Today, web and mobile apps have become an indispensable part of human lives. Every day billions of users access various kinds of websites and mobile apps for searching, reading, gaming, shopping, etc. The leading search engine, Google, gets 5.6 billion searches per day through various mediums and processes around 63,000 search queries every second. However, these web and mobile apps should be equally accessible to everyone, including people with disabilities like partial blindness, hearing loss, motor impairment, etc. Therefore, for apps and websites to become accessible to people with specific disabilities, businesses should understand the significance of Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG), which play an essential role in enabling seamless access of apps to all people.

An Overview of WCAG Guidelines

WCAG guidelines are the detailed technical description of accessibility guidelines and their success criteria. These guidelines aim to make web content more accessible to people with specific disabilities related to visual, hearing loss, physical or motor limitations, speech, cognitive, language, learning, and neurological disabilities. WCAG guidelines are more of legal requirements or compliances that businesses should follow to ensure equal accessibility of web content to all people.

According to Wikipedia, “The Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) are part of a series of web accessibility guidelines published by the Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI) of the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), the main international standards organization for the Internet. They are recommendations for making Web content more accessible, primarily for people with disabilities and all user agents, including highly limited devices, such as mobile phones.”

An overview of WCAG Releases

An overview of four principles of WCAG 2.2

1. Perceivable: Information and user interface components must be presentable to users in ways they can perceive.

2. Operable: User interface components and navigation must be operable.

3. Understandable: Information and the operation of the user interface must be understandable.

4. Robust: Content must be robust enough that it can be interpreted by a wide variety of user agents, including assistive technologies.

An Overview of Conformance levels of WCAG 2.2

According to WCAG compliance, web content should meet at least one of the following conformance levels in total.

Level A:

It depicts minimal compliance. Websites that do not conform to Level A are usually difficult to be accessed by people with disabilities. Therefore, a website needs to be at least Level A compliant. For a website to be Level A compliant, it must fulfill certain requirements like the website should be navigable via keyboard, and video captions should be present, etc.

Level AA:

It depicts acceptable compliance. Websites that conform to level AA are easily accessible by people with certain disabilities. For a website to be Level AA compliant, it must fulfill specific requirements like color contrast should be at least 4:5:1, navigation elements should be placed consistently throughout the website, form fields should have accurate labels, etc.

Level AAA:

It depicts optimal compliance. Websites that conform to level AAA are seamlessly accessible to a maximum number of users, including people with or without disabilities. For a website to be Level AAA compliant, it must fulfill specific requirements like sign language interpretation for audio and video, color contrast should be at least 7:1, context-sensitive help should be made available, etc.

The following are the changes to WCAG 2.2 working draft

WCAG 2.2 Working Draft provides 9 additional success criteria mentioned below:

• Accessible authentication

• Dragging movement

• Consistent help

• Page Break Navigation

• Focus appearance (minimum)

• Focus appearance (enhanced)

• Visible control

• Target size (minimum)

• Redundant entry

An overview of new Success Criteria in the working draft of WCAG 2.2 Guidelines

As per the WCAG 2.2 Working Draft  last updated on 18^th March 2022, below mentioned are the new success criteria of WCAG 2.2:

Guideline 2.4 Navigable:

Below mentioned are the three success criteria in this guideline:

• 4.11 Focus Appearance (Minimum) (AA)

• 4.12 Focus Appearance (Enhanced) (AAA

• 4.13 Page Break Navigation (A)

Guideline 2.5 Input Modalities:

Below mentioned are the two success criteria in this guideline:

• 5.7 Dragging Movements (AA)

• 5.8 Target Size (Minimum) (AA)

Guideline 3.2 Predictable:

Below mentioned are the two success criteria in this guideline:

• 2.6 Consistent Help (A)

• 2.7 Visible Controls (AA)

Guideline 3.3 Input Assistance:

Below mentioned are the two success criteria in this guideline:

• 3.7 Accessible Authentication (A)

• 3.8 Redundant Entry (A)

• All success criteria from 2.0 and 2.1 are included in 2.2. The 2.0 and 2.1 success criteria are precisely the same (verbatim, word-for-word) in 2.2.

One changed level: 2.4.7 Focus Visible is changed from Level AA in WCAG 2.1 to Level A in WCAG 2.2.

Why should businesses adopt WCAG guidelines?

• Ensures equal accessibility of apps to all:

WCAG guidelines have been formulated to ensure the web content is accessible to all people, including people with specific disabilities related to vision, speed, auditory, cognitive, motor impairment, etc.

• Helps businesses to meet legal compliances:

WCAG guidelines are more than just accessibility guidelines. They are rather legal compliance that businesses should adopt to make their app or web content accessible to all. Failure to comply with accessibility guidelines might end up companies facing some legal complications.

• Improves website ranking on search engines:

A website aligned with accessibility guidelines ranks high on the search engines. Thus, it helps businesses rank higher in Google searches and attract more traffic.

