WCAG 2.1 New Criteria
WCAG 2.1 added 17 new success criteria to WCAG 2.0, focusing on mobile, low vision, and cognitive accessibility.
About WCAG 2.1
WCAG 2.1 was published by the W3C in June 2018. It is fully backward compatible with WCAG 2.0 — anything that conforms to WCAG 2.1 also conforms to WCAG 2.0.
WCAG 2.1 is now the most widely referenced standard in accessibility laws globally, including the EU Web Accessibility Directive and many US state regulations. ConformPilot tests all WCAG 2.1 A and AA criteria.
Focus Areas
Mobile Accessibility
Touch targets, orientation, pointer gestures, motion actuation
Low Vision
Reflow at 400%, non-text contrast, text spacing, content on hover
Cognitive
Input purpose, label in name, status messages
New Success Criteria in WCAG 2.1
Content does not restrict its view and operation to a single display orientation.
The purpose of each input field collecting user information can be programmatically determined.
Content can be presented without loss of information at 400% zoom without horizontal scrolling.
UI components and graphical objects have a contrast ratio of at least 3:1.
No loss of content when text spacing is adjusted (line height, letter spacing, word spacing).
Content that appears on hover or focus is dismissible, hoverable, and persistent.
Single-character keyboard shortcuts can be turned off or remapped.
All functionality using multipoint or path-based gestures can be operated with a single pointer.
Functions triggered on down-event can be aborted or reversed.
For UI components with visible text labels, the accessible name contains the visible text.
Functionality triggered by device motion can also be operated by UI components.
Status messages can be programmatically determined without receiving focus.
ConformPilot & WCAG 2.1
ConformPilot automatically tests for all WCAG 2.1 A and AA criteria. Criteria like 1.4.10 (Reflow) and 1.4.11 (Non-text Contrast) are tested using Lighthouse and axe-core. Status messages (4.1.3) require manual verification for dynamic content.