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Merge pull request #1009 from w3c/wcag2overview-dec-2024
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Update wcag2 overview & FAQ
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shawna-slh authored Dec 12, 2024
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42 changes: 29 additions & 13 deletions pages/standards-guidelines/wcag/faq.md
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title: "WCAG 2 FAQ"
nav_title: "FAQ"
lang: en
last_updated: 2023-10-05
last_updated: 2024-12-12
first_published: "October 2006"
description: Answers to some frequently asked questions (FAQ) about Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG).

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The starting place for information about Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) is the [WCAG Overview](/standards-guidelines/wcag/).

This page answers to some frequently asked questions (FAQ) about (WCAG. Let us know what <a href="#more">other questions</a> you have.<br>
~<em><a href="https://w3.org/People/Shawn/">Shawn Henry</a></em>, <abbr title="World Wide Web Consortium">W3C</abbr> <abbr title="Web Accessibility Initiative">WAI</abbr>, <em>updated 5 October 2023</em>
~<em><a href="https://w3.org/People/Shawn/">Shawn Henry</a></em>, <abbr title="World Wide Web Consortium">W3C</abbr> <abbr title="Web Accessibility Initiative">WAI</abbr>, <em>updated 12 December 2024</em>

{::nomarkdown}
{% include box.html type="end" %}
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{::options toc_levels="2" /}

<ul class="questions">
<li>New: <a href="#parsing411">How and why is success criteria 4.1.1 Parsing obsolete?</a></li>
<li>New: <a href="#Sept2023">What was updated WCAG 2.1 in September 2023?</a></li>
<li>New: <a href="#i18n22">What was updated in WCAG 2.2 for internationalization?</a></li>
<li><a href="#parsing411">How and why is success criteria 4.1.1 Parsing obsolete?</a></li>
<li>New: <a href="#Dec2024">What was updated WCAG 2.2 in December 2024?</a></li>
<li>New: <a href="#Sept2023">What was updated WCAG 2.1 in September 2023 and December 2024?</a></li>
<li><a href="#i18n22">What was updated in WCAG 2.2 for internationalization?</a></li>
<li><a href="#done">What is different in WCAG 2.0, 2.1, and 2.2?</a></li>
<li><a href="#next">What about WCAG 3.0? What about “Silver”?</a></li>
<li><a href="#getnews">How Can I Get Updates?</a></li>
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Parsing was included in WCAG 2.0 to ensure that browsers and assistive technologies could accurately parse markup and content. Since then, specifications (such as HTML) and browsers have improved how they handle parsing errors. Also, previously assistive technology did their own markup parsing. Now they rely on the browser.

With today's technology, accessibility issues that would have failed 4.1.1, will fail other criteria, such as Info and Relationships ([SC 1.3.1](https://w3c.github.io/wcag/understanding/info-and-relationships)) or Name, Role, Value ([SC 4.1.2](https://w3c.github.io/wcag/understanding/name-role-value)). Therefore 4.1.1 is no longer needed for accessibility.
With today's technology, accessibility issues that would have failed 4.1.1, will fail other criteria, such as Info and Relationships ([SC 1.3.1](https://www.w3.org/WAI/WCAG22/Understanding/info-and-relationships.html)) or Name, Role, Value ([SC 4.1.2](https://www.w3.org/WAI/WCAG22/Understanding/name-role-value)). Therefore 4.1.1 is no longer needed for accessibility.

(Using tools that assess parsing errors and fixing parsing issues may still be useful &mdash; it's just not required for accessibility.)

<!-- @@ update links when WCAG 2.2 Understanding docs published -->
## What was updated in WCAG 2.2 in December 2024? {#Dec2024}

## What was updated WCAG 2.1 in September 2023? {#Sept2023}
On 12 December 2024, we published an update to WCAG 2.2. The update includes:
* modified definitions of single pointer, used in an unusual or restricted way, motion animation, and programmatically determined
* minor formatting and editorial changes listed in the [WCAG 2.2 Change Log](https://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG22/#changelog)

**WCAG 2.1:** On 21 September, we published an update to WCAG 2.1. The update:
* Adds informative notes to success criteria 4.1.1 Parsing. More information is above in [Why is success criteria 4.1.1 Parsing obsolete](https://www.w3.org/WAI/standards-guidelines/wcag/faq/#parsing411).
* Incorporates existing errata that are mostly minor wording corrections. The changes are listed in the [WCAG 2.1 changelog](https://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG21/#changelog).
You can link to the latest version or specific versions of WCAG 2.2:
* For the latest version of WCAG 2.2: [https://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG22/](https://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG22/)
* The version published 12 December 2024: [https://www.w3.org/TR/2024/WD-wcag-3.0-20241212//](https://www.w3.org/TR/2024/WD-wcag-3.0-20241212/)
* The version published 5 October 2023: [https://www.w3.org/TR/2023/REC-WCAG22-20231005/](https://www.w3.org/TR/2023/REC-WCAG22-20231005/)

More info on linking is in [Referencing and Linking to WAI Guidelines](https://www.w3.org/WAI/standards-guidelines/linking/).

