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Accessibility Helper

What is WCAG 2.2? A plain-English guide

WCAG 2.2 is the current W3C standard for accessible websites. Learn the four principles, levels A, AA and AAA, and the 9 new success criteria.

By Accessibility Helper teamPublished 7 min read

WCAG 2.2 is the current version of the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines, the international standard for making websites usable by people with disabilities. The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) published it on 5 October 2023. It keeps everything from WCAG 2.1, adds nine new success criteria and removes one obsolete one, and most organizations aim to meet its Level AA.

Who publishes WCAG?

WCAG is written by the Accessibility Guidelines Working Group, part of the W3C’s Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI). The W3C is the international community that develops many core web standards, including CSS. Once a WCAG version becomes a “W3C Recommendation”, it’s a stable, referenceable standard that laws, policies and contracts can point to.

There are three versions in use today:

  • WCAG 2.0, published 11 December 2008
  • WCAG 2.1, published 5 June 2018
  • WCAG 2.2, published 5 October 2023, with an update on 12 December 2024

All three are still valid standards, but W3C encourages you to use the latest one. WCAG 2.2 is also an ISO standard: W3C says ISO/IEC 40500:2025 is exactly the same as the October 2023 version of WCAG 2.2.

What are the four principles of WCAG?

WCAG is organized under four principles, often remembered as POUR. Each one is a short promise to the people using your site:

  1. Perceivable: “Information and user interface components must be presentable to users in ways they can perceive.” Images need text alternatives, videos need captions, and text needs enough contrast to read.
  2. Operable: “User interface components and navigation must be operable.” Everything has to work with a keyboard, people need enough time, and nothing should flash in ways that can trigger seizures.
  3. Understandable: “Information and the operation of user interface must be understandable.” Pages behave predictably, forms explain errors, and the page language is set.
  4. Robust: content must work reliably with a wide range of browsers and assistive technologies, such as screen readers.

Under the principles sit 13 guidelines, and under those sit the success criteria: the testable statements you actually check. Each criterion has a number that tells you where it lives. For example, 1.4.3 Contrast (Minimum) is principle 1 (Perceivable), guideline 4, criterion 3.

What do levels A, AA and AAA mean?

Every success criterion has a level:

  • Level A is the minimum level. It includes basics such as text alternatives for images and making everything work with a keyboard.
  • Level AA adds criteria such as text contrast and a visible keyboard focus indicator.
  • Level AAA is the strictest, with criteria like 7:1 text contrast.

The levels stack. To meet AA, a page has to meet every Level A and every Level AA criterion.

Why is AA the usual target?

AA is the level that the laws and standards described below typically ask for, so it has become the common benchmark. AAA is not a realistic goal for a whole site. W3C itself says: “It is not recommended that Level AAA conformance be required as a general policy for entire sites”, because some content can’t meet every AAA criterion. You can still adopt individual AAA criteria where they help your audience.

What changed in WCAG 2.2?

WCAG 2.2 adds nine success criteria. They help people who can’t drag with a mouse or tap small buttons, people with low vision who miss subtle changes on screen, and people with cognitive disabilities who find it hard to remember what they typed earlier or to pass a memory test at login.

Criterion Level What it asks for, in short
2.4.11 Focus Not Obscured (Minimum) AA When something gets keyboard focus, it isn’t entirely hidden by content you added, such as a sticky header or cookie banner.
2.4.12 Focus Not Obscured (Enhanced) AAA No part of the focused element is hidden by content you added.
2.4.13 Focus Appearance AAA The focus indicator is at least as large as a 2 CSS pixel thick outline around the element, with 3:1 contrast between its focused and unfocused states.
2.5.7 Dragging Movements AA Anything you can do by dragging can also be done with a single pointer without dragging, such as a tap or click, unless dragging is essential.
2.5.8 Target Size (Minimum) AA Click and tap targets are at least 24 by 24 CSS pixels, or have enough space around them, with a few exceptions such as links inside a sentence.
3.2.6 Consistent Help A If help options (contact details, a contact form, a chat, a help page) repeat across pages, they appear in the same order relative to other content.
3.3.7 Redundant Entry A Information someone already entered in the same process is filled in for them or available to select, rather than typed again.
3.3.8 Accessible Authentication (Minimum) AA Logging in doesn’t depend on a memory or puzzle test unless there’s an alternative or help, such as allowing password managers and paste.
3.3.9 Accessible Authentication (Enhanced) AAA The same, without the exceptions for recognizing objects or identifying content you provided.

Six of the nine are Level A or AA, so they matter if you’re working toward WCAG 2.2 AA.

What was removed?

WCAG 2.2 removes 4.1.1 Parsing. W3C now marks it “obsolete and removed”. It was originally adopted because assistive technology had trouble parsing HTML directly. Browsers and specifications now handle markup errors much better, and the problems that still matter are covered by other criteria, such as 1.3.1 Info and Relationships and 4.1.2 Name, Role, Value.

