WCAG Levels

The US Department of Justice has chosen to adopt the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) to define the standards of digital accessibility as required by the ADA. While WCAG itself is not considered law, it does define the standards by which courts and regulators measure accessibility.

WCAG is published and maintained by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C)—an international organization that develops global internet standards. The current accessibility standard WCAG 2.2.

How WCAG is structured

Individual success criteria—defined by WCAG—are grouped by related topic. These guidelines are then organized according to the applicable POUR principle.

Each POUR principle and guideline provides background information that may help you to better understand the intent of specific accessibility requirements, which can help to implement appropriate changes. Within guidelines are the individal success critera; where specific pass or fail requirements will be defined. Within WCAG, success criteria are assigned to one of three distinct levels of compliance: A, AA, and AAA.

Minimum Compliance: Level A

These standards are considered the bare minimum needed to have a usable—note, not accessible—website. While the standards in level A address some high-level functionality that may impact accessibility, for the most part these guidelines are centered more on improving broad standards of usability. That said, the simplicity level A requirements can be a good place to begin the process of auditing and remediating accessibility issues. By aligning your website to this level of compliance you can become comfortable with identifying issues and remediating them; improving the semantics and consistency of your website before you progress to higher levels of compliance.

Moderate compliance: Level AA

Level AA includes all criteria defined in level A.

While level A is considered the lowest standard provided by WCAG, level AA is widely considered to be the minimum standard all websites should strive for. This level is what is most commonly referenced as the standard for ADA compliance by the DOJ and court systems. As such, its considered the realistic and recommended target most businesses should strive for.

Maximum compliance: Level AAA

Level AAA includes all of the critera from levels A, and AA.

The strictest of all three levels, this criteria works to establish the maximum amount of accessibility for the most individuals as possible. As mentioned above, level AA is considered the required target for most websites, with level AAA being designated for specialized contexts and may often be unrealistic or difficult to fully maintain.

Choosing the right level of compliance for your business

While its never a bad thing to strive for maximum compliance, level AAA criteria can be more complex and harder to implement. Unless you know for certain that you need to comply with level AAA, you should assume your goal to be level AA.

Automated accessibility scans do not equal WCAG compliance

Automated testing tools are often marketed as comprehensive solutions for accessibility, but they are far from it. While these tools can excel at detecting straightforward issues like missing alt-text, poor color contrast, and improper html semantics—they fall short on evaluating issues that are more nuanced or require human judgement.

Automated tools are a fantastic starting point for accessibility audits; providing fast, efficient methods for identifying and correcting straightforward problems. The time saved by these tools should be used to perform manual testing and prioritize addressing critical issues.

According to an audit from the US Government Digital Services (GDS) automated tools fail to identify roughly 60-70% of known accessibility issues. Some examples of more complex issues that automated tools fail to evaluate include:

• The effectiveness of alt-text; while these tools can flag anywhere alt-text is missing from an image, they cannot evaluate the accuracy or usefulness of alt-text that exists.
• The logical flow and usability of keyboard navigation; these tools can only detect whether elements possess the necessary attributes to receive and display focus. They cannot determine if page elements would receive focus in an order that is usable and makes logical sense.
• The clarity of instructions and error messages; while automated tools may be able to detect when error states are not configured, they cannot evalute the effectiveness of these messages.

Why compliance matters for small businesses

As digital accessibility related lawsuits are rising it’s increasingly important for businesses to be aware of their level of risk and compliance. Baring rare exceptions, if a complaint or lawsuit is filed, your website will be measured against level AA criterion.

Taking the time to understand the requirements of level AA compliance, as they apply to your website, may help you to reduce your liability and protect your website from risk. Additionally, understanding level AA requirements can help prioritize accessibility remediation and avoid over-investing in unnecessary enhancements.