WCAG 3 Introduction

Introduction

WCAG 3 is currently an incomplete draft. WCAG 3 is intended to develop into a W3C Standard in a few years. The current standard, Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG 2), is introduced in the WCAG 2 Overview.

The WCAG 3 documents will explain how to make the web more accessible to people with disabilities. WCAG 3 applies to web content, apps, tools, publishing, and emerging technologies on the web.

We will update this page regularly as work on the WCAG 3 Draft progresses.

Status: Exploratory Draft

The May 2024 WCAG 3 Working Draft includes potential outcomes that we are exploring. The final set of outcomes in WCAG 3 will be different from this draft. Outcomes will be edited, added, combined, and removed.

The purpose of this draft is to:

Some of the outcomes are marked as needing research. We are particularly interested in assistance identifying or conducting research to support or refute them.

For your review

When reviewing this update, please focus on the Guidelines section. We did not make changes to conformance related sections.

Please consider the following questions when reviewing the outcomes in this draft:

To provide input, please file GitHub issues at: https://github.com/w3c/wcag3/issues
Or, if you are unable to use GitHub, send email to [email protected]

Please create separate GitHub issues or email messages for each topic (rather than putting multiple topics in a single issue or email).

Status of Sections

Each normative section has a status that indicates how far along in the development process this section is, how ready it is for experimental adoption, and what kind of feedback we are looking for.

There are substantial open issues that are still being discussed, particularly about testing and conformance.

WCAG 3 Draft Approach

Some Similar, Some Different

Goals for WCAG 3 include:

WCAG 3 is similar to previous versions in some ways. It has similar:

WCAG 3 is very different from previous versions in some ways. It has:

Structure

This WCAG 3 draft has:

WCAG 3 supporting material includes:

Draft Conformance Model

The conformance model is the way to determine and communicate how well a website (or app, tool, etc.) meets WCAG. The conformance model in this draft of WCAG 3 will be very different from WCAG 2. It is intended to:

We are reworking the conformance model based on feedback and we encourage additional feedback as we iterate.

Development

Timeline

The First Public Working Draft of WCAG 3.0 was published on 21 January 2021. The July 2023 draft has many changes that resulted from public feedback. We plan to publish updated drafts every 3-6 months.

WCAG 3 is not expected to be a completed W3C standard for a few more years.

The Working Group will focus on creating an initial set of guidelines and outcomes. Then will focus on refining the structure and conformance model. They will provide updated drafts for review throughout this process. Once the conformance approach is more stable, the Group will focus on refining the accessibility requirements (guidelines, outcomes, assertions, and support material). We will then provide material to help those wanting to transition to WCAG 3; for example, mapping between WCAG 2 and 3 requirements.

WCAG 3 will not supersede WCAG 2, and WCAG 2 will not be deprecated, for at least several years after WCAG 3 is finalized.

We will update this section with more specific timeline information as it is available.

WCAG 3 Name (formerly “Silver” project)

The name of WCAG 3 is different from WCAG 2:

“W3C Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 3.0” was chosen:

Who Develops WCAG 3

The WCAG technical documents are developed by the Accessibility Guidelines Working Group (AG WG) (previously under the Silver Task Force) with the Silver Community Group. These Groups are part of the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI). You can learn about the development process from How WAI Develops Accessibility Standards through the W3C Process: Milestones and Opportunities to Contribute.

We welcome your comments on WCAG 3 Working Drafts. The best way to provide feedback is by opening new GitHub issues. Alternatively, e-mail [email protected]

Opportunities for contributing more directly to WCAG and other WAI work are introduced in Participating in WAI.

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