Silver (WCAG 3.0) First Public Working Draft released.

February 26, 2021, is the deadline to submit comments.

Periodic table for the element “ag” (which is silver) including references to A11y and W3C
  1. WCAG 3.0 is not backward compatible with WCAG 2.X (2.0, 2.1, or 2.2).
  2. WCAG 3.0 does not supersede WCAG 2.2 and previous versions. It is an alternative set of guidelines.
  3. WCAG 3.0 will likely not be final until sometime in 2023. More details concerning the scoring mechanism, which is not yet finished, and more outcomes, are an essential part of upcoming “heartbeat” updates, which will occur periodically until WCAG 3.0 becomes a final W3C recommendation.
  4. There are no more A, AA, AAA levels in WCAG 3.0, so don’t go looking for them. The scoring mechanism replaces them.

Things that have changed in W3Cs approach with to WCAG

Previous versions of WCAG viewed accessibility as all or nothing; you were either accessible, or you weren’t. WCAG 3.0 is more of a spectrum of gray.

Under WCAG 3.0, products will be scored.

The WCAG 3.0 scoring mechanism includes the potential to receive “medals.”

  • no critical errors;
  • a total score of at least 3.5, and;
  • a 3.5 score within each functional need.

There are no longer atomic guidelines like “2.4.6 Headings and Labels.”

  • Outcomes: One example of a structure content outcome is “Headings with levels organize content.” Structured Content has six such outcomes
  • Functional needs — Lists of disabilities that are impacted by following or the failure to follow the outcome.
  • Critical errors: Errors that, no matter how good the rest of the product is, that reflect an overall accessibility failure for the outcome in question.
  • Methods: The technical details behind how you meet the outcome.
  • Rating: A number between 0 and 4 objectively stating how well you did at meeting the outcome. The presence of a critical error will result in an automatic score of 0. Rating thresholds are still being evaluated. The tests that generate these scores are referred to as “atomic tests.”

In addition to methods and outcomes, there is “holistic testing.”

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LinkedIn Top Voice for Social Impact 2022. UX Collective Author of the Year 2020. Disability Inclusion SME. Sr Staff Accessibility Architect @ VMware.

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Sheri Byrne-Haber, CPACC

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LinkedIn Top Voice for Social Impact 2022. UX Collective Author of the Year 2020. Disability Inclusion SME. Sr Staff Accessibility Architect @ VMware.