Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.2 – Final Draft is now available

Accessibility Guidelines Working Group at World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) has released final draft of WCAG 2.2 on 11th August, 2020. WCAG 2.2 has introduced 9 new Success Criterions out of which 8 are Level AA and.. Let’s take a look at new Success Criterions.

  • Success criterion 2.4.7 Focus Visible (Changed from Level AA to Level A) – Any keyboard operable user interface has a mode of operation where the keyboard focus indicator is visible.
  • Success Criterion 2.4.11 Focus Appearance (minimum) (Level AA) – For the keyboard focus indicator of each User Interface Component, all of the following are true:
  1. Minimum area: The focus indication area is greater than or equal to a 1 CSS pixel border of the focused control, or has a thickness of at least 8 CSS pixels along the shortest side of the element.
  2. Change of contrast: The color change for the focus indication area has a contrast ratio of at least 3:1 with the colors of the unfocused state.
  3. Adjacent contrast: The focus indication area has a contrast ratio of at least 3:1 against all adjacent colors for the minimum area or greater, or has a thickness of at least 2 CSS pixels.
  4. Unobscured: The item with focus is not entirely hidden by author-created content.
  • Success Criterion 2.4.12 Focus Appearance (Enhanced) (Level AAA) – For the keyboard focus indicator of each User Interface Component, all of the following are true:
  1. Minimum area: The focus indication area is greater than or equal to a 2 CSS pixel solid border around the control.
  2. Change of contrast: Color changes used to indicate focus have a contrast ratio of at least 4.5:1 with the colors changed from the unfocused control.
  3. Unobscured: No part of the focus indicator is hidden by author-created content.
  • Success Criterion 2.4.13 Fixed Reference Points (Level A) – When a web page or set of web pages is an electronic publication with pagebreak locators, a mechanism is available to navigate to each locator and each locator maintains its place in the flow of content, even when the formatting or platform change.
  • Success Criterion 2.5.7 Dragging (Level AA) – All functionality that uses a dragging movement for operation can be operated by a single pointer without dragging, unless dragging is essential.
  • Success Criterion 2.5.8 Pointer Target Spacing (Level AA) – For each target, there is an area with a width and height of at least 44 CSS pixels that includes it, and no other targets, except when:
  1. Enlarge: A mechanism is available to change the CSS pixel size of each target, or its spacing, so there is an area with a width and height of at least 44 CSS pixels that includes it, and no other targets;
  2. Inline: The target is in a sentence or block of text;
  3. User agent: The size of the target is controlled by the user agent and is not modified by the author;
  4. Essential: A particular presentation of the target is essential to the information being conveyed.
  • Success Criterion 3.2.6 Findable Help (Level A) – When a single web page application or set of web pages having options like Human contact details, human contact mechanism, self help option, a fully automated contact mechanism, then access to at least one of the options should be made available in the same relative order on each page
  • Success Criterion 3.2.7 Hidden Controls (Level AA) – Controls needed to progress or complete a process are visible at the time they are needed without requiring pointer hover or keyboard focus, or a mechanism is available to make them persistently visible.
  • Success Criterion 3.3.7 Accessible Authentication (Level A) – If an authentication process relies on a cognitive function test, at least one other method must also be available that does not rely on a cognitive function test.
  • Success Criterion 3.3.8 Redundant Entry (Level A) – For steps in a process, information previously entered by or provided to the user that is required on subsequent steps is either autopopulated or available for users to select. Exception: When re-entering information is essential; example: Re-enter new password on a password reset form.

Looks like there are some good changes made and I personally happy to see 2.4.7 Focus Visible has been promoted to Level A.

Looking forward to have WCAG 2.2 become a recommendation.

Srinivasu Chakravarthula

Srinivasu Chakravarthula is an accessibility evangelist for 12+ years. Accessibility is not just his profession but something that is very close to his heart. Srinivasu believes that technology plays an important role to make lives of people with disabilities independent. Srinivasu is recipient of Yahoo! Ratna and NCPEDP MphasiS Universal Design Award. Srinivasu is Certified Web Accessibility Specialist by International Association of Accessibility Professionals (IAAP). Srinivasu is also an individual Professional member of IAAP. Visit his personal website to learn more.

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