The standard
What WCAG is
Web Content Accessibility Guidelines define testable success criteria for making web content more accessible to people with disabilities across desktop and mobile devices.
WCAG 2.2 builds on WCAG 2.1. W3C states that content conforming to WCAG 2.2 also conforms to WCAG 2.1 and WCAG 2.0.
Four principles
Perceivable
People can access information, including alternatives for images and media.
Operable
People can navigate and use controls with different input methods.
Understandable
Content, instructions, interactions and errors are predictable.
Robust
Content communicates reliably with assistive technologies.
Conformance levels
- A
- Essential requirements addressing fundamental barriers.
- AA
- The usual website target and the level used in our audits.
- AAA
- Additional criteria that may be valuable for specific content.
Conformance is not an average score. Applicable criteria must be met across complete pages and processes.
What WCAG 2.2 adds
WCAG 2.2 adds criteria covering areas such as focus not being obscured, alternatives to dragging, minimum target size, consistent help, redundant entry and accessible authentication.
How testing works
Some requirements can be checked automatically. Others require human judgement and interaction.
- Automated tests for detectable defects
- Keyboard-only operation
- Screen-reader review
- Zoom, reflow and text-spacing checks
- Forms, errors and status messages
- Complete user-process testing
Important
An automated accessibility score is not a WCAG conformance determination.