RE: is any WCAG criteria to account both default and Dark mode for content

Ironic, really, that a client may be paying dearly and in good faith for something that doesn’t make their websites accessible for all users and for which there is likely a simple solution.

 

I’d be interested to know what the legal consequences of that might be in the U.S. …

 

There was a case in Australia more than a decade ago in which a company sued an  auditor because, as I understand it, their website was not accessible after following the advice of a WCAG evaluation.

 

 

That it is possible to build user interfaces in standards compliant ways using current technologies that do not even accommodate the basic needs of many people is the question that should be being addressed by the global information technology behemoth.

 

 

From: Guy Hickling <guy.hickling@gmail.com> 
Sent: Sunday, February 12, 2023 8:58 AM
To: WAI Interest Group discussion list <w3c-wai-ig@w3.org>
Subject: Re: is any WCAG criteria to account both default and Dark mode for content

 

> If my clients pay for the extra service, sure...if I'm just hired to do
a pure "do we comply with the letter of WCAG yes or no?", then ...

The amount of work involved in testing (and if necessary reporting) the few commonly found accessibility issues that are not (yet) covered by the WCAG is very small compared with the overall task. I am a firm believer that we, as accessibility consultants, should be educating companies and organisations to the idea that we should be testing for accessibility, not just for WCAG (or legal) compliance. The accessibility industry exists to serve disabled people, not companies and institutions (who, in some cases, are not concerned about disabled people at all and merely want an audit and remediation to keep clear of the law!)

I advertise my audit services as an "accessibility and WCAG audit", and make clear in the marketing documentation that that is what the client will get. (I believe that actually enhances my profile in client's eyes - they will see they are getting quality work, not just technical compliance for the sake of it.) I have never yet had anyone come back and ask me to cut out the accessibility bits and just do a WCAG audit. (And if they did, the price would still be just the same - as I say, the extra work involved is minute compared to the whole thing.)

Put it another way - if success criteria to cover WHC mode and dark modes were added to the WCAG tomorrow, would you suddenly increase your prices? Probably not?