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Guides WCAG 3.0

WCAG 3.0 — the outlook

A future direction — a Working Draft, not a standard to target yet. Keep aiming at 2.2 AA.

Version
3.0
Year
in development
Status
W3C Working Draft
Criteria
not finalised
reala11y WCAG · GUIDE 3.0 Web Content Accessibility Guidelines in development · W3C Working Draft

What WCAG 3.0 is

W3C Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 3.0 is the W3C’s long-term effort to design the next generation of accessibility guidelines — a more flexible, broader successor to today’s WCAG 2.x. It aims to be easier to understand, to cover a wider range of user needs (especially cognitive and low-vision needs), and to apply beyond web pages to apps, tools, and other digital experiences.

Important: WCAG 3.0 is a W3C Working Draft — not a Recommendation, not finalised, and not usable for conformance today. It does not replace WCAG 2.2. The W3C states plainly that “WCAG 3 is not expected to be a completed W3C standard for a few more years.” If you are working on accessibility now, WCAG 2.2 AA remains the standard to target.

Why a new model

WCAG 2.x has served the web for over fifteen years, but it was designed around static web pages and a strict pass/fail structure. The WCAG 3.0 effort (originally code-named “Silver”) aims to address several limits:

  • Broader than web pages — desktop, mobile, wearables; static, dynamic, and streaming content; XR; and the tools in the chain (browsers, assistive tech, authoring and testing tools).
  • More inclusive of more disabilities — especially cognitive needs that 2.x’s binary, code-testable criteria struggle to capture.
  • A more flexible measurement model — the rigid pass/fail of 2.x doesn’t distinguish a site with one minor lapse from one that is deeply inaccessible.

The proposed new structure

WCAG 3.0 reorganises how requirements are expressed. This vocabulary is still in flux — recent drafts renamed several components (what were called “Outcomes” are now written as Requirements). As of the current draft, the proposed model is:

  • Guidelines — plain-language, user-centred outcome statements (normative).
  • Requirements — the specific, testable provisions under each guideline, split into Core and Supplemental (normative). These play the role success criteria play in 2.x.
  • Methods — technology-specific “how to” guidance (informative).
  • Assertions — documented claims about processes an organisation follows (e.g. usability testing with people with disabilities) that no automated test can verify.

The biggest conceptual shift is Assertions — a recognition that genuine accessibility involves human processes alongside machine-testable requirements.

WCAG 2.x:   Principles → Guidelines → Success Criteria → Techniques
WCAG 3.0:   Guidelines → Requirements (Core + Supplemental) → Methods   (+ Assertions)

The scoring model

WCAG 2.x uses three pass/fail levels (A, AA, AAA). WCAG 3.0 is exploring a graded model — conformance tiers discussed as Bronze, Silver, and Gold. Bronze would be the minimum (roughly comparable in spirit to today’s 2.2 AA, based on more objective, automatable checks); Silver and Gold would layer on harder-to-automate evidence such as usability testing with assistive technology.

This is the least settled part. The W3C labels the conformance section “exploratory” and says developing it is a large portion of the work still ahead. The bronze/silver/gold concept and the scoring details may change substantially — or be replaced — before WCAG 3.0 is finalised. Treat them as the current direction of thinking, not a specification.

What it means for site owners today

Practically, nothing changes right now.

  • Keep targeting WCAG 2.2 AA. It is the current Recommendation and the basis for most accessibility laws and policies. WCAG 3.0 cannot be used for conformance.
  • WCAG 2.x is not going away. The W3C is explicit that WCAG 3 will not supersede WCAG 2, and WCAG 2 will not be deprecated for at least several years after WCAG 3 is finalised. Work you do today is not wasted — 2.2 A/AA content is expected to satisfy most of WCAG 3.0’s eventual minimum level.
  • Don’t market “WCAG 3.0 compliance.” It would be selling against a standard that does not yet exist in final form.

How reala11y thinks about it

We follow WCAG 3.0’s development and read each Working Draft, but we are deliberately measured about it.

  • Our approach stays valid. reala11y identifies code-level issues and applies safe, automated remediation where it can, paired with manual review. WCAG 3.0’s draft direction — objective automatable checks at the base, human testing layered on top — matches how we already work.
  • Our rules are mapped to today’s standard. reala11y’s rules map to WCAG 2.x success criteria — the standard actually in force. As WCAG 3.0 matures, we will track the mapping and evolve the rule library. Because our remediation works at the level of real HTML and CSS, the underlying fixes carry forward regardless of how the guidelines are reorganised.
  • We won’t market against an unfinished standard. We won’t claim “WCAG 3.0 readiness,” and we never claim any tool makes a site “WCAG compliant,” “100% accessible,” or “lawsuit-proof.” Automated tools detect a portion of issues; full conformance to any version of WCAG requires human review.

When WCAG 3.0 moves toward Recommendation, we’ll update this page and our tooling. Until then: build for WCAG 2.2 AA, keep a human in the loop, and treat WCAG 3.0 as the horizon — not the destination.

Further reading