WCAG compliance, explained for people who run websites.

WCAG stands for Web Content Accessibility Guidelines. The W3C publishes them, the same body that maintains HTML and CSS. Version 2.0 arrived in 2008, 2.1 in June 2018 and 2.2 in October 2023. Each version builds on the one before: 2.1 added criteria to 2.0, and 2.2 added nine more and dropped one that had become obsolete. WCAG is also an ISO standard, ISO/IEC 40500. The 2012 edition is WCAG 2.0 and the 2025 edition is WCAG 2.2, which is why you sometimes see that number in tenders.

The guidelines are written as testable statements called success criteria. Each one has a number, a name and a level. “Meeting WCAG” means meeting every criterion at the level you have chosen, across the pages you have chosen to include.

The four principles

Every criterion sits under one of four principles. If you remember nothing else, remember these. They are the questions to ask about any page.

Scroll sideways to see every column

Levels A, AA and AAA

Each criterion has a level. Level A criteria remove the barriers that stop people using a page at all: images with no text alternative, controls you cannot reach from a keyboard, forms with no labels. Level AA adds the things that make a site usable rather than just possible: enough contrast, visible focus, text that reflows when zoomed, consistent navigation. Level AAA goes further still, with sign language for video, a 7:1 contrast ratio and reading-level requirements.

AA is the usual target because that is what laws and contracts name. The ADA Title II rule, the European standard EN 301 549 and most procurement checklists all say WCAG 2.1 AA. Conforming at AA means meeting every Level A and every Level AA criterion: 50 criteria in WCAG 2.1, 55 in WCAG 2.2. The W3C does not recommend AAA as a goal for a whole site, because some AAA criteria cannot be met for every kind of content.

Six criteria that come up on almost every site

These are the ones that show up again and again in audits and in complaints. The last column says which part of Accessora helps, and where it is down to you.

Scroll sideways to see every column

Audit means the automated audit flags it with the criterion and the affected elements. Automated fix means automated fixes can repair the common form of it on the page, for example by adding a missing label or accessible name (Enterprise plan). AI alt text is the alt text generator, which writes English descriptions for images that have none (Growth and Enterprise). You can review and edit them in the dashboard. Widget means the visitor can work around it with the accessibility widget, for example by turning on High Contrast. Needs you means a person has to test or fix it. Keyboard access is the classic case. A scan can flag a few keyboard problems, such as a scrolling area you cannot reach, but only a person can confirm the whole flow works.

What WCAG 2.2 added

WCAG 2.2 became a W3C Recommendation on October 5, 2023. It adds nine success criteria and retires one, 4.1.1 Parsing, which modern browsers made redundant. Six of the new criteria are Level A or AA, so they count toward an AA target. Our post WCAG 2.2 in plain English walks through each one with examples.

The nine new criteria

Scroll sideways to see every column

New criterion	Level	In short
2.4.11 Focus Not Obscured (Minimum)	AA	The focused element is not fully hidden behind a sticky header, cookie bar or chat bubble.
2.4.12 Focus Not Obscured (Enhanced)	AAA	No part of the focused element is hidden.
2.4.13 Focus Appearance	AAA	The focus indicator is large enough and has enough contrast to be seen.
2.5.7 Dragging Movements	AA	Anything you can drag can also be done with a simple click or tap.
2.5.8 Target Size (Minimum)	AA	Buttons and links are at least 24 by 24 CSS pixels, or have enough space around them.
3.2.6 Consistent Help	A	If help such as contact details or chat appears on several pages, it is in the same place on each.
3.3.7 Redundant Entry	A	Information a person already typed in a process is not asked for again, or is offered for reuse.
3.3.8 Accessible Authentication (Minimum)	AA	Logging in does not depend on remembering or retyping a password. Password managers and copy and paste must work.
3.3.9 Accessible Authentication (Enhanced)	AAA	The same, without the exceptions for object recognition or personal content.

How to check your site

Start with an automated scan. The free accessibility checker gives a first read on any page. In the dashboard, Accessora runs axe-core in a headless browser against each page you add, scores it out of 100, and lists each issue it finds with its WCAG criterion, its level and the elements affected. You can scan on a daily, weekly or monthly schedule so regressions show up before a visitor finds them.

Illustration of the audit results screen: a page scored 84 out of 100 with five errors, four warnings and one notice, each listed with its WCAG criterion.

Quill & Kiln/quillandkiln.comQK

OverviewInstallationAuditsAlt TagsSettings

Audits › /checkout

Audit results5 errors4 warnings1 notice

Re-scan

IssueWCAGSeverityElements

Images must have alternative text1.1.1 · AError3

Form elements must have labels4.1.2 · AError2

Elements must meet minimum color contrast1.4.3 · AAWarning4

Links must have discernible text2.4.4 · ANotice1

Then do the checks no scanner can. Automated tools find the issues that have a clear rule, such as a missing label or a low contrast ratio. They cannot tell whether alt text is meaningful, whether the reading order makes sense, or whether a keyboard user can finish the checkout. Three manual checks cover a lot of ground:

1. Keyboard only. Put the mouse away and go through your main flows with Tab, Shift+Tab, Enter, Space and the arrow keys. You should always see where focus is, and never get stuck.
2. Screen reader. VoiceOver is built into macOS and iOS; NVDA is free on Windows. Listen to a product page and the checkout. Do the images, buttons and form fields make sense when you cannot see them?
3. Zoom to 200 percent. Nothing should overlap, get cut off or need sideways scrolling. WCAG 2.1 also asks that content reflows at a 320 pixel wide viewport, which is roughly a phone.

To go criterion by criterion, use our WCAG 2.2 AA checklist: all 55 Level A and AA criteria, with what to check for each.

Where a widget fits

An accessibility widget gives visitors adjustments on top of your site: larger text, more line height, high contrast, a dyslexia-friendly font, a reading mask, text to speech. For many people those adjustments are the difference between a usable page and one they leave. What a widget does not do is change your code. Missing labels, broken keyboard flows and inaccessible PDFs are still there underneath. That is why Accessora pairs the widget with audits and fixes, and why we wrote an honest guide to widgets, overlays and real fixes.

Where WCAG shows up in law

WCAG is a standard, and laws point to it. These are the three that come up most often for the sites Accessora runs on.

Two more names you will meet. EN 301 549 is the European standard for accessible ICT and the one behind the EAA and the EU public sector directive. The version in force points to WCAG 2.1 AA for the web; version 4.1.1, published in September 2026, moves to WCAG 2.2. Section 508 is the US federal procurement standard. Both are ways of saying “WCAG” with a legal wrapper around it.

Your accessibility statement

A statement tells visitors which standard you aim for, how far along you are, what you know is not working yet, and how to reach you when something is in the way. The EAA expects one, and it doubles as a record of what you have done. Our free accessibility statement generator produces one from a short form, as HTML you own.