WCAG 2.2 Accessibility Audit Checklist

When to Use This Checklist

Use this checklist to audit a web application against WCAG 2.2 Level AA, the current Web Content Accessibility Guidelines. Run it before launch, during regular compliance reviews, or when accessibility is a contractual or legal requirement. WCAG 2.2 keeps prior criteria and adds new ones such as focus appearance, target size minimum, and accessible authentication.

How to Use This Checklist

Organize the audit around the four WCAG principles: perceivable, operable, understandable, and robust. Start with perceivable items, text alternatives and color contrast, because they are common and high-impact. Then verify operability: full keyboard access with no traps, a logical tab order, and the WCAG 2.2 focus appearance and target size criteria.

Manual testing carries this audit. Automated tools catch only a fraction of issues, so test primary journeys with a real screen reader and the keyboard alone. Confirm forms expose labels, errors, and instructions programmatically, and that ARIA is correct rather than merely present.

Finish with robustness and reflow. Verify content reflows at 400 percent zoom without loss of function, and check the new accessible authentication criterion so logins do not depend on a cognitive function test. Record every finding with severity and an owner.

What Good Looks Like

All non-text content has alternatives, contrast meets AA, and the app is fully keyboard operable with visible focus. Target sizes and accessible authentication meet WCAG 2.2. Screen-reader testing passes on core journeys, forms are properly labeled, and findings are documented with severity and owners. Automated checks run in CI to prevent regressions.

Common Pitfalls

The biggest pitfall is relying on automated scanners alone; they miss most real barriers, which only manual and screen-reader testing surface. Overusing ARIA often makes things worse than native HTML. Teams also forget the new 2.2 criteria, especially focus appearance and target size, and assume a 2.1 pass still applies.

Related Resources

Pair this with WCAG 2.2 compliance, progressive enhancement, and responsive web design practices. Building accessibility into a design system and shifting tests left prevents regressions.