What's proposed in WCAG 2.2, the web Accessibility Standard
WCAG 2.2 vs WCAG 2.1, WCAG 2.0
The Accessibility Guidelines Working Group (AGWG) of the W3C is currently working on WCAG 2.2. It's a work in process. The Success Criteria (SC) are in the final stages before going to Candidate Recommendation. At this point, organizations or stakeholders should not require these because they might change or be removed.
Here's the current breakdown of new Success Criteria (SC):- 3 SCs at Level A
- 5 SCs at AA
- 2 SCs at AAA
Below are Level A and AA Success Criteria in one table followed by a separate table of Level AAA. This will help organizations targeting Level AA to see the proposed requirements quickly.
New Proposed Level A and AA Success Criteria in WCAG 2.2
Below are the new Success Criteria summarized in plain language. Note: The 80 level A and AA Success Criteria from WCAG 2.1 are grandfathered into WCAG 2.2.
SC # |
Short Name (link to it in the WCAG) |
Plain language summary of requirements |
Who does it help and how? | Lvl |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2.4.11 | Focus Appearance (Minimum) | Builds on focus indicator requirements in WCAG 2.0 and 2.1. Easiest way to meet this is to use a two colour focus indicator (dark and light), or have one focus class for dark buttons and one for light. It's best to offset the indicator 1-2 px away from the control. It's a complex SC to try to allow lots of flexibility. If controls can hide behind sticky headers, footers, chat-boxes etc... some part of the control must be visible when it gets focus. Includes essential exceptions. |
Sighted keyboard users, people with cognitive disabilities who might use a keyboard NOTE: Its an a added benefit to accessibility testers |
AA |
| 2.4.12 | Page Break Navigation | epub documents at a URL with code to mark page breaks need to provide navigation to those breaks (via a link from a table of contents) | Blind users of epubs online | AA |
| 2.5.7 | Dragging Movements | Dragging movements created by the author need a fallback button that can achieve the same result as dragging. Includes essential exceptions. |
People who can't use a mouse easily | AA |
| 2.5.8 | Target Size (Minimum) | Targets (including the spacing around them) are at least 24 px. Exceptions for inline links, essential, or legal requirements. Includes essential exceptions. |
People with tremors, lack of coordination, or imprecise mouse operation | AA |
| 3.2.6 | Consistent Help | Provide contact information on each page or a link to a help page. Provide at least one of human contact details, a mechanism such as chat, self help, or a fully automated contact. | People with cognitive disabilities | A |
| 3.2.7 | Visible Controls | Avoid the design patterns where interface components, or icons opening them, only appear on hover or focus, unless one of the following is true: (1) there is at least one visible way to find the component without hover or focus, or (2) there is a way to make all the hidden items visible (that mechanism should be visible). The mechanism could be on a separate page. Includes essential exceptions. |
This is for people with cognitive disabilities who may not catch the context that indicates that they can hover to make a new control show up. | AA |
| 3.3.7 | Accessible Authentication |
|
People with cognitive disabilities | AA |
| 3.3.9 | Redundant Entry | Don't ask for the same information over and over in form paths without auto-populating or allowing user to select previously entered information Includes essential exceptions. |
Users with: memory loss, repetitive strain injury, or who type slowly |
A |
New Proposed Level AAA new Success Criteria in WCAG 2.2
The level AAA Success Criteria from WCAG 2.1 are grandfathered into WCAG 2.2.
| SC # | Short Name (link to it in the WCAG) |
Plain language summary of requirements |
Who does it help and how? | Lvl |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2.4.13 | Focus Appearance (Minimum) | Similar to 2.4.11, bumps up contrast to 4.5:1 from the AA which was 3:1. If controls can hide behind sticky headers, footers, chat-boxes etc... all of the control must be visible when it gets focus | AAA | |
| 3.3.8 | Accessible Authentication (no exception) | Same as 3.3.7 except no exception for common objects | People with cognitive disabilities | AAA |
How to comment?
WCAG 2.2 is in its final phases, so feel free to help us improve. To comment, open a new issue on Github.
or email public-agwg-comments@w3.org
Feel free to comment on this article on Twitter @davidmacd
Author information:
David MacDonald is a 18 year WCAG veteran and co-editor of Using WAI ARIA . Opinions are my own.
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