WCAG (Web Content Accessibility Guidelines)

The Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) are a set of internationally recognized standards for making web content more accessible to people with a wide range of disabilities. Developed by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), WCAG provides a detailed framework of best practices and success criteria to ensure that websites, applications, and other digital content are usable by individuals with visual, auditory, motor, or cognitive impairments. Following these guidelines benefits everyone, as they also improve a site's overall usability and functionality.

WCAG is structured around four core principles:

• Perceivable: Information and UI components must be presented in a way that users can perceive.
• Operable: UI components and navigation must be operable.
• Understandable: Information and the operation of the user interface must be understandable.
• Robust: Content must be robust enough that it can be interpreted reliably by a wide variety of user agents, including assistive technologies.

Example: A web developer is building a login form and wants to ensure it meets accessibility standards. They would use WCAG as their guide. The guidelines specify a minimum contrast ratio for text and images, so the developer would test the color combination of the login button and its text to ensure it's easily readable for users with low vision. They would also ensure that every form field has a clear text label that a screen reader can announce to a user with a visual impairment, ensuring the form is both perceivable and operable for everyone.