Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG)

The Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) documents explain how to make Web content accessible to people with disabilities. Web "content" generally refers to the information in a Web page or Web application, including text, images, forms, sounds, and such. (More specific definitions are available in the WCAG documents.)

WCAG is part of a series of accessibility guidelines, including the Authoring Tool Accessibility Guidelines (ATAG) and the User Agent Accessibility Guidelines (UAAG).
Essential Components of Web Accessibility

What is in WCAG 1.0

WCAG 1.0 has 14 guidelines that are general principles of accessible design. Each guideline has one or more checkpoints that explain how the guideline applies in a specific area. Each checkpoint is assigned a priority, explained in the Priorities section of WCAG 1.0.

Under each checkpoint is Techniques link that goes to the section within the Techniques for WCAG 1.0 Gateway document that links to relevant techniques in:

The Core Techniques, CSS Techniques, and HTML Techniques provide implementation guidance, including explanations, strategies, and detailed markup examples. The techniques documents are organized by topic; for example, HTML Techniques includes sections on forms, images, lists, links, tables, etc.

WCAG 10 Quick Tips

  1. Images & animations: Use the alt attribute to describe the function of each visual.
  2. Image maps. Use the client-side map and text for hotspots.
  3. Multimedia. Provide captioning and transcripts of audio, and descriptions of video.
  4. Hypertext links. Use text that makes sense when read out of context. For example, avoid "click here."
  5. Page organization. Use headings, lists, and consistent structure. Use CSS for layout and style where possible.
  6. Graphs & charts. Summarize or use the longdesc attribute.
  7. Scripts, applets, & plug-ins. Provide alternative content in case active features are inaccessible or unsupported.
  8. Frames. Use the noframes element and meaningful titles.
  9. Tables. Make line-by-line reading sensible. Summarize.
  10. Check your work. Validate.