Understanding Web Content Accessibility Guidelines
Digital experiences shape how customers choose banks, compare insurance policies and move money across borders. Yet for the estimated 1.3 billion people living with disabilities worldwide, many online journeys remain riddled with obstacles. Inclusive design is no longer a “nice to have” but a business necessity.
For financial services professionals, the stakes are especially high. Accessibility lawsuits are rising, regulators are sharpening their focus and customers expect friction-free service. That’s where the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) come in.
Developed by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), these content accessibility guidelines define how to make digital content usable, perceivable and navigable for everyone. Whether you’re optimizing a consumer-facing site or an internal tool, WCAG offers a blueprint for inclusion—and a direct line to better business outcomes.
Ready to create experiences everyone can enjoy? Let’s start by defining the standards that make it possible.
What Are the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines?
The Web Content Accessibility Guidelines are a globally recognized set of standards maintained by W3C. Each success criterion within WCAG outlines measurable requirements—covering everything from color contrast to interface components—to ensure that digital content is perceivable, operable, understandable and robust for every user.
To achieve that goal, the guidelines address a broad spectrum of disabilities. Users may have:
Visual impairments such as low vision or complete blindness
Auditory limitations including partial or total hearing loss
Cognitive or learning differences that affect memory or comprehension
Mobility challenges that limit the ability to use a mouse, trackpad or touchscreen
Because barriers appear in many forms, WCAG applies to more than static web pages. Teams must consider:
Non-text elements like images, charts and icons that need text alternatives
Time-based media (such as audio or video) that requires captions, transcripts or media alternative prerecorded options
Responsive and progressive mobile apps whose gestures, focus order and target sizes must meet WCAG level AA criteria
Complex, dynamic user interfaces driven by JavaScript frameworks that must remain compatible with screen readers and other assistive technologies
By embedding these guidelines into design and development workflows, organizations build experiences that meet WCAG level requirements, reduce risk and expand their customer base.
The POUR Principles
Everything in WCAG ties back to four interlocking principles that ensure content is perceivable, operable, understandable and robust. When each principle is met, digital experiences become genuinely inclusive rather than superficially compliant.
Let’s explore how each principle contributes to achieving WCAG compliance:
Perceivable
To be accessible, non-text content (including images, charts, audio and video) must be perceivable to all users. WCAG outlines several success criteria for achieving this:
Text alternatives (alt text) for icons, images and infographics ensure content is accessible to screen readers and other assistive technologies
Media alternative prerecorded elements (like captions or transcripts) make audio content and videos usable by individuals with hearing impairments
Proper color contrast ratios help low-vision users read critical text content like policy disclosures or financial statements
Banks and insurers often rely on rich visuals, like risk heat maps or interest-rate graphs. Without text alternatives or high-contrast visuals, these critical insights become unusable for many visitors. Meeting WCAG guidelines makes your web content inclusive and discoverable, without sacrificing clarity or design.
Operable
An operable interface works seamlessly with various user agents, from traditional browsers to screen readers and keyboard navigation tools. Key operability criteria include:
Keyboard accessibility for all interactive elements, including menus, form fields and call-to-action buttons
A logical focus order for navigating across user interface components, preventing confusion or missed content
Support for time-based media, such as pause controls or adjustable durations, ensuring users can engage at their own pace
Consider a web page with a loan calculator that doesn’t support keyboard navigation. For a user with mobility limitations, that’s a complete roadblock. But aligning with WCAG Level AA removes these barriers and enables website accessibility from start to finish.
Understandable
Usable content is not enough. It also needs to be understandable. This principle emphasizes clarity, predictability and user guidance across the entire digital accessibility experience. That means:
Using consistent layouts and navigation so users always know where they are
Providing descriptive error messages instead of generic alerts like “Error 123”
Structuring text content with proper headings, bullet points and lists to aid comprehension, especially for screen reader users
For financial services, this principle is especially important. Predictable interfaces and readable content help customers complete transactions, open accounts or understand fee structures, without second-guessing their decisions.
Robust
Robustness means using WCAG standards to build experiences that remain accessible and adaptable as technology evolves. That means teams should:
Use semantic HTML that follows W3C recommendations and validates against current standards
Apply appropriate ARIA roles to dynamic widgets like calculators or live chat, ensuring screen readers correctly interpret changes
Test against popular assistive tools (including NVDA, JAWS, VoiceOver) to verify compatibility with different user agents
When applied together, the POUR principles form a comprehensive framework for tackling accessibility issues at the source. But to meet legal and regulatory expectations, organizations must also align with clearly defined WCAG compliance levels.
