WCAG 2.2 is an addition to WCAG 2.1. Six new success criteria are added to WCAG 2.2 at levels A and AA.
These are intended to improve accessibility for users with cognitive disabilities, learning disabilities or impaired vision. A few of these new success criteria are especially designed to improve accessibility on tablet and phone.
Success Criterion 2.4.7 moves from Level AA to Level A, making it more important. This success criterion says something about how visible the focus is. This helps visitors who rely on the keyboard or similar assistive devices.
WCAG 2.2 is an update of the current set of guidelines. So there will not be a completely new list, but some success criteria will be added.
Level AAA guidelines are not mandatory.
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The so-called focus indicator helps visitors who use the keyboard (rather than a mouse) determine where they are on your Web site. We are already looking at this focus indicator a bit, but even then it is not always clear everywhere.
So we are very pleased that WCAG 2.2 will make keyboard focus more visible, by imposing size and contrast requirements. For level AA, the focus indicator must have a contrast of at least 3.0:1. For level AAA (not required by law) even a contrast of at least 4.5:1. In total, there are two new success criteria that say something about the focus indicator. This does indicate its importance.
With your mouse it is of course very easy to drag something on your website. On a touch-device such as a tablet or a phone this is already a bit more difficult. What if you don't use a normal mouse at all? For users with a motor disability, dragging files is not always easy. Think of:
visitors with forms of Parkinson's disease,
visitors who use eye-tracking to control the computer,
visitors who control the computer by voice.
WCAG 2.2 must provide an alternative way for all these users (besides the keyboard) to perform these actions with a “mouse.” For example, this could be a button that can be clicked.
Some links, buttons and other interactive elements are so incredibly small that you can barely click them on your cell phone or tablet. The chances of accidentally clicking or “misclicking” somewhere else are very high. Many people, especially the elderly, suffer from “thick-finger syndrome.”
Some websites and (especially) web shops make it a sport to hide contact information as much as possible. This way, they avoid a huge pressure on their customer service. For some users, good help is very important: therefore, offer them a helping hand.
WCAG 2.2 requires help information on your Web site to be easy to find. This can be contact info, for example, but a chatbot or FAQ can also provide help. You are not obliged to offer this, but if you do, it should always be findable in the same place.
On many webshops, you see “clickable areas” that are very small or overlapping. Before you know it, you have the wrong product in your shopping cart.
“Calling is ultimately much faster than going all over that site. But finding the phone number is often an art too!”
More and more websites require you to log in. For example, to buy something in a webshop or to change your data. Because of data security, logging in should not be too easy of course, but for some users logging in is made almost impossible. This is because, for example, they have to take a Captcha (such a “quiz”) that they cannot see or just simply do not understand.
WCAG 2.2 should make logging ineasier for users. Among other things, you can offer an alternative option for a so-called “cognitive test” (like Captcha), for example logging in via a link you receive by mail.
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Marketplace allows you to log in with Facebook or with your Google account.
Nothing is more irritating than having to enter the same data multiple times. Especially if filling in those details takes a lot of effort on your part. WCAG 2.2 tackles so-called “redundant input.” This prevents visitors from having to enter the same information multiple times in the same process.
Perhaps you recognize this from filling in your billing and address information during checkout in an online store. Below is an example of the “Coolblue checkout” on coolblue.nl.
On Coolblue.com, you first enter your e-mail address. In the next step, this e-mail address is automatically filled in. You can also choose to receive the invoice at the same address to which you send your package. So filling in twice is not necessary.
If you are deaf or hard of hearing, subtitles are often necessary to follow the video properly. Read our five tips for subtitles.
Sufficient colour contrast is very important. Especially for text. What about this in WCAG 2.2? And what will change in WCAG 3?
A digitally accessible app can be used by anyone, but there are more benefits of accessible apps for iOS and Android.
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