Web Content Accessibility Guidelines
Web Content Accessibility Guidelines
School of Law,
NIMS University
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CERTIFICATE
This is to certify that Sagar Choudhary of LLM (IPR& Cyber law), have successfully
completed this research project on the topic “WEB CONTENT ACCESSIBILITY
GUIDELINES” prescribed by Ms. Sonam Chauhan, during academic session 2022-2023 as
per the guidelines issues by the School of Law, NIMS University.
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DECLARATION
I Rashi Agarwal a bonafide student of LLM (IPR& Cyber law) in NIMS University, Jaipur
would like to declare that the project entitled “WEB CONTENT ACCESSIBILITY
GUIDELINES” submitted by me in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the award of
the Degree of LLM is my original work.
Place: Jaipur
Date:
Rashi Agarwal
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
I am very thankful to Mrs Manju Koolwal, Dean Ma’am and Dr. Manish Kumar Singh,
HOD Sir for their valuable guidance, keen interest and encouragement at various stages of
my training period. His suggestions were of immense help throughout the duration of the
project. His perceptive criticism kept me working to make this project in a much better way.
Working under his was an extremely knowledgeable experience for me. I would also like to
give my sincere gratitude to all the friends and colleagues who filled in the survey.
I would like to take this opportunity to express my profound gratitude and deep regard to my
teachers, for their exemplary guidance, valuable feedback and constant encouragement
throughout the duration of the project. Their valuable suggestions were of immense help
throughout my project work. Their perceptive criticism kept me working to make this project
in a much better way. Working under them was an extremely knowledgeable experience for
me.
I would like to take this opportunity to express my profound gratitude and deep regard to my
teachers of library staff for their exemplary guidance, valuable feedback and constant
encouragement throughout the duration of the project. Their perceptive criticism kept me
working to make this project in a much better way.
I would also like to give my sincere gratitude to all the friends and colleagues who filled in
the survey.
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What is web accessibility?
Before diving into WCAG, we will first know what is web accessibility.
Web accessibility is a way of making your website available to as many people as you can.
Not everyone in the world is same and will be able to use your website as you do. So it is
important for everyone to keep accessibility in mind while designing your websites.
We should think if as a way of treating everyone same and providing them the same
opportunity no matter what their ability or situation is.
Just as it is wrong that someone who is one a wheelchair can't use a building because it
doesn't have a ramp or a lift, it is wrong to exclude someone from using a website because
they have some kind of disability.
We are all different, but we are all human, and therefore have the same human rights.
Accessibility is the right thing to do. Providing accessibility is law in some countries and
govern by the government and there are also some guidelines issued by organizations on how
to make a website accessible and also judge the accessibility of a website.
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Why we need to make our websites accessible?
The power of the Web is in its Universality. By making your website accessible, you
are ensuring that all of your potential users, including people with disabilities, have a decent
user experience and are able to easily access your information. By implementing accessibility
best practices, you are also improving the usability of the site for all users.
According to the World Health Organization:
15% of the world's population (over a billion people) have some form of disability.
285 million people are estimated to be visually impaired
39 million of those are estimated to be blind
246 million are estimated to have low-vision
260 million people worldwide have disabled hearing loss
An accessible website gives the access to information and interaction for many people with
disabilities. That is, the accessibility barriers to print, audio, and visual media can be much
more easily overcome through Web technologies.
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Accessibility Guidelines and Laws
There are some laws which governs the accessibility of a websites and also provides
principles and guidelines to make our website accessible.
1) The W3C has published a large and very detailed document that includes very precise,
technology-agnostic criteria for accessibility conformance. These are called the Web Content
Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG). The criteria are split up into four main categories, which
specify how implementations can be made perceivable, operable, understandable, and robust.
2) Different country may have specific legislation governing the need for website to be
accessible for example EN 301 549 in the EU, Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act in the
US, Federal Ordinance on Barrier-Free Information Technology in Germany, the
Accessibility Regulations 2018 in the UK, Accessibilità in Italy, the Disability
Discrimination Act in Australia, etc. The W3C keeps a list of Web Accessibility Laws &
Policies by country.
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WCAG: Introduction
Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) is developed through the W3C process in
cooperation with individuals and organizations around the world, with a of providing a single
shared standard for web content accessibility that meets the needs of individuals,
organizations, and governments internationally. It ensures all users have equal access to
information on the web.
