WCAG 2.2 adds nine criteria to the 2.1 baseline

The workload

A SaaS product already built to meet WCAG 2.1 Level AA, the baseline this site already documents, has a defined and shorter list of new work if it wants to meet WCAG 2.2 instead: nine additional success criteria, not a rewrite of the earlier ones. The W3C's own summary of what is new in 2.2, retrieved 16 September 2026, states that a site conforming to 2.2 also conforms to 2.0 and 2.1, meaning the workload is additive: audit interactive elements against the new criteria and fix what fails, rather than re-testing everything already passing under 2.1.

What the documents show

Verified, from the W3C's own dated text of WCAG 2.2: it was published as a W3C Recommendation on 5 October 2023. Verified, from the same standard: the new Level AA criteria include 2.4.11 Focus Not Obscured (Minimum), requiring that a keyboard-focused interface component not be entirely hidden by other content; 2.5.7 Dragging Movements, requiring an alternative to drag-only interactions; and 2.5.8 Target Size (Minimum), requiring pointer targets of at least 24 by 24 CSS pixels, with named exceptions for spacing, inline text and essential presentations. Verified: three further criteria, Focus Not Obscured (Enhanced), Focus Appearance, and Accessible Authentication (Enhanced), sit at the stricter Level AAA the site's existing AA baseline does not require. Verified: the standard's own errata record shows a corrected version republished 12 December 2024, after the original October 2023 text; this entry describes the 2023 Recommendation and notes the later correction rather than treating either date as the only one that matters.

The operating cost

The standard sets no fee; the cost is engineering time against a fixed, countable list, nine criteria, six at Level A or AA, three at AAA, audited against a live product rather than a specification. The W3C's documents do not state what any one criterion costs to remediate for a given codebase, and this entry does not estimate one without a specific product's audit in hand.

The stop condition

Editorial: WCAG 2.2 conformance is not a one-time event but a standard to keep meeting as the product changes; the practical stop condition this entry can state is that a criterion stops being open work once it passes an audit against the standard's own success-criterion text and stays passing as the interface changes.

• Which of the nine new success criteria apply to interfaces this product actually has, such as drag interactions, custom focus styles, or small tap targets?
• Has the product been checked against the December 2024 corrected text, not only the original October 2023 Recommendation?
• Does a contractual or regulatory reference to WCAG in this business's own contracts specify 2.1 or 2.2, and does that change what must be fixed first?

Nine criteria is a small, specific list next to the alternative of re-reading the whole standard; the W3C's own text is the place to check which of them actually touch a given interface.