What Is WCAG?
WCAG stands for Web Content Accessibility Guidelines. They are a series of technical standards published by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) through its Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI). The guidelines define testable success criteria organised around four foundational principles, referred to by the acronym POUR: perceivable, operable, understandable, and robust.
Perceivable means all information and interface components can be presented in ways users can perceive, including non-text content having text alternatives, videos having captions, and content not relying solely on colour to convey meaning.
Operable means all interface components and navigation are operable via keyboard, with sufficient time for users to read and complete tasks. Understandable means content is readable and predictable, and users are helped to avoid and correct mistakes.
Robust means content is reliably interpreted by a wide range of assistive technologies, including screen readers and switch access devices.
WCAG is versioned. WCAG 2.0 established the original framework. WCAG 2.1, published in 2018, added 17 new success criteria addressing mobile accessibility and cognitive disabilities. WCAG 2.2, published in October 2023, added a further nine criteria with emphasis on cognitive impairments and improved focus management.
Each version has three conformance levels: Level A (minimum), Level AA (standard target for most organisations), and Level AAA (enhanced, not required for all content).
Level AA is the benchmark cited in most accessibility legislation and procurement requirements globally.
It requires, among other things, a minimum colour contrast ratio of 4.5:1 for normal text, visible keyboard focus indicators, the ability to resize text up to 200 percent without loss of content, form fields with descriptive labels, and error messages that identify the field in error and describe how to fix it.
All of these criteria directly improve usability for every visitor, not only those with disabilities.
WCAG In Practice
A Pretoria-based government services website undergoing a redesign used WCAG 2.1 AA as the design brief baseline. The design team ran automated checks via the axe browser extension throughout development and supplemented these with manual keyboard navigation and screen reader testing using NVDA on Windows.
Common failures identified included insufficient contrast on light grey text on white backgrounds, buttons without accessible names, and modal dialogues that did not trap keyboard focus correctly.
Each of these was straightforward to fix once identified, and the final site passed automated testing at a 94 percent conformance rate.
For commercial businesses, meeting WCAG AA is both a legal risk mitigation strategy and a quality signal.
Studies consistently show that accessible websites have lower bounce rates and higher conversion rates, partly because the clarity and structure required by WCAG guidelines improve readability and navigation for all users.
South African businesses that invest in web accessibility as part of their web design process rather than retrofitting it later save significant development cost and reach a wider audience from launch day.
What WCAG is
WCAG stands for the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines, the internationally-recognised standard, developed by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), that sets out how to make web content accessible to people with disabilities. WCAG is the definitive reference that web accessibility is measured against: it provides detailed, testable success criteria covering how content should be built so that people with a range of disabilities, visual, auditory, motor, cognitive, can perceive, understand, navigate and interact with it, using assistive technologies where needed. The guidelines are organised around four principles, often summarised as POUR: content should be Perceivable (people can perceive the information, for example through alt text and sufficient contrast), Operable (the interface can be operated, for example by keyboard), Understandable (content and operation are clear), and Robust (content works reliably across technologies, including assistive ones). WCAG defines conformance at three levels, A (the minimum), AA (a higher, widely-adopted standard), and AAA (the most stringent), with each level adding more criteria. WCAG has iterations (such as 2.0, 2.1 and 2.2), each building on the last with additional criteria reflecting evolving needs and technologies. Understanding WCAG matters because it is the standard that defines and measures web accessibility: when a business aims to make its website accessible, or is required to, WCAG (commonly to level AA) is the benchmark to build and test against, so knowing what WCAG is, and what conforming to it involves, is essential to making a website genuinely accessible and, where applicable, legally compliant.
WCAG levels and conformance
WCAG's structure of principles, criteria and levels guides how a business makes its website accessible and to what standard. The three conformance levels, A, AA and AAA, represent increasing stringency: level A covers the most basic accessibility requirements, level AA adds a substantial further set and is the level most commonly adopted as the practical target and referenced by laws and policies, and level AAA is the most demanding and is not always achievable or required for all content. In practice, AA is the standard most organisations aim for, since it provides strong accessibility while remaining broadly achievable, and it is frequently the level referenced by accessibility requirements and legislation. Conforming to WCAG involves building and testing the site against the relevant success criteria, through the accessibility practices those criteria require, semantic markup, alt text, sufficient colour contrast, keyboard operability, clear labels and structure, captions, appropriate ARIA and using accessibility testing tools and audits (and ideally testing with real assistive-technology users) to verify conformance and find gaps. Regarding versions, WCAG has evolved through iterations, with later versions (such as 2.1 and 2.2) adding criteria to the earlier ones (each is backwards-compatible, building on its predecessor), often addressing newer needs such as mobile and additional cognitive and low-vision considerations, so conforming to a later version generally means meeting the earlier criteria plus the new ones. For a South African business, the practical guidance is usually to target WCAG AA conformance (at a current version) as the benchmark for an accessible website, building to its criteria and testing against them, since AA provides genuine accessibility, is widely recognised, and aligns with the level most laws and best practice reference. Doing so makes the site usable by people with disabilities, supports the SEO and usability benefits that accompany accessibility, and reduces legal and reputational risk, which is why WCAG conformance, commonly to AA, is the standard to build towards.
FAQ
What WCAG level should my website meet?
WCAG 2.1 Level AA is the widely accepted standard for most commercial and government websites. Level A covers only the most critical barriers. Level AAA is aspirational and not required for most contexts.
Meeting Level AA ensures colour contrast, keyboard navigation, focus management, form labels, and captions for video are all handled correctly, covering the needs of the great majority of users with disabilities.
What is the difference between WCAG 2.1 and WCAG 2.2?
WCAG 2.2, published in October 2023, adds nine new success criteria to WCAG 2.1, primarily focused on cognitive disabilities and mobile use. Key additions include minimum target size requirements for interactive elements, visible focus appearance improvements, and restrictions on authentication that relies purely on cognitive function tests. All existing WCAG 2.1 AA criteria remain valid in WCAG 2.2.