2. Introduction to WCAG
WCAG Accessibility Conformance
Lulu’s webmaster has been reading through WCAG 2.0 and at times finds it overwhelming. However, if she understands the POUR principles, the 3 levels of conformance, and the success criteria associated with each guideline, she will have a solid basis upon which to build her skills in the realm of web accessibility.
To help the webmaster further frame her understanding of conformance, she should be reminded that, as an Ontario-based company, to achieve AODA compliance, Lulu’s Lollipops’ two main target years are 2014 (WCAG 2.0 Level A – except live captions and audio description), and 2021 (WCAG 2.0 Level AA – except live captions and audio description).
For further information regarding the specifics of AODA compliance, a link that may be of use to the Lulu’s webmaster and others in similar roles is the Integrated Accessibility Standards. For further information on WCAG compliance levels, read on.
Conformance Levels
In addition to being grouped by principles, WCAG is also grouped by level of conformance. These levels are described by W3C as follows:
1. Conformance Level: One of the following levels of conformance is met in full.
- Level A: For Level A conformance (the minimum level of conformance), the web page satisfies [definition] all the Level A Success Criteria, or a conforming alternate version is provided.
- Level AA: For Level AA conformance, the web page satisfies all the Level A and Level AA Success Criteria, or a Level AA conforming alternate version is provided.
- Level AAA: For Level AAA conformance, the web page satisfies all the Level A, Level AA and Level AAA Success Criteria, or a Level AAA conforming alternate version is provided.
Note 1: Although conformance can only be achieved at the stated levels, authors are encouraged to report (in their claim) any progress toward meeting success criteria from all levels beyond the achieved level of conformance.
Note 2: It is not recommended that Level AAA conformance be required as a general policy for entire sites because it is not possible to satisfy all Level AAA Success Criteria for some content.
Source: Understanding Conformance
Conformance levels can be thought of in terms of their importance toward removing barriers with Level A being the most important. It is helpful to think of levels as things you must do, should do, and could do.
- Level A: These issues must be resolved or some group will not be able to access the content. The issues at this level represent significant barriers that may not be overcome with work-arounds. An example of a Level A barrier is missing alternative text to describe an image. There is little a blind person can do on their own to understand the content of an image without a text description.
- Level AA: These issues should be resolved or some group will find it difficult to access or use the content. These issues can often be circumvented with some effort, but will make using or understanding web con