WCAG 2.2 Recommendations

WCAG 2.2, the latest version of the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG), the W3C's guidelines for web content accessibility that are widely used around the world, were Recommended on October 5. Since the previous update to 2.1, this is the first in approximately five years (see Column "WCAG 2.1 Recommendations" in Japanese).

Following on from the update of version 2.0 to 2.1, WCAG 2.2 includes enhanced support for users with cognitive and learning disabilities, users with low vision, and users of mobile devices. Specifically, for four Guidelines, nine new Success Criteria have been added - as shown below:

• Guideline 2.4 Navigable

  • 2.4.11 Focus Not Obscured (Minimum) (Level AA)
  • 2.4.12 Focus Not Obscured (Enhanced) (Level AAA)
  • 2.4.13 Focus Appearance (Level AAA)

• Guideline 2.5 Input Modalities

  • 2.5.7 Dragging Movements (Level AA)
  • 2.5.8 Target Size (Minimum) (Level AA)

• Guideline 3.2 Predictable

  • Success Criterion 3.2.6 Consistent Help (Level A)

• Guideline 3.3 Input Assistance

  • 3.3.7 Redundant Entry （Level A）
  • 3.3.8 Accessible Authentication (Minimum) (Level AA)
  • 3.3.9 Accessible Authentication (Enhanced) （Level AAA）

Due to a limited number of words, the details of the individual Success Criteria will not be covered in this Column. However, for those that are interested in learning more, please attend our Pinpoint Lecture for Web Professionals / WCAG 2.2 Explanation Seminar (in Japanese) scheduled for December 14.

Further, Success Criteria 4.1.1 Parsing (Conformance Level A), which has been in place since version 2.0, has now been withdrawn from the WCAG 2.2. This brings the total number of Success Criteria in WCAG 2.2 to 86. A breakdown of the Success Criteria by Conformance Level and how they have changed since previous versions can be viewed in the table below.

In response to the WCAG 2.2 Recommendations, we recently issued a news release titled "Commencement of Standard Compliance with Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.2" (in Japanese). The release is to inform clients that from January 2024 onward we will adopt WCAG 2.2 Conformance Level A as the quality standard for our deliverables – regarding both development and the verification of content. From then on, unless otherwise specified, our Accessibility support will be based on WCAG 2.2.

To close, through related articles posted on our Accessibility Blog (in Japanese), let's look back at the WCAG 2.2 formulation journey to date:

• 2020

  • First Public Working Draft of WCAG 2.2 Issued（February 28, 2020）
  • WCAG 2.2 Public Working Draft Updated（August 17, 2020）
  • WCAG 2.2 Recommendation Schedule, Next Generation Guidelines（September 28, 2020）

• 2021

  • WCAG 2.2 Draft Updated（May 14, 2021）

• 2022

  • Candidate Recommendations for WCAG 2.2 Published（September 7, 2022）
  • Discussions that Success Criterion 4.1.1 may be Withdrawn from WCAG 2（December 12, 2022）

• 2023

  • WCAG 2.2 Candidate Recommendations Updated（February 1, 2023）
  • WCAG 2.2 Candidate Recommendations Updated (May 2023 Edition)（May 19, 2023）
  • WCAG 2.2 Draft Recommendations Published, Further Recommendations in August（July 20, 2023）
  • WCAG 2.2 Recommendations and WCAG 2.1 Update（October 6, 2023）