Day 72: Striving for WCAG Level AAA, Part 1

Published on 10 Feb 2019

• journal
• resources
• was
• specifications
• wcag

Originally, I thought I was going to do Level AAA conformance in one sitting. Turns out there were 28 additional criteria! To better digest the techniques and failures associated with these criteria, I had to break that reading up into three study sessions, given I spend approximately 1.5 hours a day studying. Not to mention, I find myself falling down a documentation rabbit hole to learn more about points I'm extremely curious about.

• Read Perceivable's Level AAA success criteria on How to Meet WCAG 2 site.
• Mapped success criteria to failures of those criteria.

There are 9 Level AAA criteria under Perceivable:

• 1.2.6 Sign language (prerecorded)
• 1.2.7 Extended audio (prerecorded)
• 1.2.8 Media alternative (prerecorded)
• 1.2.9 Audio-only (live)
• 1.3.6 Identify purpose
• 1.4.6 Contrast (enhanced)
• 1.4.7 Low or no background audio
• 1.4.8 Visual presentation
• 1.4.9 Images of text (no exception)

SC 1.2.6 Sign language (prerecorded) Fail: Sign language is not provided along with a prerecorded video. This SC benefits deaf who rely on American Sign Language as their first language.

SC 1.2.7 Extended audio (prerecorded) Fail: Movie moves to quickly to accommodate synchronized audio description. Video needs to be extended for substantial audio description. This SC enables blind and visually impaired to better understand what the movie is conveying.

SC 1.2.8 Media alternative (prerecorded) Fail: Full text transcripts of equal experience for a prerecorded video are not provided  This SC benefits people who have a combination of visual and auditory impairments.

Confession: I often confuse captions and transcripts. They are not the same and do not provide the same access to everyone. Ultimately, captions are the bare minimum. Transcripts are more inclusive.

SC 1.2.9 Audio-only (live) Fail: No text alternative, like live captioning, was offered during a live audio performance. This would benefit people with auditory

SC 1.3.6 Identify purpose Fail: Landmarks are not identified across the page. This inhibits the adaptability of the page to meet the needs of those with cognitive disabilities. Related to SC 4.2.1.

SC 1.4.6 Contrast (enhanced) Fail: Contrast of foreground text/images over background does not meet the 7:1 ratio. This enhanced criterion makes it easier for people with low vision or colorblindness to perceive content. Related to SC 1.4.3.

SC 1.4.7 Low or no background audio Fail: An audio track that is embedded on the page that contains a speech with background music doesn't offer the user the ability to turn off the background music. This criterion is meant to enhance the distinguishability of that speech for people who are hard of hearing.

SC 1.4.8 Visual presentation Fail: Paragraph text is justified. This presents reading challenges to those with reading, cognitive, or visual disabilities.

Confession: I strongly feel that SC 1.4.8 could easily be pushed into Level AA, so more people would strive for better visual presentation for all users, since it strikes me as just good practice and even common courtesy for everyone. I mean, who doesn't benefit from left-aligned text, greater line spacing, shorter paragraph width, a choice or foreground/background colors, and elimination of horizontal scrolling of text??

SC 1.4.9 Images of text (no exception) Fail: Images of text (not including the brand logo) are present throughout the site. People who zoom or magnify their screen would benefit greatly from the elimination of all images with text. Related to SC 1.4.5.

Today I learned that there are over 120 HTML elements from 4.01 on up to 5.2. Then there are all those attributes to go along with them. This huge inventory just confirms to me that more developers should spend more time with the "basics" of HTML. Some parts of Level AAA could be more achievable (i.e. SC 1.3.6) if people spent more time understanding the building blocks, along with CSS, rather than focusing on the "perfection" of JavaScript and other programming languages to get the front-end job done.