WCAGstyle

WCAGstyle is a term used in accessibility design discussions to describe an approach that embeds the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) into the styling layer of web products. It treats accessibility as an integral aspect of visual design and component behavior rather than a separate checklist.

The aim of WCAGstyle is to provide a practical framework for aligning CSS tokens, design systems, and user interface components with the WCAG POUR principles—Perceivable, Operable, Understandable, and Robust. By mapping color, typography, motion, and focus management to specific WCAG Success Criteria, WCAGstyle promotes predictable styling that respects user preferences such as reduced motion and supports accessible state changes across components.

Core elements of WCAGstyle include color tokens with contrast-aware defaults, scalable typography and readable line lengths, motion policies that honor prefers-reduced-motion settings, clearly visible focus indicators and keyboard navigation, and semantic HTML coupled with accessible ARIA roles integrated into components. It also emphasizes consistent states and accessible patterns across a design system, ensuring that styling decisions reinforce usability for assistive technologies.

Implementation often involves a design system of tokens and components, automated checks for contrast ratios and focus visibility, and documentation that links styling decisions to WCAG success criteria. Audits and tooling can help verify conformance, but WCAGstyle is not a substitute for semantic HTML, proper landmark structure, and server-side accessibility considerations.

WCAGstyle is related to broader topics such as WCAG, accessibility, design tokens, and design systems. It represents an approach to integrate accessibility into the visual and interactive layers of web design.