WCAG

Undoubtedly, the inception of the World Wide Web in 1991 stands as one of the most swift and far-reaching impacts in human history. Tim Berners-Lee introduced this revolutionary concept at the CERN institute in Switzerland, where he was employed. He coupled the idea of the World Wide Web, the complex system of DNS, HTTP protocol and with the support for Hypertext Markup Language (HTML) the idea of websites. Upon presentation, the response from CERN's management was a terse yet significant remark: "Vague but exciting." Anyway the 6th of August of 1991 came and the first website was launched https://info.cern.ch/.

Since the beginning, the fundamental concept has been the unfettered, democratic accessibility of this new system. To establish regulation across the World Wide Web, a well-structured consortium was formed, which, unsurprisingly, continues to govern the system. Notably, it was overseen and founded by Tim Berners-Lee himself, the W3C consortium.

The time it has taken for this revolution to fully reveal its potential and captivate today's audience is relatively short compared to most previous inventions. In just a decade, we have witnessed its rapid evolution, embracing its benefits.

It's no wonder that the democratic principles underpinning the creation of the World Wide Web also encompass the fundamental concept of ensuring accessibility for a diverse audience, regardless of any functional limitations.

In 1999, amid the chaotic beginnings of the World Wide Web, the W3C Consortium took a significant step in response to the disorder by formulating a set of regulations known as the WCAG (Web Content Accessibility Guidelines).

The development and establishment of legislation regarding accessibility took an extended period and varies across different countries.

But the WCAG remains the source of truth for most legislation.

WCAG

This framework of rules, since its first version, has four principles.

According to WCAG, information that is presented digitally should be:

perceivable, operable, understandable, robust.

Perceivable( for senses). This means that all information and functionality cannot be invisible or inaccessible to all of an individual’s senses. We can't smell or taste so, it means that if content cannot be seen, it must be able to be heard or felt (for example, by using a connected Braille display).

Operable (satisfy the physically accessibility issues). This means the website should be functionally usable no matter how it is accessed. With a mouse or keyboard or any other tech device, without producing keyboard traps if access to content is operated by a keyboard.

Understandable (cognitive).This means the content must be understood by all users.
It should not be so complex or difficult to read that users cannot use the information.

Robust (well done). The content should be usable with a variety of technologies, assistive and otherwise, and remain usable as technology changes. For example responsiveness to all screen devices. Free from code errors. Sitemaps access is under this category too.

It's crucial to bear in mind that the WCAG (Web Content Accessibility Guidelines) were written over twenty years ago. Despite subsequent updates, to align it with modern technologies, its foundational principles do not incorporate many of the UX (User Experience) standards developed in later years. It's noteworthy that these guidelines were established prior to the second significant transformation in the realm of the World Wide Web, namely, the advent of smartphone devices.

But still the secret for a well accessible digital application is to accomplish the criteria that make this application communicate properly with both the technical device that displays and runs the application and the user in front of the application itself.

The Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) meticulously address user behaviors and rectify past developer-created habits that originated in the early stages of the web. However, certain challenges related to cognitive conditions like dyslexia, as well as the prevalent occurrence of ADHD among both young individuals and adults, aren't adequately addressed within the WCAG framework.

While WCAG serves as a solid foundational benchmark and a legal obligation, it necessitates complementing it with a comparable level of empathy from designers and developers in the digital applications industry. Empathy-driven efforts from these professionals are crucial in addressing the broader spectrum of accessibility needs beyond what the guidelines outline.