As 2024 comes to an end, Centre for Accessibility Australia’s (CFA Australia) disability-led auditing team looks back at a great year for auditing. CFA Australia has seen an increasing trend of organisations reaching out to have their website or application audited to meet the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) standards.
In line with this, the auditing team shares their top insight based on the work they have done this year.
To kick things off, Christopher Edwards, our auditing team’s Technical Lead notes the following:
“Many websites have colour contrast issues, particularly for placeholder text in fields. That being said, inactive controls do not have any contrast requirements, even for Level AAA compliance for both text and non-text content.”
To find out more about colour contrast requirements, refer to WCAG 2.2 Success Criterion 1.4.3 Contrast (Minimum).
Next, we have our expert team of junior digital accessibility analysts
Kieran Hayward, Junior Digital Accessibility Analyst:
“An issue I see often is no focus indicator, focus indicators are important for keyboard users to navigate a website as it lets them see where they are on the page. Ideally focus indicators should be 2 CSS pixels thick and have a colour contrast ratio of 3:1.”
For additional guidance on focus indicators, check out WCAG 2.2 Success Criterion 2.4.7 Focus Visible.
Jasmine, Junior Digital Accessibility Analyst:
“Anything to do with images of text or alternative text appears to be a frequent problem in websites.”
Delve into WCAG 2.2 Success Criterion 1.1.1 Non-text Content and 1.4.5 Images of Text to read further into their requirements.
Aarthi, Junior Digital Accessibility Analyst:
“Some links found in websites have no context about them. As such, screen reader users would not be able to understand what the information is about. An example would be having a link simply stating ‘click here’”
For more information on links, refer to WCAG 2.2 Success Criterion 2.4.4 Link Purpose (In Context).
Alyssa, Junior Digital Accessibility Analyst:
“It is great to note that almost all audits I have come across have passed WCAG 2.2 Success Criterion 2.3.1 Three Flashes or Below Threshold, which can directly affect people with epilepsy. Static imagery can work just as effectively.”
On behalf of everyone in our auditing team, we would like to share our deepest appreciation to all organisations we have worked with, whether they are just beginning their journey in digital accessibility, or working to improve current processes in place.
CFA Australia remains committed to providing support in the space of digital accessibility, where the journey takes precedence over compliance.