The WCAG documents explain how to make web content more accessible to people with
disabilities. Web “content” generally refers to the information in a web page or web
application, including:
WCAG provides a wide range of guidelines and recommendations for making websites
accessible and it have different versions. Following these guidelines will make content
accessible to a wider range of people with disabilities, including blindness and low vision,
deafness and hearing loss, learning disabilities, cognitive limitations, limited movement,
speech disabilities, photosensitivity and combinations of these.
These guidelines make your website more visible to other and increases its reach on the web.
These guidelines will also often make our Web content more usable to users in general.
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WCAG compliance vs. conformance
Compliance is an important term in the world of web accessibility, since there are several
laws—from the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and Section 508 of the Rehabilitation
Act of 1973, in the U.S., and many other pieces of legislation—that require compliance. For
this reason, many people also wonder how to achieve WCAG compliance.
But there’s a crucial difference between WCAG and laws regulating digital accessibility.
WCAG is not itself a piece of legislation, so there is technically no such thing as WCAG
compliance. Instead, the success criteria included in WCAG are designed to help website
owners achieve the level of accessibility that is required by laws such as ADA, Section 508,
and the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act (AODA). So, put simply, WCAG
conformance is the global gold standard for web accessibility and is considered a best
practice for compliance.
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Versions
The guidelines are regularly updated to keep pace with changes in technology. The first
version of WCAG, known as WCAG 1.0 were published and became a W3C
recommendation on 5 May 1999. In February 2008, The WCAG Samurai, a group of
developers independent of the W3C, and led by Joe Clark, published corrections for, and
extensions to, the WCAG 1.01. It is no longer recommended for use. The Web Content
Accessibility Guidelines 1.0 had 14 guidelines and divided them into 3 priority levels:
The first concept proposal of WCAG 2.0 was published on 25 January 2001. In the following
years new versions were published intended to solicit feedback from accessibility experts and
members of the disability community. On 27 April 2006 a "Last Call Working Draft" was
published.2 Due to the many amendments that were necessary, WCAG 2.0 were published
again as a concept proposal on 17 May 2007, followed by a second "Last Call Working
Draft" on 11 December 2007.3 In April 2008 the guidelines became a "Candidate
Recommendation". On 3 November 2008 the guidelines became a "Proposed
Recommendation". WCAG 2.0 were published as a W3C Recommendation on 11 December
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1. "Home Page". WCAG Samurai. Archived from the original on 13 January 2013.
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2. Caldwell, Ben; Chisholm, Wendy; Slatin, John; Vanderheiden, Gregg, eds. (27 April 2006). "Web Content
Accessibility Guidelines 2.0 – W3C Working Draft 27 April 2006". W3C. Archived from the original on 25 April
2014. Retrieved 6 April 2021.
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3. Caldwell, Ben; Cooper, Michael; Guarino Reid, Loretta; Vanderheiden, Gregg; Chisholm, Wendy; Slatin, John;
White, Jason, eds. (17 May 2007). "Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.0 – W3C Working Draft 17 May
2007". W3C. Archived from the original on 23 June 2014. Retrieved 6 April 2021.
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2008. In October 2012, WCAG 2.0 were accepted by the International Organization for
Standardization as an ISO International Standard, ISO/IEC 40500:2012. In early 2014,
WCAG 2.0's Level A and Level AA success criteria were incorporated as references in clause
9.2 ("Web content requirements") of the European standard EN 301 549 published by ETSI.
EN 301 549 was produced in response to a mandate that the European Commission gave to
the three official European standardisation bodies (CEN, CENELEC and ETSI) and is the
first European standard for ICT products and services. WCAG 2.1 became a W3C
Recommendation on 5 June 2018.
A later version, WCAG 2.0, came out in 2008, and for ten years it was the most up-to-date
and most universally accepted set of web accessibility guidelines available. In June 2018, the
W3C released WCAG 2.1, which builds upon the guidelines in 2.0, including additional
information about newer technologies, and addresses a broader range of disability-related
needs.
At the end of 2021, the Accessibility Guidelines Working Group announced that they will be
introducing a new colour contrast guide as part of their WCAG 3.0 update called Advanced
Perceptual Contrast Algorithm (APCA). WCAG 3.0 will replace the older WCAG 2.0
method and provide a range of recommendations for making web content more accessible.4
Why has so much changed since WCAG 1.0? In the fast-moving world of technology, a lot
can change very quickly. By the time WCAG 1.0 was released, programmers were
developing websites in new and different ways. That’s just one reason why an update was
needed; version 2.0 takes into account more advanced technologies that aren’t covered by
WCAG 1.0. WCAG 2.0 was created in a technology-agnostic way that allows authors to meet
the standards using different techniques, allowing for flexibility. WCAG 2.1 built on 2.0
addressing how web content is consumed on touchscreen devices, different sized and
orientation screens, and devices with sensors (like a mobile device).
