Standards

WCAG 3.0

Also: Silver, WCAG Silver

The next major version of WCAG, currently in working-draft. Replaces the pass/fail success-criteria model with a scoring system across multiple guidelines.

WCAG 3.0 (originally codenamed “Silver”) is the next major version of the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines. It has been in development since 2017 and is currently a Working Draft — not a Recommendation, not Candidate Recommendation, and not safe to cite in contracts.

A different model

WCAG 2.x is binary: every success criterion either passes or fails on a given page, and “Level AA” requires passing every Level A and AA criterion. WCAG 3 replaces that with outcomes scored on a 0-to-4 scale, aggregated across multiple guidelines, and rolled up into bronze/silver/gold ratings. A single failure no longer disqualifies an entire site.

This shift is significant for two reasons. First, large products that meet nearly every AA criterion but fail one edge case currently fail “AA” — a binary outcome that doesn’t reflect their actual user experience. WCAG 3 would let them claim a high score with documented exceptions. Second, WCAG 3 explicitly accommodates functional outcomes that are hard to test as pass/fail rules, like “the user can find what they’re looking for in three or fewer steps.”

Wider scope

WCAG 2.x was written for web content first. WCAG 3 extends to:

  • Native mobile and desktop apps without bolting on supplementary task-force documents.
  • Hardware — physical controls, ATMs, kiosks.
  • Emerging formats — XR, voice-only interfaces, IoT devices.

What this means for your roadmap

Three things matter operationally right now:

  1. Don’t cite WCAG 3 in contracts, RFPs, or VPATs until it ships as a Recommendation. Doing so creates ambiguity because the underlying spec keeps changing.
  2. WCAG 2.x is going nowhere for at least 2–3 years post-Recommendation. The W3C has committed to maintaining WCAG 2.2 alongside WCAG 3.
  3. Read the working draft to understand where the field is heading, but treat any WCAG 3 score you generate today as exploratory.

Likely timeline

The Working Group has not committed a Recommendation date. A 2026 Candidate Recommendation is conceivable; full Recommendation status is more realistic for 2027–2028. Until then, WCAG 2.2 AA remains the operational standard this site, this glossary, and almost every accessibility law actually use.