## What was updated in WCAG 2.1 in 2023 and 2024? {#Sept2023}

On 12 December 2024, we published an update to WCAG 2.1. The update includes:
* modified definitions of single pointer, used in an unusual or restricted way, motion animation, and programmatically determined
* minor formatting and editorial changes listed in the [WCAG 2.1 Change Log](https://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG21/#changelog)

On 21 September 2023, we published an update to WCAG 2.1. The update includes:
* added informative notes to success criteria 4.1.1 Parsingl more information is above in [Why is success criteria 4.1.1 Parsing obsolete](https://www.w3.org/WAI/standards-guidelines/wcag/faq/#parsing411)
* incorporation of existing errata that are mostly minor wording corrections

You can link to the latest version or specific versions of WCAG 2.1:
* For the latest version of WCAG 2.1: [https://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG21/](https://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG21/)
* The version published today, 21 September 2023: [https://www.w3.org/TR/2023/REC-WCAG21-20230921/](https://www.w3.org/TR/2023/REC-WCAG21-20230921/)
* The version published 12 December 2024: [https://www.w3.org/TR/2024/REC-WCAG21-20241212/](https://www.w3.org/TR/2024/REC-WCAG21-20241212/)
* The version published 21 September 2023: [https://www.w3.org/TR/2023/REC-WCAG21-20230921/](https://www.w3.org/TR/2023/REC-WCAG21-20230921/)
* The version published 5 June 2018: [https://www.w3.org/TR/2018/REC-WCAG21-20180605/](https://www.w3.org/TR/2018/REC-WCAG21-20180605/)

More info on linking is in [Referencing and Linking to WAI Guidelines](https://www.w3.org/WAI/standards-guidelines/linking/).


## What was updated in WCAG 2 for internationalization? {#i18n22}

Updates to WCAG documents will better support accessibility in different languages.
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12 changes: 7 additions & 5 deletions pages/standards-guidelines/wcag/index.md
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title: "WCAG 2 Overview"
nav_title: "Web Content – WCAG 2"
lang: en # Change "en" to the translated-language shortcode
last_updated: 2024-03-07 # Keep the date of the English version
last_updated: 2024-12-12 # Keep the date of the English version
first_published: "July 2005"
description: Introduces the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) international standard, including WCAG 2.0, WCAG 2.1, and WCAG 2.2. WCAG documents explain how to make web content more accessible to people with disabilities.

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## WCAG 2.0, 2.1, 2.2 {#versions}

The Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) standards are stable and referenceable when they are published as a 'W3C Recommendation' web standard.
The Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) standards are referenceable when they are published as a 'W3C Recommendation' web standard.

* [WCAG 2.0](https://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG20/) was published on 11 December 2008.
* [WCAG 2.1](https://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG21/) was published on 5 June 2018, and an update was published on 21 September 2023. The [WCAG 2 FAQ](/standards-guidelines/wcag/faq/) has information about the update.
* [WCAG 2.2](https://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG22/) was published on 5 October 2023.
* [WCAG 2.1](https://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG21/) was published on 5 June 2018, and updates were published on 21 September 2023 and 12 December 2024.
* [WCAG 2.2](https://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG22/) was published on 5 October 2023, and an update was published on 12 December 2024.

For information on the updates, see the [WCAG 2 FAQ](/standards-guidelines/wcag/faq/).

WCAG 2.0, 2.1, and 2.2 are designed to be "backwards compatible", which means content that conforms to WCAG 2.2 also conforms to WCAG 2.1 and WCAG 2.0. If you want to meet all the versions, you can use the WCAG 2.2 resources and you don’t need to bother looking at earlier versions.

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Benefits of WCAG 2.0 as an ISO standard are summarized in [ISO in the FAQ](/standards-guidelines/wcag/faq/#iso). More information on W3C and the ISO process is in the [W3C PAS FAQ](https://www.w3.org/2010/04/pasfaq).

**W3C plans to submit WCAG 2.2 through the ISO process.**
**W3C submitted WCAG 2.2 to ISO.** It will likely be after June 2025 before the ISO process is complete.

## Who develops WCAG {#wg}

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