Here are a few of the other key differences between the versions:
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"Improving accessibility with the new APCA". Lightflows. 28 January 2022. Archived from the original on 4
August 2022. Retrieved 9 May 2022.
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The 2.0 and 2.1 versions reflect efforts to harmonize web accessibility standards that are
already in place around the world.
Versions 2.0 and 2.1 improve understanding. For example, they include concrete examples to
illustrate how the guidelines apply in the wild, such as supporting techniques and typical
accessibility errors that web designers make, along with other resources and supporting
materials.
2.1 expands the guidance provided in 2.0 to include more provisions for people with low
vision and cognitive and learning disabilities, helping organizations to improve inclusion and
better serve a wider audience with 17 new requirements.
It’s important to note that content that conforms to WCAG 2.1 also conforms to WCAG 2.0.
(in other words, each version is “backwards compatible”). Therefore, a website that meets
WCAG 2.1 should meet the requirements of policies that reference WCAG 2.0.
To put it another way: If you want to meet both WCAG 2.0 and WCAG 2.1, you can use the
2.1 resources and you don’t need to bother looking at 2.0. The W3C encourages you to use
the most recent version of WCAG when developing or updating content or accessibility
policies.
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WCAG 3.0
WCAG 3.0 is a successor to Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.25 and previous
versions, but does not deprecate WCAG 2.X. It will also incorporate content from and
partially extend User Agent Accessibility Guidelines 2.0 6 and Authoring Tool Accessibility
Guidelines 2.0.7 These earlier versions provided a flexible model that kept them relevant for
over 10 years. However, changing technology and changing needs of people with disabilities
have led to the need for a new model to address content accessibility more comprehensively
and flexibly.
The W3C Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 3.0 support a wide set of user needs, use new
approaches to testing, and allow frequent maintenance of guidelines and related content to
keep pace with accelerating technology change. WCAG 3.0 supports this evolution by
focusing on users’ functional needs. These needs are then supported by outcomes and
technology-specific methods to meet those needs.
There are many differences between WCAG 2.X and WCAG 3.0. Content that conforms to
WCAG 2.2 A & AA is expected to meet most of the minimum conformance level of this new
standard but, since WCAG 3.0 includes additional tests and different scoring mechanics,
additional work will be needed to reach full conformance. Since the new standard will use a
different conformance model, the Accessibility Guidelines Working Group expects that some
organizations may wish to continue using WCAG 2.X, while others may wish to migrate to
the new standard. For those that wish to migrate to the new standard, the Working Group will
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Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.2. Charles Adams; Alastair Campbell; Rachael Bradley
Montgomery; Michael Cooper; Andrew Kirkpatrick. W3C. 6 September 2022. W3C Candidate Recommendation.
URL: https://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG22/
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User Agent Accessibility Guidelines (UAAG) 2.0. James Allan; Greg Lowney; Kimberly Patch; Jeanne F
Spellman. W3C. 15 December 2015. W3C Working Group Note. URL: https://www.w3.org/TR/UAAG20/
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Authoring Tool Accessibility Guidelines (ATAG) 2.0. Jan Richards; Jeanne F Spellman; Jutta Treviranus. W3C. 24
September 2015. W3C Recommendation. URL: https://www.w3.org/TR/ATAG20/
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provide transition support materials, which may use mapping and other approaches to
facilitate migration.
WCAG 2.0 consist of twelve guidelines organized under four principles (websites must be
perceivable, operable, understandable, and robust). Each guideline has testable success
criteria (61 in all).8 The W3C's Techniques for WCAG 2.0.9
Perceivable
Users must be able to perceive it in some way, using one or more of their senses. The
principle of a website being perceivable is all about the senses people use when browsing the
web. Some of your users may have difficulties with one or more of their senses, making them
reliant on assistive technology to browse your website.
The three main senses that the guidelines can help with are sight, sound and touch. With
WCAG 2.0, you can make sure that users can perceive all the information on your website.
Operable
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"Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.0". W3C. Archived from the original on 18 February 2011.