• Delivers a great UX:

Better the accessibility of the website, the better the user experience (UX) it delivers. Therefore, businesses should ensure their apps comply with accessibility guidelines like W3C’s WGAG 2.2 to provide a great user experience.

• Uplifts brand image:

Equally accessible apps showcase that an organization does not discriminate between people with and without disabilities. This ease of accessibility increases customer trust and uplifts brand image.

• Improves app usability:

Website accessibility guidelines ensure to make web content equally accessible to all and improve the overall usability of an app/website. Ensuring proper usage of ALT tags, easy navigation through the keyboard, alternative text for images, etc., provides users can access the web seamlessly.

• Helps generate better revenue:

By adopting WCAG guidelines, businesses can ensure a significant rise in website visitors and user engagement. This accessibility can help enterprises generate better revenues as a website visitor can be converted into a lead.

Why should businesses abide by the WCAG guidelines?

As per Title III of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), websites are considered as places of public accommodation and Title III prohibits discrimination based on disability in the activities of sites of public accommodations.

Therefore, it has become important for all businesses to ensure their websites are accessible to all and in line with accessibility guidelines.

Failure to comply with WCAG guidelines can cause businesses to suffer legal repercussions.

Some of the companies who were sued in the past for not having websites accessible for all:

• Netflix: In 2012, The National Association of the Deaf (NAD) filed Disability Civil Rights Lawsuit against Netflix for violating the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) by failing to provide closed captioning for most of its “Watch Instantly” movies and television streamed on the Internet.

• Nike: In 2017, Nike was noticed violating the Title III website accessibility guidelines as its two websites i.e., Nike.com and Converse.com were inaccessible to visually impaired users.

• Amazon: In 2018, World’s leading eCommerce services provider Amazon was sued over accessibility barriers to users who are blind or visually impaired. Inability to use screen readers on the website, as well as incompatibility with refreshable Braille displays was the major reason for violation of web accessibility guidelines.

• Domino’s Pizza: In 2019, A blind man named Guillermo Robles sued Domino’s Pizza over violations of ADA Title III. As per the complaint, he could not order food from Domino’s website and app despite using screen-reading software.

How can digital businesses ensure WCAG 2.2 compliance for their web/mobile apps?

For businesses to ensure their web and mobile apps are compliant with WCAG 2.2 guidelines, it is necessary to leverage accessibility testing. Accessibility testing is a unique software testing technique that ensures an app or website is accessible to all people, including people with specific disabilities like vision impairment, hearing disabilities, and other physical or cognitive conditions. Various aspects of a web app/mobile app are checked in this software testing technique, such as page title, image size, color contrast, form labels, keyboard access, content readability, page navigation, etc. Businesses can leverage various accessibility testing services to ensure equally accessible apps/websites to all people.

Different types of accessibility testing services for digital businesses

• Manual accessibility testing:

In this accessibility testing method, testers with WCAG technical review knowledge and expertise review the application. Testers manually test all scenarios and ensure they are compliant with WCAG standards.

• Automation accessibility testing:

In this testing technique, testers leverage automated accessibility testing tools to test the accessibility of the web. This helps identify accessibility issues faster and with lesser effort than the manual accessibility testing method.

• Native and hybrid mobile apps accessibility testing:

In this testing method, accessibility testing of all kinds of native and hybrid mobile apps is done. This testing method tests all accessibility scenarios for android and iOS apps.

• Web apps accessibility testing:

In this testing method, the testers evaluate the accessibility of web apps by checking various aspects of web content such as content readability, images, color contrast, etc.

• Hardware testing:

It involves an in-depth evaluation of the product’s hardware accessibility to ensure conformance with section 508 and other standards. During this test, testers check the accessibility of hardware and ensure it is seamlessly accessible to all, including people with specific disabilities.

Conclusion

Equal access to the web/mobile app is a basic right of all people with or without specific disabilities. Adopting accessibility guidelines like WCAG 2.2 is essential for businesses to ensure equal access to apps for all and fulfill legal and regulatory compliance. Businesses should ensure their apps are accessible to all people, especially those with disabilities related to vision, speed, cognitive, etc., to deliver a great user experience. Businesses should also leverage accessibility testing from a next-gen QA and independent software testing services provider to get fully accessible web and mobile apps.

The post What is the Importance of Upcoming WCAG 2.2 Guidelines for Digital Businesses? first appeared on TestingXperts.

Content 1. What is Website Accessibility? 2. What does WCAG compliance stand for? 3. How do you get your websites and web apps become accessible to all? 4. Web Accessibility Testing Benefits for your Websites and Apps 5. Conclusion 6. Why should you choose TestingXperts for your accessibility testing projects? 7. How does Tx Perform the Accessibility Testing?

What is Website Accessibility?

