The term "label" is often mentioned. <label> HTML element is not the same as the WCAG "label". It is usually best to use <label> to present a visible label, but it is possible to provide a label in other ways, for example with ARIA.
Similarly, the term "name" is mentioned often but the name attribute in HTML and the WCAG "name" is not the same thing.
WCAG layers
- Principles: WCAG consists of four principles. The principles are: perceivable, operable, understandable, and robust.
- Guidelines: Under the principles are guidelines. There are 13 guidelines that provide the basic goals for authors. The guidelines aren't testable, but provide the overall objectives to help authors understand the success criteria.
- Success criteria: For each guideline, testable success criteria are provided. The success criteria use three levels of conformance: A, AA, and AAA.
- Sufficient and advisory techniques: For each of the guidelines and success criteria in the WCAG document, a variety of techniques are also documented. The techniques are informative and fall into two categories - those that are sufficient for meeting the success criteria and those that are advisory. Some advisory techniques address accessibility barriers that are not covered by testable success criteria.