What’s new in WCAG 2.2

The W3C released the long-awaited Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.2 on 5th October 2023. This version of the guidelines, originally due to be released in November 2020, has been in development for over three years, with multiple delays along the way, not to mention a global pandemic.

What is WCAG 2.2?

WCAG 2.2 is an extension of the existing WCAG 2.1 guidelines. It includes all the guidelines from versions 2.0 and 2.1, plus several new guidelines. WCAG 2.2 builds on the work to improve accessibility guidance for people with cognitive or learning disabilities, people with low vision, and people with disabilities on mobile devices.  

WCAG 2.2 is backwards compatible, which means digital products or services that conform to 2.2 will also conform to earlier versions, such as 2.0 and 2.1. 

What’s new in WCAG 2.2? 

WCAG 2.2 introduces 9 new guidelines (or to give them their official name, success criteria): 

• 2 at Level A
• 4 at Level AA
• 3 at Level AAA

One existing guideline, ‘4.1.1 Parsing’, has been removed from WCAG 2.2 as it’s no longer needed. The guideline was removed because browsers have improved how they handle parsing errors in HTML. To conform to WCAG 2.2 at Level AA, digital services do not have to meet ‘4.1.1 Parsing’. 

Please note, if conforming to WCAG 2.0 or 2.1, the digital service will still have to meet ‘4.1.1 Parsing’ as it has not been removed from previous versions of the guidelines.

Another existing guideline, ‘2.4.7 Focus Visible’, was due to move from Level AA in 2.1 to Level A in 2.2. However, the Accessibility Guidelines Working Group has decided to keep this guideline at Level AA.

New Level A guidelines

3.2.6 Consistent Help (Level A)

This guideline ensures that people can easily find help for completing tasks in a digital journey. Help information such as contact details, self-help options, or automated contact methods (such as chatbots) must be consistently located to make them easier for everyone to find.

Find out more about consistent help on the W3C Web Accessibility Initiative website.

 

3.3.7 Redundant Entry (Level A)

This guideline ensures that people shouldn’t have to re-enter information they’ve already provided while completing a form. Some exceptions apply, for example, when the information is required to ensure security or previously entered information is no longer valid.   

This guideline aims to reduce the cognitive effort required when information is asked for more than once and ensures that people can successfully complete multi-step forms.

Find out more about redundant entry on the W3C Web Accessibility Initiative website. 

 

New Level AA guidelines 

2.4.11 Focus Not Obscured (Minimum)

This guideline ensures that when someone tabs to a link, button or form field, the keyboard focus indicator is not completely hidden by other content. Other content could include sticky headers, sticky footers or non-modal dialogs. This design consideration allows a sighted person using a keyboard to always understand where the keyboard focus is and to operate the page.

Find out more about focus not obscured (minimum) on the W3C Web Accessibility Initiative website. 

 

2.5.7 Dragging Movements (Level AA)

This guideline ensures that if a part of the user interface uses a dragging movement (such as sliders or drag-and-drop functionality), then someone can perform the same action using a mouse or touch without the dragging movement. Some people don’t have the dexterity to perform dragging movements. Other people may use equipment such as head wands, eye-gaze systems or speech recognition software which either does not allow for dragging movements or makes dragging difficult or error-prone. 

Find out more about dragging movements on the W3C Web Accessibility Initiative website. 

 

2.5.8 Target Size (Minimum) (Level AA)

This guideline ensures that interactive elements such as buttons, links or form fields have sufficient size or spacing between them. This allows them to be activated easily without accidentally activating an adjacent element using a mouse, touch or pen device. Some people with physical disabilities may be unable to accurately target the element if the element is too small and may accidentally activate the wrong ones if the elements are too close together.

Find out more about target size (minimum) on the W3C Web Accessibility Initiative website.

 

3.3.8 Accessible Authentication (Minimum) (Level AA)

This guideline ensures there is an accessible, easy-to-use and secure method to log in, access content, and perform tasks. Many websites and apps rely on memorising usernames and passwords for logging in, which can place a high cognitive burden on people with specific cognitive disabilities.

This guideline requires that a cognitive function test (CFT), such as remembering a password or solving a puzzle, is not necessary for any step in an authentication journey. The exceptions are:

• If that step has an alternative to the cognitive function test, or
• If there is assistance to help the user complete the test, such as password manager support or ‘copy and paste’ functionality.

Read our guide on authentication or find out more about accessible authentication (minimum) on the W3C Web Accessibility Initiative website.

 

New Level AAA guidelines

Nationwide’s Digital Accessibility Standard requires digital products and services to meet Level A and Level AA requirements. For products and service teams that strive to provide higher levels of accessibility, there are several new Level AAA requirements to consider.

3.3.9 Accessible Authentication (Enhanced) (Level AAA)

This guideline is similar to the new Level AA guideline, ‘Accessible Authentication’, but has stricter requirements. It says that a cognitive function test should not be part of any step in an authentication journey unless:

• There is another way of authenticating that does not rely on a cognitive function test, or
• There is assistance to help people complete the cognitive function test.

Find out more about accessible authentication (enhanced) on the W3C Web Accessibility Initiative website.

 

2.4.12 Focus Not Obscured (Enhanced) (Level AAA)

This guideline is similar to the new Level AA guideline ‘Focus Not Obscured (Minimum)’ but has stricter requirements. It says that content such as sticky headers, sticky footers, or non-modal dialogs must not hide any part of an element’s keyboard focus indicator.

Find out more about focus not obscured (enhanced) on the W3C Web Accessibility Initiative website.

 

2.4.13 Focus Appearance (Level AAA)

This guideline ensures that the visible keyboard focus indicator must have a minimum level of visibility and sufficient contrast. This design approach ensures that people with low vision and sighted people with mobility impairments who use a keyboard, switch or voice input know where the current point of focus is.

Find out more about focus appearance on the W3C Web Accessibility Initiative website.

 

When will digital products and services have to support 2.2?

Nationwide digital journeys/platforms do not have to comply with WCAG 2.2 immediately.

Now the guidelines have been released, Nationwide’s accessibility team will continue to assess the new requirements in consultation with DAC (Digital Accessibility Centre). The Nationwide Digital Accessibility Standard will be updated to reflect the new version of the guidelines when appropriate. We expect this to be at least 3-6 months from the guidelines’ release, so likely to be in April 2024. Only after this has occurred will journeys/platforms need to adhere to WCAG 2.2 and report progress against them at relevant governance forums.

How to get ready for WCAG 2.2

If you haven’t yet started preparation to comply with WCAG 2.2, there are several things you can do to get started.

First, take the time to read the new guidelines and understand the individual requirements and exceptions. While this article provides a summary of each new guideline above, there is a lot more information on the requirements of each guideline in the published WCAG 2.2 specification.

Next, determine which new guidelines apply to your product or service. Your product or service may only need to meet some of them to comply. For example, if the product or service doesn’t have an authentication process, the guideline ‘Accessible Authentication’ isn’t relevant. You’ll then need to do a gap analysis to understand where there are gaps in compliance and where there may be barriers to access for people with disabilities.

Once you have a list of guidelines to meet and have completed a gap analysis, you must start preparing your digital product or service to conform with the new guidelines. As this may require changes to the design and development of the product or service, and you’ll need to put a roadmap in place to address any areas of concern.

Where to find help and support

Contact us for accessibility advice and support with WCAG 2.2. Our accessibility specialist, Emily, will help you and your team understand, plan and conform to the new WCAG 2.2 requirements.