The accessibility work inside the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) publishes guidance so pages and apps can be used with a keyboard, a screen reader, or another assistive tool.
The central publication is the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG). WCAG 2 is the generation that teams implement most widely. Related technical guidance covers how to apply those rules in markup, in custom controls, and in tests a second person can repeat.
What the Initiative Publishes
The content guidelines set the success criteria. The initiative’s related notes show how authors, designers, and developers meet those criteria on real pages and in apps.
- Text and structure: Headings, labels, and a reading order that stay clear when styles change or a screen reader linearizes the page.
- Interaction: Controls that accept a keyboard, show focus, and expose a name, role, and state.
- Media and time: Alternatives for meaningful images and audio, plus a way to pause motion or extend a time limit.
How Teams Apply the Guidance
Teams treat WCAG 2 as the widely implemented generation. When a control is custom-built, the related technical guidance explains the name, role, and state that assistive tools need. The table maps common barriers to the outcome that guidance expects.
| Barrier | What to Provide |
| Keyboard use | Every control can be reached and operated without a pointing device. |
| Screen readers | A sensible reading order, plus a name and role in the control’s own words. |
| Vision and contrast | Text and meaningful graphics stay distinguishable from their background. |
| Time and motion | Moving content can be paused, and time limits can be extended or turned off. |
| Input methods | The same task works with a keyboard, a pointer, or speech. |
Who Uses the Guidance
Different roles use the same documents so a decision in design is the same decision in code and in review.
- Content teams: Choose wording, headings, and text alternatives while the page is still being written.
- Design and engineering: Build focus order, labels, and state changes that assistive tools can follow.
- Reviewers: Test against WCAG 2 and record each failure in plain language.