The Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI) is affiliated with the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) and works with organisations around the world to increase the accessibility of the web through five primary areas of work: technology, guidelines, tools, education and outreach, and research and development.
As part of this work the WAI published the first Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) in 1999. These are accepted as the first definitive set of international guidelines used for building accessible websites. All other guidelines and standards have been derived from these.
Web Content Accessibility Guidelines version 1.0 (WCAG1.0)
The first guidelines used globally are WCAG 1.0. They comprise 14 guidelines, expressed as 65 checkpoints broken down into three conformance levels, priority one (A), two (AA) and three (AAA):
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A - The most basic standard. Websites must comply with all of the priority one checkpoints to achieve this standard.
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AA - A higher standard than A. Websites must comply with all of the priority one and two checkpoints to achieve this standard. A Web content developer should satisfy this checkpoint.
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AAA - A high standard of accessibility. Websites must comply with all priority one, two and three checkpoints to achieve this standard. A Web content developer may address this checkpoint.
Read about the
Web Accessibility Content Guidelines version 1.
Web Content Accessibility Guidelines version 2.0 (WCAG 2.0)
WCAG2 was published in December 2008 by the WAI. The main difference between this version and WCAG 1.0 is that it relates to all content that is presented to users via an HTTP address. This means that it relates to downloadable documents and scripted interfaces as well as HTML pages.
The guidelines are organised under four main principles:
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Perceivable - Information and user interface components must be presentable to users in ways they can perceive.
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Operable - User interface components and navigation must be operable.
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Understandable - Information and the operation of user interfaces must be understandable.
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Robust - Content must be robust enough that it can be interpreted reliably by a wide variety of user agents, including assistive technologies.
Under the principles are 12 guidelines providing basic goals that authors should work toward to make content more accessible to users with disabilities.
There are no Checkpoints, WCAG has success criteria at the familiar levels of conformance:
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A - (the minimum level of conformance), the Web page satisfies all the Level A Success Criteria, or a conforming alternate version is provided.
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AA - the Web page satisfies all the Level A and Level AA Success Criteria, or a Level AA conforming alternate version is provided.
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AAA - the Web page satisfies all the Level A, Level AA and Level AAA Success Criteria, or a Level AAA conforming alternate version is provided.
Read about the
Web Accessibility Content Guidelines version 2.
WCAG 1.0 and See it Right
The RNIB See it Right accessible website requirements are taken from the WCAG1 guidelines. The See it Right checkpoints set a standard of accessibility exceeding WCAG 1.0 Single-A and close to WCAG 1.0 Double-A.
As well as requiring compliance with WCAG 1.0 priority one checkpoints, the requirements for gaining our Accessible Website logo incorporate a range of priority two and three checkpoints which have particular relevance to users with sight problems. The See it Right checkpoints have been selected because they are realistic, achievable and have the highest impact on the accessibility of a website.
Download the See it Right standard (Word, 294KB).
WCAG 2.0 and Surf Right
The RNIB Surf Right accessible website requirements are taken from the WCAG 2.0 Success Criteria. The Surf Right requirements set a standard of accessibility exceeding WCAG 2.0 Single-A and close to WCAG 2.0 Double-A.
The main difference between Surf Right requirements and WCAG 2.0 is in the organisation of the Success Criteria. We found that while the principles of Perceivable, Operable, Understandable and Robust were helpful to appreciate the need for accessibility, they may not provide the most efficient workflow. Different aspects of a single page element might be referenced in several Guidelines under two or more principles.
The Surf Right requirements have been organised in a convenient and practical order for web authors by grouping all related Success Criteria under their type of web content.