WCAG 2.0 and 2.1 have also been updated with a note saying 4.1.1 should be considered always satisfied for any content using HTML or XML.

Is WCAG 2.2 backward compatible with 2.1 and 2.0?

Yes. In W3C’s words: “Content that conforms to WCAG 2.2 also conforms to WCAG 2.0 and WCAG 2.1.” Later versions add success criteria and don’t change existing ones, apart from 4.1.1 Parsing.

That means you don’t have to choose. If you build to WCAG 2.2 AA, you also meet WCAG 2.1 AA and WCAG 2.0 AA. W3C’s working group has also said it does not plan a WCAG 2.3.

Which WCAG version do laws reference?

Laws rarely copy WCAG into their own text. More often they point to a specific version and level:

  • European Union: W3C notes that, in addressing the European Accessibility Act, most organizations use WCAG together with the European standard EN 301 549. Version V3.2.1 (2021) is built on WCAG 2.1 Level A and AA. Version V4.1.1, published on 2 September 2026, moves to WCAG 2.2 Level A and AA. It takes on its main legal role once the European Commission cites it in the Official Journal of the EU. Our guide to the European Accessibility Act for online stores has more detail.
  • United States, state and local government: the Department of Justice’s 2024 rule under Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) uses WCAG 2.1 Level AA as its technical standard for websites and mobile apps.
  • United States, federal agencies: the Section 508 standards require Level A and AA of WCAG 2.0.

Because WCAG 2.2 is backward compatible, working toward 2.2 AA covers all three of these WCAG versions at once.

What about WCAG 3?

WCAG 3 (now called the W3C Accessibility Guidelines 3.0) is a Working Draft, not a standard. W3C calls it “an incomplete draft that will change” and says it isn’t expected to be a completed standard for a few more years.

W3C has also said that WCAG 3 will not supersede WCAG 2, and that WCAG 2 will not be deprecated for several years after WCAG 3 is finished. Its advice is to meet WCAG 2.2 now. Don’t put off fixes waiting for WCAG 3.

How do I start working toward WCAG 2.2 AA?

You don’t need to read all the success criteria before you start. These checks catch many of the barriers people hit most:

  1. Color contrast. Check your text, buttons and form fields against the 4.5:1 and 3:1 ratios. See our color contrast guide and the free contrast checker.
  2. Alt text. Give every meaningful image a short text alternative and mark decorative ones with empty alt text. See how to write alt text.
  3. Keyboard access. Put your mouse away and use the Tab key to move through your site. See our keyboard accessibility guide.
  4. The WCAG 2.2 additions. Check focus behind sticky headers, target sizes, help links, repeated form fields and login.

Write down what fails, fix the issues that block people first, and re-test after each release.

What can automated tools check, and what do they miss?

Automated checkers are a good first pass. They reliably catch things like images with no alt attribute, low-contrast plain text and form fields with no label.

They can’t judge most of what WCAG asks. A tool can see that alt text exists but not whether it describes the image. It can’t tell whether the focus order makes sense, whether an error message is clear, or whether your help link sits in the same place across a checkout. Those need a person.

No tool, widget or checklist makes a site conform to WCAG on its own. WCAG conformance applies to full pages and complete processes, such as a whole checkout, so treat automated results as a starting list and back them up with manual testing.

Frequently asked questions

Is WCAG 2.2 a law?

No. WCAG 2.2 is a technical standard published by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C). Laws, regulations and procurement standards in many places point to a version of WCAG, often WCAG 2.1 or 2.0 Level AA, as the technical benchmark.

Which WCAG level should I aim for?

Most organizations aim for Level AA, which means meeting every Level A and Level AA success criterion. W3C does not recommend requiring Level AAA for entire sites, because some content cannot meet every AAA criterion.

How many new success criteria are in WCAG 2.2?

Nine: 2.4.11, 2.4.12 and 2.4.13 on keyboard focus, 2.5.7 Dragging Movements, 2.5.8 Target Size (Minimum), 3.2.6 Consistent Help, 3.3.7 Redundant Entry, and 3.3.8 and 3.3.9 on accessible authentication. One criterion, 4.1.1 Parsing, was removed as obsolete.

If my site meets WCAG 2.2, does it also meet WCAG 2.1?

Yes. W3C states that content that conforms to WCAG 2.2 also conforms to WCAG 2.1 and WCAG 2.0. The newer version only adds success criteria, apart from removing 4.1.1 Parsing.

Should I wait for WCAG 3?

No. WCAG 3 is an incomplete Working Draft that W3C says will change and is a few years away from being a finished standard. W3C advises meeting WCAG 2.2 now and says WCAG 3 will not supersede WCAG 2.

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