Website accessibility is most important today for businesses as the web and mobile mediums continue to have surge in their usage by people of all ages. Accessibility is truly no longer optional and is rather a mandate for businesses to follow for their websites and apps. This ensures people with disabilities such as color blindness, hearing impairment, cognitive disabilities, etc. to access the services, features and content on the web and also on the mobile apps.

According to Ontario.ca, “Beginning January 1, 2021: all public websites and web content posted after January 1, 2012 must meet WCAG 2.0 Level AA other than criteria 1.2.4 (live captions) and 1.2.5 (pre-recorded audio descriptions).” It is rather a compliance as it is necessary for the people with disabilities to be able to access website content which includes any information that is found on the web page or web app, including text, images, forms and even sounds.

What does WCAG compliance stand for?

WCAG (Web Content Accessibility Guidelines) guidelines are internationally accepted standards for web accessibility and have been developed by World Wide Web (WWW) team of experts.  These guidelines define how to make web content accessible to people with disabilities including visual, auditory, physical, speech, cognitive, language, learning and for people with neurological disabilities.

WCAG 2.0

WCAG 2.0 is categorized into 3 levels of conformance with A the lowest level, AA as mid-range and AAA as the highest level. It is a mandate today that web accessibility is primarily considered as a priority for all digital projects and should be made complaint with these much essential guidelines.

This compliance has been clearly mentioned in a Forbes article on Website Accessibility, which states that individuals with disabilities represent a large portion of the population.

In real sense, the website accessibility refers to the process of making the web accessible to all people or to everyone irrespective of their disabilities to ensure they can also make use of all/most of features of the applications.

In another study, researchers found that 71% of individuals with disabilities will abandon a website that’s difficult to use. This results in an estimated loss of £11.75 billion (or approximately $14.4 billion) each year in the United Kingdom alone.

How do you get your websites and web apps become accessible to all?

It is a prime social responsibility for organizations and businesses to ensure your applications are accessible to differently abled population. Organizations can become WCAG complaint by adopting web accessibility testing to standardize their applications accessibility for impaired vision, color blindness, blindness, deafness, hard-of-hearing, moto impairment, mobility impairment, etc.

Another data from the U.S. Census Bureau reveals that nearly one in five people are living with a diagnosed disability, and more than half of those with a disability describe their condition as severe.

Primarily, there is a compliance involved in this accessibility as when companies deny equal access of their website or when their website becomes incompatible with a screen reader or has any other accessibility issues, then such companies become liable to law suits.

Web Accessibility Testing Benefits for your Websites and Apps

Ensures people with disabilities to quick and easy access:

Enables an opportunity to expand your user base:

Facilitates to build positive brand response:

If your website becomes WCAG accessibility compliant, then people with some or the other disabilities would use these fully complaint websites and apps. They would also recommend your brand to other acquaintances, their friends and other connections. In this way there is more chance for improving your brand visibility and this sort of good brand building would be more profitable for eCommerce sites.

Helps improve usability for visitors of all types:

Many usability problems of various users can also be identified with accessibility testing and it makes easier access of content, features, products and services of the website and mobile apps to various types of users who visit such websites.

Helps improve search engine optimization:

Another remarkable benefit with web accessibility testing is that if the website is accessible, then it makes the website more usable. It is also more likely to improve the website rankings and is bound to drive more traffic with higher SEO rankings.

Ensures to avoid legal complications:

Though most businesses are not intentionally discriminating disabled people, but they can be subject to legal complications with respect to web accessibility. But, if your website is WCAG compliant, then you can avoid any further legal complications.

Conclusion

Web accessibility has become a norm for businesses in the recent times and they should make their websites and applications WCAG complaint. This sort of web accessibility helps people with various types of disabilities such as color blindness, hearing impairment, cognitive disability, etc. to be able to access websites that are made compatible with these regulations. Web accessibility testing by specialized testing services provider can be leveraged to ensure your website is made accessible to people with disabilities.

Why should you choose TestingXperts for your accessibility testing projects?

– We make sure your application is accessible by bringing it in-line with W3C’s WCAG 1.0/WCAG 2.0, BITV 1.0, Section 508 & Stanca Act.

– Exposure to industry leading tools for Accessibility testing – JAWS (Job Access with Speech), AChecker, WAVE & Web Acc Checker

– Preparing detailed test plans and test scenarios to capture requirements effectively

– Teams of experts, including differently-abled, who perform accessibility testing in software testing

How does Tx Perform the Accessibility Testing?

– Conduct team interactions with clients and set ready participants of website or for other applications

– Onboard users with a range of disabilities based on the product to be tested

– Perform a POC to find any issues/bugs that might exist with the testing protocol

– Conduct tests from usability perspective and via remote testing also

– Finally analyzing and prioritizing of findings are done and recommendations delivered

The post Growing Prominence of Website Accessibility in Recent Times first appeared on TestingXperts.