WCAG 3.0: What’s Changing and Why It Matters

If you’ve been around digital accessibility long enough, you’ve probably got WCAG 2.1 or 2.2 practically tattooed on your brain. A, AA, AAA. Success criteria. Pass/fail. It’s the air we breathe.

Now there’s a new draft of WCAG 3.0 out, and while it’s still years away from becoming “law of the land,” it’s worth paying attention to. Not because you’ll need to update your VPATs tomorrow, but because it shows where the future is headed and honestly, it’s a pretty big shift.

Why mess with WCAG in the first place?

WCAG 2 was built in a different era. Think MySpace and Internet Explorer. Most of the guidance is still solid, but the web has changed:

• Modern apps are complex and interactive.

• Disabilities covered need to go beyond vision/hearing.

• Pass/fail testing doesn’t match the messy, real world of user experience.

So WCAG 3 is the W3C’s answer: a version that’s broader, more flexible, and actually tries to reflect how people use technology now.

What’s new?

Here are the big things that jumped out at me:

Bronze, Silver, Gold instead of A/AA/AAA The new levels push teams away from “check the AA box” thinking. Bronze is the baseline; Silver and Gold ask organizations to keep raising the bar—through usability testing, broader inclusion, and continuous improvement.

Scoring, not just pass/fail Instead of “you passed or you didn’t,” outcomes will be graded (often 0–4). That means you could partially meet a requirement, which introduces nuance, but also a new way of thinking about metrics.

Atomic and holistic tests WCAG 2 is all atomic: one criterion, one check, pass or fail. WCAG 3 introduces holistic testing, where you evaluate overall usability. That means usability testing with real people with disabilities starts to matter more, not just automated checks.

More attention to cognitive and learning disabilities This is long overdue. WCAG 3 brings stronger guidance on things like clear language, reducing cognitive load, and keeping navigation consistent. Translation: accessibility will no longer be treated as a “dev-only” thing. Content teams and designers are squarely in the mix.

Why this matters for established teams

Most teams are still busy trying to hit WCAG 2.2 AA. So what’s the point of worrying about 3.0?

Because the shift isn’t just about rules, it’s about culture.

• You’ll need to get comfortable with percentages and scoring, not just green checkmarks.

• Continuous improvement will actually be baked into the standard.

• Content, UX, and dev will all share responsibility instead of accessibility being “hand it to the developer.”

• If you’re already doing usability testing with disabled users, congrats...you’re ahead of the curve! If not, you might want to start thinking about how to make that part of your budget.

What you should do right now

• Stick with WCAG 2.2 for compliance. That’s still the benchmark.

• Keep an eye on WCAG 3 updates, the W3C will publish a more detailed timeline by December.

• Internally, try out a scoring approach instead of binary pass/fail. See how it changes conversations.

• Bring content and design folks into accessibility earlier. WCAG 3 is going to demand it.

Final thought

WCAG 3 isn’t about throwing WCAG 2 in the trash. It’s about raising the ceiling and broadening the focus so accessibility is less about “did you pass the test?” and more about “is this actually usable for real people?”

That’s harder to measure. But it’s the right direction.