Retrieved 17 December 2014.
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"Techniques for WCAG 2.0". W3C. Archived from the original on 20 December 2014. Retrieved 17 December
2014.
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Users must be able to control UI elements (e.g. buttons must be clickable in some way -
mouse, keyboard, voice command, etc.). The principle of a website being operable is about
the actions people take when browsing. This covers the different ways in which your users
browse the web. Some of them may have motor difficulties, which means they use their
keyboard to navigate and some users who have sight impairments often prefer to use a
keyboard rather than a mouse too.
The main issues for making your website operable are, ensuring good keyboard-only
navigation, avoiding setting time limits for your users and helping them out if they make
errors on forms.
Understandable
The content must be understandable to its users. A perceivable and operable website means
nothing if your users can’t understand it.
Your website must use clear terms, have simple instructions and explain complex issues. You
must also make your website function in a way that your users understand, by avoiding
unusual, unexpected or inconsistent functions.
Robust
The content must be developed using well-adopted web standards that will work across
different browsers, now and in the future. A robust website is one that third-party technology
(like web browsers and screen readers) can rely on. Your website must meet recognised
standards, such as using clean HTML and CSS. This minimises the risk of your users relying
on technology that cannot correctly process your website.
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GUIDELINES
Under the principles are the guidelines. The 12 guidelines provide the basic goals that
developers should work toward in order to make content more accessible to users with
different disabilities. We can't test the guidelines, but provide the framework and overall
objectives to help authors understand the success criteria and better implement the
techniques.
The guidelines are:
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III. Guidelines under Principle 3: Understandable
i. Readable: Make text content readable and understandable.
ii. Predictable: Make Web pages appear and operate in predictable ways.
iii. Input Assistance: Help users avoid and correct mistakes.
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Levels of Conformance
WCAG 2.0 uses the same three levels of conformance (A, AA, AAA) as WCAG 1.0, but has
redefined them. The WCAG working group maintains an extensive list of web accessibility
techniques and common failure cases for WCAG 2.0.10
WCAG Level A: This level represents the base level of conformance. It is a basic
requirement for some users with disabilities to be able to access and use web content. Level
A criteria affect the broadest group with the most benefits and are essential. But, with the
base level of support, some barriers will still exist which impact certain groups of users.
WCAG Level AA: This level is the most common target conformance level, often adopted in
regulations or negotiated in legal settlements. It indicates overall accessibility and removal of
significant barriers to accessing content. The criteria at this level establish a level of
accessibility which works for more users, including those who use assistive technology.
WCAG Level AAA: This is the highest conformance level achievable, meaning it covers the
success criteria of all three levels. It provides improvements and enhancements to web
accessibility for some users with disabilities. However, as we’ve explained in a separate blog,
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"Techniques for WCAG 2.0". W3.org. Archived from the original on 27 July 2013. Retrieved 27 July 2013
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level AAA is not applicable or realistic in all situations. Some organizations may choose to
adopt specific criteria at this level.
WCAG Checklist
It's extremely useful to have a WCAG checklist to hand when you are working on the website
and going through the rules. A WCAG checklist keeps you organized and helps you check
your progress while designing and how far you have come and a log for future use. The W3C
has extensive guidelines on how to attain bas (and recommended) web content accessibility.
Here are some of the most actionable fundamentals below, so if you follow these steps in the
checklist, you're well on your way to delivering an accessible user experience.
Web pages must be readable by electronic "screen readers" - which are devices commonly
used by the visually impaired to surf the internet.
2. Alt-tagged Images
Images must have "alt tags" (a type of metadata) which will help visually-impaired users to
identify the image via text or via a screen reader. Search engine optimizers will know of alt-
tags as a way to optimize images for ranking high in 'Google Images'.
3. Alt-tagged Tables
If you're using tables on any web pages, they must also have alt-tags-similar to those used
with images-to help explain each column via text. The user's screen-reader will then read that
text aloud, describing the contents of the table.
4. Automatic Scripting
Any scripted display usage of image mapping should be accompanied by textual alternatives.
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5. Style Sheet Independence
Your web pages shouldn't need a stylesheet to display in a way that is understandable. They
should be readable to screen readers, most of which cannot load style sheets.
6. Accessible Forms
Web forms should be usable even without a mouse, and each field should be labeled.
If your website requires a specific plugin to work correctly, you should present the link to
that plugin in text form.
