WCAG 2.2 AA Guide + Checklist for 2023 Web Accessibility

(Updated for 2023)

WCAG 2.2 has now been officially released and there are nine success criteria, six of which fall in A or AA conformance. Below is a quick WCAG 2.2 AA checklist to help you understand this new version.

For Beginners New to WCAG

WCAG is the acronym for the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines. 2.2 is the latest version for WCAG and the official release is finally here.

Previous versions of WCAG are 1.0, 2.0, and 2.1.

There are three conformance levels no matter what the version: A, AA, AAA.

99.9% of you reading this only need to concern yourself with AA but if you want to go the extra four miles and try to incorporate some of AAA into your website, go for it.

Each version of WCAG works on top of the previous version so nothing has been undone if you conform to a particular version. Here’s how it works:

WCAG 2.0 AA is comprised of 38 success criteria

WCAG 2.1 AA is 50 (38 + 12 new success criteria)

WCAG 2.2 AA is 55 (49* + 6 new success criteria)

*With 2.2, they actually removed one of the success criterion from 2.1 AA (4.1.1 Parsing) so 2.2 would only be building off 49 success criteria.

Think of success criteria as bullet points you need to check off for accessibility.

WCAG 2.2 AA Checklist

And with that intro, below is my plain English checklist of the 6 new 2.2 AA success criteria.

You can download my WCAG 2.2 AA Checklist and Guide cheatsheets for free at Accessible.org (no subscription required).

2.4.11: Make sure focus is never completely hidden (e.g., by a sticky footer).

2.5.7: If a dragging movement is required (e.g., when adjusting a slider), provide an alternative means of dragging such as tapping or clicking.

2.5.8: Make sure all interactive targets (e.g., linked icons) take up at least 24x24 CSS pixels of space. This can include white space around the target.

3.2.6: If you make a help option available, make sure it is available consistently, in the same relative place, so it can be easily be located.

3.3.7: If there is a cognitive test to login (e.g., memorizing a username and password or a puzzle), there needs to be an alternative way to authenticate that does not require a cognitive test (e.g., authentication via clicking an emailed link).

3.3.8: When filling out a form, any previously entered information is available through auto-fill or selection. Confirming passwords and abandoned forms are exceptions.

Wrap Up

Note: In the years before 2.2 was finally published, there were different working drafts that were not the same as this final version. As such, some of my materials may have information from previous drafts.

For a more generalized rundown of each success criteria, read my WCAG 2.1 AA vs. WCAG 2.2 AA article.

By the way, did you know you can invest in accessibility training with my WCAG Course that includes 2.2?

You can learn more at WCAGCourse.com.