3R - Specificity - A11Y

CSS Specificity

According to MDN, Specificity is the process through which browsers determine which CSS property values are most relevant to an element and, thus, will be applied. Simply said, if two CSS selectors apply to the same element, the more precise one is applied.

Specificity is an algorithm that determines how much weight to apply to a given CSS declaration. The number of selectors in each weight category in the selector matching the element (or pseudo-element) determines the weight. If there are two or more declarations with differing property values for the same element, the declaration value in the style block with the highest algorithmic weight is used.

The specificity algorithm is essentially a three-column value of three categories or weights matching to the three sorts of selectors - ID, CLASS, and TYPE. The value is represented as ID - CLASS - TYPE and represents the number of selector components in each weight category. Counting the number of selector components yields three columns.

Contrast Ratios

The use of contrast and color is critical for accessibility. Users must be able to perceive material on the page, including those with visual difficulties. The online Content Accessibility Guidelines contain a lot of fine text and complexity that can easily confound online content developers and web accessibility evaluators.

The recommendations were designed for anyone who uses a regular browser and does not require any additional assistive technology. The contrast ratios suggested by the WCAG are based on earlier contrast standards and have been adjusted to accommodate newer display technologies, such as antialiased text, so that content is readable by people with a variety of visual or cognitive difficulties, whether due to age, sickness, or other losses of visual acuity.

You're hoping to make text readable for someone with 20/40 vision, which is equivalent to an 80-year-old's vision. With 20/40 vision, you can only read anything from 20 feet away that someone with perfect 20/20 vision could read from 40 feet away.

Why You Must Meet Contrast Ratios

While the ADA does not expressly include websites (it was enacted in 1990), there are a number of reasons why you should follow certain guidelines. To begin with, websites are increasingly being recognized as "a place of public accommodation," as defined under the ADA. These locations must meet accessibility requirements

There have also been a number of cases brought under the ADA, with roughly 200 connected to internet accessibility alone in 2019, with the number increasing year after year. Making your website accessible, on the other hand, should not be a legal issue; it should be a human one. It is critical to consider accessibility requirements when serving your visitors. This demonstrates a desire to be inclusive, but also will improve the overall user experience.

If you're looking for immediate gains in terms of website accessibility, a compliance color checker is a wonderful place to start. However, if you want to be a leader in your industry, automation is essential for providing a smooth user experience that is accessible to persons with disabilities. This will not only help you prevent online accessibility litigation, but it will also help you identify areas that need to be improved. These modifications will make your website — and brand — more welcoming in general.

What Group at the W3C Sets Accessibility Rules

The Accessibility Guidelines Working Group (AG WG) (previously the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines Working Group) of the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI) creates the WCAG technical publications.

The WAI Interest Group (WAI IG) mission is to provide a forum for reviewing, discussing, and providing input into deliverables developed by WAI Working Groups, such as accessibility aspects of specification reviews, research topics identified during accessibility reviews, and educational materials development; as well as to explore web accessibility issues and solutions, and to share information about web accessibility activities around the world.

Summary

Making your website accessible ensures that all potential users, including those with impairments, have a positive user experience and can easily access your information. By applying best practices for accessibility, you are also improving the site's usability for all users.

Accessible sites deliver information across many sensory channels, such as sound and sight, and they provide alternative means of site navigation and interactivity beyond the standard point-and-click interface, such as keyboard-based control and voice-based navigation. A multisensory method combined with a multi-interactivity strategy allows impaired people to obtain the same information as nondisabled users.

According to the W3C, "accessibility overlaps with other best practices such as mobile web design, device independence, multi-modal interaction, usability, design for older users, and search engine optimization (SEO)." According to case studies, accessible websites offer better search results, lower maintenance costs, and a larger audience reach, among other advantages."