WCAG 3 Timeline

Overview

The Accessibility Guidelines Working Group intends to follow an agile approach for developing WCAG 3.0. Our goal is to work in a way that allows us to rapidly develop new concepts, to test those, gather feedback about them, and iterate on those concepts. This is done in a structured approach, such as through temporary subgroups, and by using status levels.

Priorities are decided, not years in advance, but as new concepts are developed and as feedback comes in. Our processes themselves are regularly evaluated and iterated on to optimize our ability to develop WCAG 3 into a high quality, future-proof, and equitable standard. In deciding priorities, the accessibility guidelines will ensure regular and open collaboration with stakeholders, including people with disabilities, industry, and the W3C Advisory Committee.

Publication Plan

Note: This plan is a living document and will be updated as needed.

2025

Quarter	Guidelines	Conformance / Other
2025 Q1	Continue subgroup work on outcomes 2 subgroups working towards mature All other subgroups working towards developing	Retrospective (CSUN) Continue discussion of core issues Begin review and address of public comments Request 1-month extension of charter
2025 Q2	Continue subgroup work on outcomes 2 subgroups working towards mature All other subgroups working towards developing Publish initial developmental list of outcomes (at end)	Begin charter conversations Continue discussion of core issues Continue review and address of public comments
2025 Q3	Continue subgroup work on outcomes 2 subgroups working towards mature All other subgroups working towards developing	Continue charter process Finalize conformance model proposal Select guidance for first round of WCAG 3 based on research status Develop schedule Continue review and address of public comments
2025 Q4	Continue subgroups working towards mature (if needed)	Recharter Retrospective (TPAC) Publish developing conformance model(s) Publish updated WCAG 3 Explainer Update the wiki with a data driven schedule for WCAG 3

2024

The AG delivered all proposed deliverables by the end of 2024 though the Q3 publications slipped to Q4.

Quarter	Guidelines	Conformance
2023 Q4	Work in subgroups to create initial outcomes for exploration Create initial outcome format and standardize wording Create criteria for guidelines and outcomes that will be worked on initially (example: research or self evident)	Begin Requirements Discussion Resolve issues raised in Github Address concerns raised in Conformance Challenges Document Begin conversation on WCAG 3 core issues in GitHub Publication Approach Evaluating Proposed Conformance Models
2024 Q1	Organize and deduplicate outcomes list Publish next exploratory guidelines, user needs and/or outcomes (Exactly what will be published TBD) Select and prioritize outcomes for work based on selection criteria (Initial set) Deep dive into a single outcome using writing testable outcomes process (Rewrite writing testable outcomes must be done first)	Conclude Requirements Discussion Begin discussion of WCAG 3 core issues in meetings Publication Approach Evaluating Proposed Conformance Models
2024 Q2	Subgroups begin work on outcomes that meet selection criteria Initial list of assertions for consideration Discuss contributors list format	Continue discussion of WCAG 3 core issues in Github and meetings (topic TBD) Discuss conformance models
2024 Q3	Subgroups continue work on initial outcomes	Retrospective (TPAC) Publish updated exploratory conformance model(s) or options Publish updated WCAG 3 Explainer (Including release plan) Continue discussion of Core Issues
2024 Q4	Subgroups continue work on initial outcomes	Continue discussion of Core Issues Review and address public comments (including Silver, WCAG3 and WCAG2.next)

Status

Decisions made on WCAG 3 at the exploratory and developmental stages help shape the direction we are moving in and may be revisited and changed as the group learns more. As we progress, changing directions will occur less frequently. Below is a list of the decisions made to date.

We will explore having a set of required provisions that is somewhat comparable to WCAG 2.2 A & AA and a set of provisions and assertions that can be used to build upon that through points, percentages, or predefined sets of provisions (modules). 15 October 2024
Use Item, View, Task Flow and Product 10 September 2024
Explore options 2 and 3 for structure in the first subgroup and report back 27 February 2024
The initial selection of outcomes to work on should cross categories and represent a mix of both concepts from WCAG 2.2 and new content 6 February 2024
Continue building on redesign effort (Silver, Outcomes, etc) as the way to create WCAG 3 (with objections) 23 January 2024
Update WCAG 3 Working draft 20 July 2023
Add test types PR to editor's draft 24 January 2023 Amend PR 666 and merge as exploratory
Add assertions as exploratory 24 January 2023 Accept the new Assertions content as exploratory, acknowledging that the "what is a procedure" needs further definition.
Level of assertions 17 January 2023 Bronze level would be where most 'outcome' based requirements will go, but we are not ruling out some assertions going at bronze level
Documenting Assertions 17 January 2023 Limit the documentation required to information about the assertion itself. Recommend that organizations maintain documentation on the assertions.
Possible Update to Architecture 15 September 2022 - Not a full resolution, but straw poll consensus on Informative vs. Normative at https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/18W8M21acEeb5Z1ARdafTQc01_mzOvvjsS184_Qoma0c/edit#slide=id.g15a9271844c_1_21
Update Test Section 12 September 2022: Move content into exploratory with edits from MaryJo and text that clarifies the confusion point from Gundula.
Update Test Section 2 August 2022: Add "Evaluating Procedures" Proposal into testing section (replacing procedures) as Exploratory - Add as exploratory but bring it back in 3 weeks with updates to terminology and the editor's note
User Agenda and AT Started 7 June 2022: WCAG 3 Placeholder for User Agents and AT https://www.w3.org/2002/09/wbs/35422/accessibility_supported_placeholder/results - Add Placeholder text for User agents and AT
Update to Working Draft 31 May 2022: Removing guideline details and support materials - Approve, as amended today, the Maturity table, the editor's note process, and removing guideline details and support materials
Update to Working Draft 26 April 2022: Should we leave in critical errors? - Remove ratings, critical errors, and scorings. Add editor's note similar to Critical errors was introduced as a concept in the FPWD. Although it not currently included, AGWG intends to re-asses this concept in the future.
Test Section Started 26 April 2022: What are outstanding questions on the new approach? - Accept new questions in the survey, accept editorial content from the survey, add an outstanding question of whether to use "test" or "evaluation", add a question of "How tolerant are we of we of subjective tests and Should any test be not objective?
Continue working on WCAG 3 5 April 2022 Group agrees to continue working on WCAG 3 instead of iterating WCAG 2
Protocols Section Started 1 March 2022: WCAG 3 Protocols and Scoping Next Steps https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1b5xHQWBzoYdKp7BfPgIUBCpz-yaDOx_kSq_HlQxcFh0/ - Group agrees to explore this direction, working on the next steps from the presentation

Retrospective

This space is the parking lot for discussions that we are postponing until the next retrospective.

Risk Register

Keeping pace with technology in the next few years
Cost and difficulty of conforming to two versions at once
Regulator adoption
Transition