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WCAG 2.2 TLDR (Too Long; Didn't Read)

As of 6 September 2022, WCAG 2.2 (Web Content Accessibility Guidelines) is in Candidate Recommendation Status. Which means it’s almost ready, and is likely to be the main ‘Recommendation’ before the end of the year. You should read the full WCAG 2.2 guidelines at some point, or at least the comparison with WCAG 2.1. But if that’s a bit TLDR (Too Long; Didn’t Read) for now, here’s a quick summary of the seven new bits.

2.4.11 Focus Appearance (AA)*

  • Make it visually obvious when something has focus
  • Don’t mess about being subtle; go for obvious
  • Can be different to :hover styles (although maintaining both increases the design and engineering overhead)

* ‘At risk’ in candidate recommendation as of 6 September 2022, but the principle is good: just make focus appearance obvious. All WCAG is trying to do is set some technical baselines for a minimum success.

2.4.12 Focus Not Obscured (Minimum) (AA) and 2.4.13 Focus Not Obscured (Enhanced) (AAA)

  • When something has focus, make sure it is all within the viewable area of the screen, and not obscured by things like fixed headers and footers
  • If something receives focus, make sure the page scrolls enough up or down to bring it into view

2.5.7 Dragging Movements (AA)

  • When a draggable element is selected, direction arrows enable a user to use single clicks to move the object, instead of the complex action of dragging
  • The criteria focuses on using a mouse, but should equally work using a keyboard… because, why not?

2.5.8 Target Size (Minimum) (AA)

  • Clickable items have a minimum size of 24x24px, or have at least 24px gap between them and adjacent clickable items

3.2.6 Consistent Help (A)

  • If we provide help, we do it consistently
  • If we always put a link in the same place in the header menus, then that’s covered
  • If we use chat bots, they are always available and always in the same place

3.3.7 Accessible Authentication (AA) and 3.3.8 Accessible Authentication (No Exception) (AAA)

  • Cognitive function tests such as passwords and captchas have alternatives
    • Password managers work
    • Users can paste copied passwords
  • 2FA options should also provide alternatives (basic part-passcode 2FAs wouldn’t pass, because they’re generally not supported by password managers)

3.3.9 Redundant Entry (A)

  • Don’t make users enter the same information twice
  • If the information is already available and valid, use it
  • Pre-populate fields; provide information for users to select; or just don’t ask for it again if you don’t need to