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Re: WCAG - Fail or not to - Static text tab-focusable in tables

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From: Steve Green
Date: Jan 1, 2021 10:30AM

I'm with Patrick on this one. If you have been asked to audit a website for conformance with WCAG 2.1 AA, then that's what you should do. You should not invent "missing" success criteria. After all, you are not reporting non-conformances with any of the numerous level AAA success criteria, so why should you report anything else that is not included in level A and AA?

If you have been asked to do an "accessibility audit" or an "expert review", then you can invent all the success criteria you like. But a "WCAG audit" has a defined scope and you should stay within it.

You might think you're providing added value, but my experience is that stakeholders do not welcome it. In the vast majority of cases, we find that clients only fix what they have to fix i.e. the level A and AA non-conformances. They don't want to know about anything outside of that.

Of course there are exceptions where clients really care about the user experience, so your context is important in determining what you do and don't report. But that decision should be driven by what your stakeholders want, not your personal biases.

Steve Green
Managing Director
Test Partners Ltd