What's new in WCAG 2.2?

WCAG 2.2 is now pretty close to becoming an official standard. It includes all of WCAG 2.1, plus nine new criteria. Of those, seven are in Level A + AA, the most commonly tested combination of levels.

Let's look at how you could meet the new Level A + AA criteria (note: this is just my summary and interpretation, for the official specification and wording, refer to WCAG 2.2):

1. Focus Appearance (2.4.11, AA): new requirements for what focus styles look like, regarding contrast, size of the contrasting area and contrast of adjacent colors (this one may be the most tricky and “at risk”, but there's a lot of examples in Understanding Focus Appearance)
2. Focus Not Obscured (2.4.12, AA): don't obscure the element that has focus (eg with sticky headers/footers or modals)
3. Dragging Movements (2.5.7, AA): when some action in your UI requires dragging, ensure the same action can also be performed without dragging (with a “single pointer”). Example: a map that can be dragged to move around, but also offers buttons to move up, down, left and right.
4. Target Size (Minimum) (2.5.8, AA): ensure that things you can click (or otherwise “point”, eg using pen, touch etc), are more than the specified minimum size, unless there's enough distance, it's inline or the small size is “essential”
5. Consistent Help (3.2.6, A): if your page/app contains help options, they are in the same order across pages (unless user zooms/turns device; these kinds of user-initiated changes are excepted)
6. Accessible Authentication (3.3.7, A): if your auth requires a “cognitive function test” (user has to remember, manipulate or transcribe), offer a way without such a test, or allow for assistance (eg support password managers, don't block copy/paste)
7. Redundant Entry (3.3.9, A): avoid that users have to enter the same information twice, instead auto-populate or allow previous input to be selected. Some exceptions apply.

Apart from these new criteria, there is also one level change (sorry if you're creating tooling around WCAG): “Focus Visible” changes from Level AA to Level A.

An overview of the new criteria, including examples of how they are useful to real people can be found on What's new in WCAG 2.2.