WCAG
The Web Content Accessibility Guidelines — the standard almost every accessibility law and procurement contract points at.
Deliverables & ArtifactsWCAG is a set of testable success criteria organised under four principles: content must be perceivable, operable, understandable and robust. Criteria come at three levels — A, AA and AAA. AA is the practical target, because it is what legislation and enterprise procurement almost universally reference; AAA contains criteria that are impossible to meet across a whole product.
The version that matters is 2.2, which added criteria on focus appearance, dragging alternatives, consistent help placement and accessible authentication. Most laws still name 2.0 or 2.1, but conformance to 2.2 satisfies them, and building to the newer version avoids a second pass. WCAG 3 remains a draft and should not drive planning.
Conformance is per-page and unforgiving
A page conforms only if every criterion at the target level passes. One unlabelled control means the page does not conform — which is why auditing components rather than pages is the efficient route.
In practice
A SaaS vendor lost an enterprise deal at procurement over a VPAT showing partial AA support, specifically keyboard access in their data grid. The engineering fix was two weeks. The deal cycle had already restarted with a competitor.
Where teams get it wrong
- Targeting AAA, which contains criteria no full product can meet.
- Reading WCAG as a checklist of code patterns rather than testable outcomes.
- Assuming an automated scan measures conformance — it covers roughly a third of criteria.
- Building to 2.0 because that is what the law names, then repeating the work for 2.2.
- Conforming at launch with no process, so the next release regresses.
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You may ask
Frequently Asked Questions
What WCAG level should you target?
AA. It is what accessibility legislation and enterprise procurement reference almost universally. AAA includes criteria that cannot realistically be met across an entire product.
What is the difference between WCAG 2.1 and 2.2?
2.2 adds criteria covering focus appearance, alternatives to dragging, consistent help placement and accessible authentication. Conforming to 2.2 also satisfies laws that reference earlier versions.
Is WCAG legally required?
Indirectly, in most markets. Laws such as the European Accessibility Act, Section 508 in the US and equivalent national rules set the obligation and point at WCAG — usually level AA — as the measurable standard.
Related terms
All terms- Accessibility AuditA structured evaluation of a product against WCAG, producing a list of failures with severity, location and a route to fixing each one.
- European Accessibility ActThe EU directive that made digital accessibility a legal requirement for products and services sold to European consumers.
- VPATThe Voluntary Product Accessibility Template — the document enterprise procurement asks for before a deal closes.
- Screen Reader TestingOperating a product with a screen reader to find what assistive technology actually announces — the half of accessibility no automated scanner reaches.
Defined by Mara Last reviewed .
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