What is the difference between WCAG 2.0 and WCAG 2.1? What Are New WCAG 2.1 Guid

In today’s digital world, every business or individual tries to provide content online. With such advancements, a certain set of rules need to be followed regarding how your content and design should appear on online platforms. However, the accessibility to online content often becomes difficult for differently-abled people. This is where standard Web Content Accessibility Guidelines or WCAG comes into play.

These guidelines are published by the Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI) of the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C). The WCAG version 2.1 is built on version 2.0 and does not intend to replace it

Key Differences between both the versions: 

• Orientation 

This feature is mostly related to mobile devices and tablets. When the device being used is flipped, the orientation either changes to landscape or portrait. In the case of devices that are placed on power wheelchairs where flipping is not possible, the website should be available in both orientations to facilitate access to the content.

• Reflow 

It involves aspects related to mobile usability and magnification. It is important for people with deteriorating vision. The enabling of the reflow feature helps in customizing the website contents when the users zoom in and the text and visuals get reorganized. It is also a great feature for mobile devices. 

• Access to Navigation Menus

Sometimes the navigation menus are only accessible when you are using a mouse because of your settings. This creates a problem for someone who is not surfing through the website using a mouse. Therefore, it is important to allow the menus to respond and become visible on hover or click. Further, the additional click should allow the users to dismiss the menu to avoid overlapping. 

• Label in Name

The accessible names let screen readers know how a website is organized by reading programmatic labels. These are required for the screen reader to know what new menu, image, or search bar is. The WCAG 2.1 needs accessible names to correctly interpret and interact with the site. The addition of these label properties to key elements forms the basis of the difference between WCAG 2.0 and WCAG 2.1

New WCAG 2.1 Guidelines

• The new version is adaptable and provides access to either of the orientations. It identifies the input purpose. 

• It allows reflow and the content can be presented without losing information. The content is made hoverable, persistent, and dismissable.

• The mechanisms have been devised to turn off shortcuts as well as remap them. Also, the user interface is a component that is active when it has focus.

• The users are made aware of the time set for user inactivity to prevent data loss.

• There is a provision for motion animation being disabled if it is not related to the actual information being conveyed.

• The single-pointers can be used for operation unless a multi-pointer gesture is required. 

• An equivalent link can be used to focus on the target. Its size is determined by the user agent. It cannot be changed by the author.

The new version is enabled to provide better accessibility to the differently-abled and is a new advancement in the field. It has made things much easier.

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reshmiwadkar Joined: October 24th, 2020