Category : Widget (version 2)
Summary : New upcoming version, including accessibility compliancy to WCAG 2.1 Level AA.
Context : As part of our continuous growth on Digital, we are releasing a new version of Widget version 2, that includes advanced support for accessibility, following W3C specs for Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1, Level AA. We decided to follow WCAG specification as this is an international standard adopted by the market. On the US market, businesses typically have to provide support for similar design guidelines as part of ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act) and Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act (1973): as a vendor, we don’t provide explicit compliance to ADA or Section 508, but rather adhere to WCAG 2.1 international guidelines, as these would enable businesses (including US based) to provide the level of accessibility required. More details on WCAG (Level AA) and Section 508 are available here.
Impact : We made any possible effort to avoid impacts to our customers, as we want all businesses to instantly benefit from the improved accessibility support. We also know that anything visible on the web is open to customizations, given the open nature of the Internet.
If you are already using Widgets version 2, and have been limiting the extent of UI customization to our documented guidelines, there will be no visible impact to your customers once you upgrade, other than improved behaviour in terms of accessibility, particularly via screen readers. In our documented guidelines we specify the extent of allowed customizations, to align Widgets look and feel to your branding guidelines, and at the same time ensure that we can still offer you backward compatibility across new version upgrades. In the guidelines, we provide access to sample LESS files, which can be used as starting point for the customization: this is a safe way to change Widgets styling, to reflect your company’s branding.
On the other hand, if you have customized Widgets UI beyond our product guidelines, by making structural changes or relying on Widgets inner HTML structure for advanced customization, then this new upcoming release might have an impact to your customized version, and we cannot guarantee backward compatibility. In this case, we strongly recommend that you revert your customization and apply our documented guidelines. This will ensure that you can safely benefit from latest upgrades, and always be on the latest branch.
If you're not sure about your Widget customization, you can reply here for assistance.
Link to Product Idea : CLDIG-I-454
Date of Change : March 2020 (more exact date will be provided)
Affected version : Widget – Version 2
