WCAG

What it means

WCAG, the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines, are international web accessibility rules published by the W3C consortium. They set out how to build websites and apps that people with visual, hearing, motor or cognitive impairments can use, for example with a screen reader or keyboard only.

The guidelines rest on four principles: content must be perceivable, operable, understandable and robust. Each comes with specific criteria, such as text alternatives for images, sufficient colour contrast, keyboard operability, clear error messages in forms and captions for video. The criteria are grouped into levels A, AA and AAA.

WCAG is not law in itself, but European and Slovak regulations refer to it as the technical benchmark. Under the Accessibility Act, certain products and services, such as online shops and consumer banking, must meet accessibility requirements, assessed in practice mainly against level AA.

How it works in practice

With a client’s website, we start with a simple audit: automated tools catch some issues, such as missing image descriptions or weak contrast, while the rest must be checked manually, for instance by completing the whole purchase process with the keyboard alone and checking that forms can be submitted without a mouse.

Many accessibility fixes improve the site for everyone. A clear heading structure, readable fonts and meaningful button labels improve user experience and often SEO, because search engines understand the page better. Accessibility is thus an investment as well as an obligation.

When commissioning a new website, we recommend writing WCAG level AA compliance into the contract with the developer and agreeing how it will be tested. Retrofitting a finished site is usually more expensive than getting it right from the start.

What to watch out for

A common mistake is relying on accessibility overlays that promise to fix everything with one script. They usually do not fix the real problems in the code and sometimes hinder screen reader users more than they help.

Accessibility is not a one-off task. Every new piece of content, image or form can introduce new issues. Guidelines for editors and regular checks when the site changes are therefore as important as the initial audit.