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Glossary for WCAG Terms

Opening Summary

The Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) are designed to make web content accessible to people with disabilities. These guidelines ensure that digital content is usable by everyone, regardless of their abilities or disabilities. Understanding key terms related to WCAG can help businesses and individuals create more inclusive digital experiences. This glossary provides definitions of important WCAG terms to enhance your understanding and implementation of web accessibility.

WCAG Terms

  • Accessibility: The practice of making websites and digital content usable by people of all abilities and disabilities.

  • Alternative Text (Alt Text): Descriptive text used to convey the meaning and context of an image for users who cannot see it, typically read by screen readers.

  • ARIA (Accessible Rich Internet Applications): A set of attributes that make web content and web applications more accessible to people with disabilities, especially dynamic content and advanced user interface controls.

  • Assistive Technologies: Tools and devices used by individuals with disabilities to interact with digital content, such as screen readers, screen magnifiers, and speech recognition software.

  • Captions: Text versions of the spoken part of television, movies, videos, or presentations, which make content accessible to individuals who are deaf or hard of hearing.

  • Cognitive Disabilities: Disabilities that affect how individuals process information, learn, remember, and use language, such as dyslexia and autism.

  • Color Contrast: The difference in light between text and its background, which affects readability, especially for individuals with visual impairments.

  • Content: Information and sensory experience to be communicated to the user through digital media, including text, images, sounds, and videos.

  • Descriptive Links: Links with text that clearly describes the destination or purpose of the link, making navigation easier for all users, especially those using screen readers.

  • Guidelines: General principles intended to help developers and designers make content accessible.

  • HTML (Hypertext Markup Language): The standard language used to create and design documents on the World Wide Web, which must be used correctly to ensure accessibility.

  • Keyboard Accessibility: Ensuring that all functionality of web content is operable through a keyboard interface, which is crucial for users who cannot use a mouse.

  • Media Alternatives: Text-based alternatives for media content, such as captions for videos and transcripts for audio, making content accessible to users with hearing or visual impairments.

  • Navigation: The process of finding and moving through content on a website, which should be designed to be simple and intuitive for all users.

  • Operable: One of the four principles of WCAG, indicating that user interface components and navigation must be operable by users.

  • Perceivable: One of the four principles of WCAG, stating that information and user interface components must be presented in ways that users can perceive.

  • Predictable: The design and functionality of a website should be consistent and predictable to help users understand and navigate the site more easily.

  • Principles: The four foundational concepts of WCAG: Perceivable, Operable, Understandable, and Robust (POUR).

  • Robust: One of the four principles of WCAG, ensuring that content is robust enough to be interpreted reliably by a wide variety of user agents, including assistive technologies.

  • Screen Reader: A software application that reads aloud the text displayed on a computer screen, often used by individuals who are blind or have low vision.

  • Semantic HTML: The use of HTML elements to reinforce the meaning of the information in webpages, aiding accessibility and SEO.

  • Success Criteria: Specific, testable statements that define how web content can meet the WCAG guidelines under each principle. These criteria are categorized into three levels: A, AA, and AAA.

  • Text Alternatives: Textual representations of non-text content, such as alt text for images, captions for videos, and transcripts for audio files, which make content accessible to users who rely on assistive technologies.

  • Transcripts: Text versions of spoken content in audio and video files, providing accessibility for users who are deaf or hard of hearing.

  • Understandable: One of the four principles of WCAG, requiring that information and the operation of the user interface must be understandable.

  • Usability: The ease of use and learnability of a website, which impacts the overall user experience, particularly for users with disabilities.

  • W3C (World Wide Web Consortium): An international community that develops open standards to ensure the long-term growth of the Web, including accessibility standards like WCAG.

  • WCAG (Web Content Accessibility Guidelines): A set of international standards developed by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) to make web content more accessible to people with disabilities.

Closing Summary

Understanding and implementing WCAG guidelines is crucial for creating an inclusive digital environment where everyone, regardless of their abilities, can access and use web content. By familiarizing yourself with these terms, you can contribute to making the web a more accessible place for all users. Ensuring web accessibility not only broadens your audience but also demonstrates a commitment to inclusivity and social responsibility.

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