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 July 2023 WCAG 3 Working Draft better communicates that most of the content is a placeholder or exploratory. It removes the previous draft guidance to reduce confusion about whether it was ready to use.

There are substantial open issues that are still being discussed, particularly about testing and conformance. This draft provides an updated description of a possible approach to conformance, along with specific questions that the group is working on.

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.

Comments

We welcome input from evaluators, developers, designers, project managers, policy makers, people with disabilities, and others.

We also welcome comments on the goals and parameters in Requirements for WCAG 3.0.

The best way to provide this feedback is by opening new GitHub issues. Alternatively, e-mail public-agwg-comments@w3.org Please put each topic in a separate GitHub issue or e-mail.

Additionally, we welcome comments on ways that the Accessibility Guidelines Working Group can better support your review, feedback, and inclusion in the process of creating WCAG 3. Please e-mail these to group-ag-chairs@w3.org

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 public-agwg-comments@w3.org

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

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