Your website should not contain any colors or color combinations that are either integral to
the correct usage of your website, or which may confuse those with color blindness in any
way pertaining to your website, products or services.
9. Keyboard-friendly Browsing
Your website shouldn't be reliant on the usage of a mouse or touchpad. Users who wish to
navigate using only keyboard keys should be able to do so.
Your website should not serve images or videos that can cause seizures.
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Some more ways you make your website accessible
Users who are visually impaired, have low literacy skills or have another form of disability
may have difficulties scrolling through websites. These users typically employ screen readers
or other tools to read the website content for them.
Screen readers can also read the text in the <ALT> tags in embedded image files. These tags
usually contain a description of any images, infographics, or other non-text information on
the page. The more descriptive the image, the better for the user.
Screen readers use heading tags (<h1>, <h2>, etc.) to navigate and prioritize the content. The
strategic use of heading tags will not only make the site more easily manageable by screen
readers but it will also make it more optimized for search engines.
For instance, if an online clothing store has an image of a dress, a descriptive ALT tag text
should contain the dress size, color, pattern, design, the name of designer and fabric used.
While some features can add some visual variety to websites, they could potentially
compromise any attempts to make the site more accessible. For instance, removing the
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underline from hyperlinks can confuse users with visual impairments as to whether the link
text is intended to be a link, or just more content text.
Another example is the use of HTML tables. For decades, developers have used tables as a
layout tool, allowing them to place content in specific areas on the page.
The typical objective of a business website is to convert visitors into customers. This
conversion can be as simple as receiving a request for additional information, or as extensive
as receiving and fulfilling an order, complete with payment information. In order for a
business website to be effective at converting a visitor with special needs into a customer, the
forms that enable those conversions should be designed for those visitors in mind.
A Checker is a PHP open-source Web accessibility evaluation tool used to review the
accessibility of Web pages based on a variety of international accessibility guidelines. This
implementation is available in the WYSIWYG and can be run as part of the content editing
process.
When editing or creating content, dotCMS users can click on the Accessibility Checkmark to
run the checker. This will produce a report of all accessibility problems for your selected
guidelines. The report identifies 3 types of problems
1) Known problems: These are problems that have been identified with certainty as
accessibility barriers. You must modify your page to fix these problems;
2) Likely problems: These are problems that have been identified as probable barriers, but
require a human to make a decision. You will likely need to modify your page to fix these
problems;
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3) Potential problems: These are problems that A Checker cannot identify, that require a
human decision. You may have to modify your page for these problems, but in many cases,
you will just need to confirm that the problem described is not present.
The WCAG are not laws, they are just guidelines. The W3C won't legally penalize you for
not following their specific guidelines to the letters, so most of the time people don't care. A
accessibility report in 2019- the WebAIM Million: An accessibility analysis of the top one
million home pages indicates that less than 1% of website home pages are likely to meet
standard accessibility requirements.
The results are very disappointing figures for those who about making the web a more
inclusive place. The results also mean that online companies will likely be missing out on
billions of pounds of sales because their sites are unusable to large numbers of people.
As a developer, people often forget to include the guidelines in their websites because they
often think its double work but there are many aids available to help you with this process.
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Conclusion
The Web and Internet has become an important part of the whole world and in whole is an
increasingly important resource in many aspects of our life which includes: education,
employment, government, commerce, health care, recreation, and more.
It is very important for websites to be accessible to provide equal opportunity for everyone
around the world.
An accessible Web can help people with disabilities participate more actively in society and
WCAG are just some rules we need to follow to achieve that.
There are many tools which can make this journey easier, like:
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BIBLIOGRAPHY
WEBLIOGRAPHY
1. https://inviga.com/blog/web-accessibility-examples-5-sites-doing-it-right
https://dotems.com/blog/post/website-accessibility-checklist-10-steps-towards-
website-compliance
2. https://usersnap.com/blog/website-accessibility-2018/
3. https://bthechange.com/make-your-website-more-accessible-to-people-with-
disabilities-132f59d19292
4. https://codeburst.io/seven-ways-to-make-your-web-app-more-accessible-
411a8c716fcb
5. https://www.w3.org/WAI/teach-advocate/accessibility-training/topics/#design
6. https://www.abilitynet.org.uk/news-blogs/less-1-website-home-pages-are-likelymeet-
accessibility-standards
7. https://youtu.be/f5qv7AnTUHK
8. https://www.essentialaccessibility.com/
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