The POUR Pillars
To first way to become familiar with Digital Accessibility, is to learn about its four foundational pillars - Perceivable, Operable, Understandable, and Robust.
These core concepts, defined by the World Wide Web Consortium and abbreviated as POUR, are at the center of the internationally recognized Web Content Accessibility Guidelines.
Authors and creators who adhere to these principles and practices aim to make digital content accessible to people of all abilities. They ensure that content can be consumed by multiple means and by people with a diversity of needs.
Details about each principle are explained in the section below:
- Perceivable
- Operable
- Understandable
- Robust
-
Principle
For digital content to be perceivable, it must be presented to people in ways they can recognize, based on their abilities.Practices
- Ensure information is versatile enough to be used by anyone, whether they rely on sight or sound or touch.
- Describe non-text content with Alternative Text and provide alternative versions of media with captions and transcripts.
- Ensure text is presented with sufficient color contrast.
- Avoid using color alone to convey meaning. Make use of shape or size or text where possible.
Success Criteria
Can users of various abilities all get the same information and meaning from your content? - Ensure information is versatile enough to be used by anyone, whether they rely on sight or sound or touch.
Principle
For digital content to be operable, it must allow people to navigate at will and interact with all functional elements.Practices
- Give users control over necessary components. They should be able to navigate using keyboard tabs, independent of a mouse, and switch focus to each button in the interface.
- Beyond the keyboard, allow use of voice or touch controls.
- Include meaningful descriptions of hyperlinks and inputs.
- Also allow users to pause and stop media, hide flashing content and manage volume.
Success Criteria
Does every user have an acceptable experience? Does things work the way users expect them to?- Give users control over necessary components. They should be able to navigate using keyboard tabs, independent of a mouse, and switch focus to each button in the interface.
Principle
For digital content to be understandable, it must be clear and consistent for users across the spectrum of cognitive differences.Practices
- Structure text content to be properly ordered.
- Use headers and lists so that sighted readers as well as those using assistive reading devices can follow along as intended.
- Design with predictable sequencing.
- Use tables to organize specific data, not to organize page layout.
- Tolerate user error with functionality to reset, remove, or go back.
Success Criteria
Is the content clear and is it organized intuitively?- Structure text content to be properly ordered.
Principle
For digital content to be robust, it must be device agnostic, reverse-compatible, and work across a wide range of browsers, readers, operating systems, versions, and regions.Practices
- Code content according to web standards to ensure it behaves as expected.
- Ensure content accepts valid and universally available formats.
- Future-proof content so it continues to function with next-generation technology.
Success Criteria
Is the content compatible with assistive technology tools?- Code content according to web standards to ensure it behaves as expected.