New Rules Introduced in WCAG 2.2

WCAG Overview

On October 5, 2023, the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) published WCAG 2.2, introducing nine new success criteria since WCAG 2.1 (released in 2018). On October 21, 2025, the new guidelines were approved as an official international accessibility standard by the ISO (the International Organization for Standardization).

Most websites aim for Level AA compliance, meaning they must meet all Level A and Level AA criteria. While Level AAA compliance is challenging, websites should implement these standards when possible.

WCAG 2.2 Updates

WCAG 2.2 introduces several new success criteria that enhance accessibility for a wide range of users. Before diving into the specifics, here’s a quick look at what’s new:

• 2 new A success criteria

• 4 new AA success criteria

• 3 new AAA success criteria

We’ll break down each of the new success criteria and highlight who benefits the most. While they improve the online experience for everyone, we’ll focus on the groups that see the greatest impact.

2.4.11 Focus Not Obscured (Minimum) (AA)

When an item receives keyboard focus, at least part of the item is visible. This is often the default behavior, but an example of when this could happen is if a banner ad is always at the bottom of a page, it could cover a focused item.

Who This Helps: People who use a keyboard instead of a mouse, including those with motor impairments or temporary injuries

2.4.12 Focus Not Obscured (Enhanced) (AAA)

When an item receives keyboard focus, no part of the item that has focus is obscured.

Who This Helps: People who use a keyboard instead of a mouse, including those with motor impairments or temporary injuries

2.4.13 Focus Appearance (AAA)

The focus indicator (outline or highlight around an item that shows it’s currently being read) must be large and have high contrast to ensure visibility. This is important because it can be hard for people to see small changes on a page.

To pass this rule, the focus indicator must cover at least two times the perimeter of an item and have a 3:1 color contrast ratio between the focused and unfocused state.

Who This Helps: People with low vision or difficulty noticing small visual changes

2.5.7 Dragging Movements (AA)

It can be difficult for some users to drag with their mouse. To pass this success criterion, any functionality that uses a dragging movement needs to be able to be achieved by a signal pointer without dragging. This can be done by using a dropdown menu to specify where it should move instead.

Who This Helps: People with tremors, motor impairments, or temporary injuries

2.5.8 Target Size (Minimum) (AA)

If buttons or clickable items are too close together, it makes it difficult for someone to accurately click the right item. To pass this success criterion, the size of the target (clickable area) needs to be at least 24x24 pixels.

Who This Helps: People with limited dexterity or tremors, and anyone using a touchscreen in motion, like someone riding a bus.

3.2.6 Consistent Help (A)

If a web page contains a help option (contact details, self-help option, etc.) and that information is on multiple pages, it needs to be located in the same place to make it easy to find. A common example of this is a chat option always being at the bottom-right corner of the site.

Who This Helps: People with cognitive disabilities and anyone who needs help finding support quickly

3.3.7 Redundant Entry (A)

This success criterion states that if information is requested twice (within the same process), it should be auto-populated, or there should be an option to auto-populate it. This is often seen on e-commerce sites when there is a checkbox to say your shipping and billing addresses are the same.

Who This Helps: People with cognitive difficulties or memory issues

3.3.8 Accessible Authentication (Minimum) (AA)

This success criterion helps to make a login screen easier to use. Memorizing a username and password can be a burden on everyone. To help pass this success criterion, don’t disable the use of password managers or the browser from automatically filling in the fields. Another way to comply with this success criterion is to allow users to copy and paste their credentials. This applies to two-factor authentication codes as well.

Some platforms, like Walmart and Slack, allow users to log in via an email link instead of a password. Alternative ways of logging in can benefit many types of users.

Who This Helps: Anyone who struggles to remember passwords, and those with cognitive disabilities

3.3.9 Accessible Authentication (Enhanced) (AAA)

To take the previous success criterion even further, this success criterion requires that a puzzle should not have to be solved in order to log in. This includes those annoying challenges that make you choose all the images of a car (or any object).

Who This Helps: People with vision, cognitive, or motor impairments, and anyone frustrated by CAPTCHA challenges