WCAG Compliance Levels: A, AA, AAA
WCAG defines three conformance levels that reflect the depth and breadth of digital accessibility compliance. Each level builds upon the last, helping teams prioritize improvements and allocate resources effectively:
Level A
Level A represents the baseline for digital accessibility standards. It addresses only the most critical accessibility barriers (such as providing text alternatives for non-text content) but still leaves many users behind.
Sites that conform only to Level A may not support keyboard navigation or offer adequate color contrast, putting them at risk for noncompliance with accessibility regulations such as Title III of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) or Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act.
Level AA
Level AA is the most widely adopted accessibility standard and is considered the industry benchmark for financial services, healthcare and public-facing enterprises. It expands requirements to include:
Sufficient contrast between foreground and background colors
Keyboard-accessible menus and user interface components
Error suggestions and labels for form fields
Meaningful page titles and navigation mechanisms
Level AA is also the most commonly cited level in lawsuits and legal settlements. By meeting WCAG Level AA, organizations reduce legal exposure and ensure their websites, mobile apps and internal portals are usable by a broader audience—including people who rely on assistive technology such as screen readers or voice navigation.
Level AAA
Level AAA represents the highest level of accessibility conformance and includes all success criteria from Levels A and AA, plus more rigorous requirements. Examples include:
Sign language interpretation for live audio content
Contextual help for all forms and inputs
Lower reading level requirements for key web content
Level AAA is often considered aspirational—especially for enterprise websites with frequent updates or complex user flows—but it’s achievable for organizations that prioritize accessibility from the start. Public sector agencies, educational institutions and accessibility-first companies may strive for this level as part of their digital inclusion strategy.
No matter what level of accessibility your organization is working towards, staying compliant also means keeping up with WCAG’s evolving criteria.
Understanding WCAG 2.1 and 2.2: What’s New?
WCAG 2.0 laid the groundwork for accessible digital experiences, but technology (and user behavior) doesn’t stand still. To keep pace, the W3C released WCAG 2.1 and WCAG 2.2, each adding success criteria that address emerging interaction patterns and device capabilities.
WCAG 2.1 focuses on the realities of mobile-first engagement and the needs of users with low vision or cognitive challenges. The update introduced 17 new success criteria, including requirements for:
Responsive design that accommodates both portrait and landscape orientation
Sufficient text spacing so content remains legible when users adjust line height or letter spacing
Non-text contrast to ensure icons and graphical objects meet color contrast thresholds
WCAG 2.2 takes accessibility a step further with nine additional criteria that sharpen the user interface experience.
Key additions include:
Focus appearance enhancements that make keyboard focus indicators easier to see
Accessible authentication, which removes memory tests such as remembering passwords or solving puzzles without alternative methods
Minimum target size, ensuring tappable elements like “Transfer Funds” buttons are large enough for users with limited dexterity
Together, these updates bring WCAG into alignment with how users interact with digital content today, especially on smartphones, tablets and assistive devices.
Even with the latest WCAG standard updates in place, achieving full digital accessibility remains a complex process. Many organizations unknowingly introduce accessibility barriers through everyday design and development decisions.
Here are a few of the most common problems that still trip up teams—and how the right tools can help you uncover them:
Missing text alternatives for images, charts and icons, making non-text content unreadable by screen readers
Poor color contrast between background and foreground elements, especially on forms or buttons
Time-based media without captions, transcripts or another media alternative, excluding users with auditory impairments
Mouse-only navigation that fails to support keyboard accessibility, leaving users with mobility limitations behind
Dynamic content that doesn’t update correctly for screen readers, breaking the experience for users who rely on assistive technology
These accessibility issues don’t just affect people with permanent disabilities. A parent holding a baby in one arm while navigating a banking app with the other might struggle with tap targets that are too small. A commuter in direct sunlight may have difficulty reading content without sufficient contrast. Even minor barriers can interrupt the user experience, erode trust and increase abandonment rates.
The Future of Accessibility Is Embedded
The world’s leading organizations are moving beyond one-time audits or surface-level fixes. Accessibility is becoming embedded in every step of the digital product lifecycle, from design and development to compliance and optimization.
That’s why Glassbox integrates accessibility directly into your CX analytics stack. With real-time session analysis, AI-powered insights, automated detection of violations and visual evidence of impact, Glassbox helps teams:
Spot and resolve accessibility issues in context
Align with global standards like the ADA, Rehabilitation Act and European Accessibility Act
Future-proof their web content and mobile app experiences
Minimize legal risk while maximizing usability and reach
WCAG compliance is no longer optional—it’s a legal requirement and a strategic differentiator. Glassbox makes it possible to meet those expectations while delivering a seamless experience for every user, across every platform.
Explore how Glassbox Accessibility helps you build better digital experiences.
