Accessibility standards for GOV.WALES

All Welsh Government websites and mobile applications must meet WCAG 2.2, an internationally recognised set of recommendations for improving web accessibility.

These guidelines explain how to make digital services, websites and apps accessible to everyone, including users with impairments to their:

• vision: like severely sight impaired (blind), sight impaired (partially sighted) or colour blind people
• hearing: like people who are deaf or hard of hearing
• mobility: like those who find it difficult to use a mouse or keyboard
• thinking and understanding: like people with dyslexia, autism or learning difficulties

WCAG 2.2 is based on 4 design principles:

• perceivable
• operable
• understandable
• robust

By focusing on principles, not technology, they emphasise the need to think about the different ways that people interact with content. For example, users might:

• use a keyboard instead of a mouse
• change browser settings to make content easier to read
• use a screen reader to ‘read’ (speak) content out loud
• use a screen magnifier to enlarge part or all of a screen
• use voice commands to navigate a website

The principles apply to all aspects of your service (including code, content and interactions), which means all members of your team need to understand and consider them.

Principle 1: perceivable

To meet WCAG 2.2: perceivable (on w3.org) you need to make sure users can recognise and use your service with the senses that are available to them.

This means you need to do things like:

• provide text alternatives (‘alt text’) for non-text content
• provide transcripts for audio and video
• provide captions and audio descriptions for video
• make sure content is structured logically and can be navigated and read by a screen reader (include headings, lists and other semantic elements to communicate document structure)
• use the proper markup for every feature (for example, forms and data tables), so the relationships between content are defined properly
• not use colour as the only way to explain or distinguish something
• use text colours that show up clearly against the background colour
• make sure every feature can be used when text size is increased by 200% and that content reflows to a single column when it’s increased by 400%
• not use images of text
• make sure your service is responsive, for example to the user’s device, page orientation and font size they like to use
• make sure your service works well with assistive technologies, for example, important messages are marked up in a way that the screen readers knows they’re important
• for non-html content use a sans-serif font (for example Arial or Calibri) at a minimum size of 12 points

Principle 2: operable

To meet WCAG 2.2: operable (on w3.org), you have to make sure users can find and use your content, regardless of how they choose to access it (for example, using a keyboard or voice commands).

This means you need to do things like:

• make sure everything works for keyboard-only users
• let people play, pause and stop any moving content
• not use blinking or flashing content, or let the user disable animations
• provide a ‘skip to content’ link
• use descriptive titles for pages and frames
• make sure users can move through content in a way that makes sense
• use descriptive links so users know where a link will take them, or what downloadable linked content is
• use meaningful headings and labels, making sure that any accessible labels match or closely resemble the label you’re using in the interface
• make it easy for keyboard users to see the item their keyboard or assistive technology is currently focused on, this is known as ‘active focus’
• only use things like mouse events or dynamic interactions (like swiping or pinching) when they’re strictly necessary, or let the user disable them and interact with the interface in a different way
• make it easy for users to disable and change shortcut keys
• make sure interactive elements such as buttons are big enough or spaced far enough apart to make it easy to select the right one

Principle 3: understandable

To meet WCAG 2.2: understandable (on w3.org), you have to make sure people can understand your content and how the service works.

This means you need to do things like:

• use plain English
• keep sentences short
• not use words and phrases that people will not recognise, or provide an explanation if you cannot avoid it
• explain all abbreviations and acronyms, unless they are well known and in common use, for example UK, EU, VAT
• make it clear what language the content is written in, and indicate if this changes
• make sure features look consistent and behave in predictable ways
• make sure all form fields have visible and meaningful labels, and that they’re marked up properly
• make it easy for people to identify and correct errors in forms
• avoid links, controls, or form fields that automatically trigger a change in context
• make it easy for people to re-enter information they’ve previously entered into a form
• make it easy for people to log in without having to remember information or solve a problem

Principle 4: robust

To meet WCAG 2.2: robust (on w3.org), you must make sure your content can be interpreted reliably by a wide variety of user agents (including reasonably outdated, current and anticipated browsers and assistive technologies).

This means you need to do things like:

• make sure your code lets assistive technologies know what every user interface component is for, what state it’s currently in and if it changes
• make sure important status messages or modal dialogs are marked up in a way that informs user of their presence and purpose, and lets them interact with them using their assistive technology

New products must be accessibility tested. Use the test report to:

• ensure the product meets at least WCAG 2.2 AA standard
• help produce your accessibility statement

Existing products should be reviewed when:

• there are significant changes
• a previous audit identified failures which you’ve worked to fix
• the accessibility regulations are updated
• a significant amount of time has passed since the previous test

Include disabled users with a range of impairments in accessibility testing.

Email ddat@gov.wales for advice.

The UK Government Digital Service test a sample of public sector websites for accessibility. You may be sent a report listing issues to fix. This report may be published and any issues shared with the Equality and Human Rights Commission. Read more about public sector website accessibility monitoring (on GOV.UK).

You must have an accessibility statement page and link to it from the footer.

The statement must be hosted on your GOV.WALES service, tool or microsite.

The statement must be reviewed at least once a year, even if there have not been significant changes to the website. Include the date of the last review.

Email ddat@gov.wales for an accessibility statement template.

Read the following resources for more information about meeting the WCAG guidelines:

• W3C WCAG 2.2 quick reference
• WebAIM’s WCAG 2 checklist