Guidelines for Design

Explore how to implement accessibility into your designs.

Navigate the core standards that anchor inclusivity—WCAG standards and accessibility guidelines. This foundation ensures web content is accessible and empowering for everyone.

Color and Fonts

  • All color used should at least use a contrast ratio of 4.5:1 for normal text, and 3:1 for large text.
  • Fonts should be easily readable, and able to be resized up to 200% without loss of functionality.

The gov.uk website is a good example of color contrast and readable fonts.

Audio and Layout

  • Users must have a way to pause or stop any audio that automatically plays for more than three seconds.
  • Structure your website so that content is read by a screen reader in the same way it’s presented visually.

  • Apple’s website does a great job of including video controls, and designing an accessible layout

Navigation and Consistency

  • There needs to be more than one way to find a web page within your website.
  • Keep your navigation menu placement and order consistent throughout your website.

  • The BBC website has good, consistent navigation across pages with multiple ways to navigate the site

WCAG 2.0 Conformance Levels

WCAG Level A

Minimal Compliance

Considered the least strict, Level A success criteria are essential for every website. If your website doesn’t conform with WCAG Level A, it may have serious accessibility issues that prevent users with disabilities from using it.

WCAG Level AA

Standard Compliance

WCAG Level AA goes further toward making web content accessible for users in a wider variety of contexts. It is for this reason that most accessibility experts recommend this conformance level. As a reminder, at this conformance level, the web page and content would satisfy all Level A and Level AA success criteria.

WCAG Level AAA

Enhanced Compliance

Level AAA is the highest possible conformance level in WCAG, and as a result holds organisations to the highest standard of accessibility. At this level, the web page and content satisfy all Level A, Level AA, and Level AAA success criteria. Although level AAA may not be applicable or realistic for everyone to achieve, organisations should strive to meet as many of its criteria as possible.