WCAG (Web Content Accessibility Guidelines)
WCAG is the international standard for web accessibility, published by the W3C, organized into 50+ testable success criteria across four principles: perceivable, operable, understandable, and robust.
Detailed explanation
The Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) are the technical reference standard for digital accessibility. They define what it means for content to be accessible to people with disabilities — vision, hearing, motor, cognitive — across desktop and mobile.
WCAG has three conformance levels: A (minimum), AA (the practical legal target referenced by the ADA, EAA, AODA, and most other regulations), and AAA (highest). Most accessibility laws require Level AA conformance.
WCAG 2.1 (June 2018) added 17 success criteria covering mobile and cognitive needs. WCAG 2.2 (October 2023) added 9 more — focus visibility, target size, dragging movement alternatives, accessible authentication. WCAG 3.0 is in working draft and is not yet a legal target.
How this applies to Shopify stores
For Shopify stores, the operative target is WCAG 2.1 + 2.2 Level AA. AccessComply scans every storefront page against all 50+ AA criteria and reports per-criterion failures. The W3C's WCAG Quick Reference is the canonical source; AccessComply maps each violation back to it.
Primary source: w3.org