The WCAG 2.2 AA Checklist for a Storefront, in the Order That Matters

Start with the purchase flow, not the homepage. Check the six new WCAG 2.2 AA criteria where they bite: dragging movements on sliders, focus not obscured under sticky headers, target size on mobile buttons, consistent help, redundant entry, and accessible authentication. Then work the older criteria in the same order a shopper meets them.

Start where the money is

Most WCAG checklists are organized by criterion number, which is the least useful order for a storefront. A shopper does not meet the criteria in numerical order. They meet the homepage, then a collection, then a product page, then the cart, then checkout. An audit that follows that path finds the blockers first, because a blocker in checkout costs a sale and a blocker on an about page costs nothing. The checklist below runs in that order, and it starts with the six criteria WCAG 2.2 added at Level AA, because those are the ones most stores have never tested.

The six are 2.4.11 Focus Not Obscured, 2.5.7 Dragging Movements, 2.5.8 Target Size Minimum, 3.2.6 Consistent Help, 3.3.7 Redundant Entry, and 3.3.8 Accessible Authentication. Each one names a failure that was already common and previously had no criterion number attached to it. A sticky header covering a focused button, a price slider with no non-drag alternative, a 16-pixel close button on mobile, a help link that moves between pages, a checkout that asks for the same address twice, a login that demands a puzzle with no alternative. Those are not edge cases. They are the normal state of a storefront built before 2023.

The six new criteria, as tests

Focus Not Obscured is a Tab test: tab through the page and watch whether any focused element disappears entirely under a sticky header, a cookie banner, or a chat widget. Partial covering passes at AA; entirely hidden fails. The fix is usually scroll-padding on the container, sized to the sticky element. Dragging Movements is a pointer test: every drag, slider, or swipe needs a single-pointer alternative, buttons or a clickable track, unless dragging is essential. Target Size is a measurement: every target at least 24 by 24 CSS pixels, or spaced so a 24-pixel circle centered on it touches no other target, with five named exceptions including the essential and the inline link.

Consistent Help is a comparison: if help appears on more than one page, it sits in the same relative order on each. Redundant Entry is a checkout test: information the shopper already gave in the same session, or in the same process, must not be asked for again unless it is essential or the user can select it from previous entries. Accessible Authentication is a flow test: no step of login or account creation may require remembering, transcribing, or puzzle-solving unless an alternative or a mechanism is offered. Paste and password managers count as the mechanism. A CAPTCHA with no alternative does not.

Then the older criteria, in shopper order

After the six, work the older criteria in the order the shopper meets them. Perceivable: alt text on product images that says what the image shows, contrast at 4.5 to 1 for body text and 3 to 1 for large text and UI components, captions on product videos. Operable: every function reachable by keyboard, no traps, a visible focus indicator, a skip link that works, headings that do not skip levels. Understandable: labels on every field, errors identified in text and attached to the field, no placeholder as the only label. Robust: names, roles, and values on every custom control, status messages announced when the cart or a form changes.

That is the whole checklist, and it fits on one page if you write it as tests instead of criterion numbers. Run it after every theme change and every checkout change, and keep the results. A dated checklist with findings and fixes is the closest thing a storefront has to a compliance record, and it is the document that matters most when someone asks what the store did, and when. The letter that starts most of this work is your first ADA demand letter, and tagged PDFs are the document version of the same reading-order problem.

Frequently asked questions

What are the six new WCAG 2.2 AA criteria?

Focus Not Obscured 2.4.11, Dragging Movements 2.5.7, Target Size Minimum 2.5.8, Consistent Help 3.2.6, Redundant Entry 3.3.7, and Accessible Authentication 3.3.8. All six sit at Level A or AA, inside the conformance target most contracts name.

Which new criterion fails most often on storefronts?

Focus Not Obscured and Dragging Movements, in practice. Sticky headers and chat widgets cover focused elements on most stores, and price sliders and sortable lists rarely ship with a non-drag alternative.

Does WCAG 2.2 replace 2.1?

No. WCAG 2.2 is backwards compatible: a site that meets 2.2 AA also meets 2.1 AA and 2.0 AA. The new criteria are additions, and the older criteria still apply in full.

How long does a storefront audit take?

A focused audit of the purchase flow, homepage through checkout, takes a day or two of manual testing plus the scan. A full template audit takes longer. The purchase flow first is the right order either way.