Criterion

For more detailed information straight from the source, visit the following pages:

• Item 1.1.1 – Level A – Non-text Content
• Item 1.4.5 – Level AA – Images of Text

Videos

Article 5: How To Make Videos Accessible

Videos use more senses than just sight to convey their content, and so they require more attention when it comes to A and AA accessibility. For example, if you’ve ever muted a video in a public place, you were relying on the creator for making closed captions, subtitles, audio descriptions and transcripts. An example of good accessible captions.

WCAG Criterion

For more detailed information straight from the source, visit the following pages:

• Item 1.1.1 – Level A – Non-text Content
• Item 1.2.1 – Level A – Audio-only and video-only (Prerecorded)
• Item 1.2.2 – Level A – Captions (Prerecorded)
• Item 1.2.3 – Level A – Audio Description or Media Alternative (Prerecorded)
• Item 1.2.4 – Level AA – Captions (Live)
• Item 1.2.5 – Level AA – Audio Description (Prerecorded)

Links and buttons

Article 6: Accessible Links and Buttons

Labeling links and buttons correctly is one of the most important things you can do on your website to improve accessibility. We want the link to get to the point straight away, be pretty unique to the page so the destination is clear, and be easy to speak out loud.

WCAG Criterion

For more detailed information straight from the source, visit the following page:

• Item 2.4.4 – Level A – Link Purpose (In Context)

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