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WCAG 2.2

WCAG 2.2 Focus Not Obscured — another candidate for the latest WCAG standards

A new standard for WCAG 2.2’s Candidate Recommendation Snapshot.

Daniel Berryhill
UX Collective
Published in
6 min readJan 8, 2023
A woman whose face is mostly obscured by vegetation
Photo by Quentin Lagache on Unsplash

Outline

This article includes:

  • A brief update on the status of WCAG 2.2
  • An overview of Success Criterion 2.4.12: Focus Not Obscured
  • The difference between SC 2.4.12 and SC 2.4.13: Focus Not Obscured (Enhanced)
  • A discussion about what this new standard means in plain language
  • A discussion about why this new criterion is important
  • Example of a violation of Focus Not Obscured
  • An example of how to address the violations
  • Conclusion
  • Some helpful links

WCAG 2.2 status

Yes, the Accessibility Guidelines Working Group (AGWG) is still working on finalizing Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) version 2.2. But, it’s now a Candidate Recommendation Snapshot (CRS), which means it’s just being polished before it becomes the final recommendation by the W3C.

As for WCAG 3.0, don’t expect it to come out any time soon. My guess is it’s at least three years out. I discussed WCAG 3.0 in detail in a previous article.

Success Criterion 2.4.12: Focus Not Obscured explained

Status of this standard

Success Criterion 2.4.12: Focus Not Obscured existed only in the Editor’s Draft of WCAG 2.2, but it’s made its way to the CRS, which means that it almost certainly will be part of WCAG 2.2 once the W3C finalizes it.

Is it premature to talk about this standard?

You may be wondering if it’s a little early to talk about a standard that is not part of a finalized standard yet.

Yes, it is in the realm of possibility that this standard doesn’t make it into WCAG 2.2 (but, as I stated earlier, it’s virtually guaranteed that it will). The truth is this: It doesn’t matter whether it’s going into WCAG 2.2 or not.

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