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Background

Github discussion thread 322
Purpose: Decide on approach and target schedule for WCAG 3 to inform the charter
3 approaches and 3 schedules have been proposed

Iterative approach

Option 1: Focuses on getting as much possible done at the same time, in stages. It prioritizes maturing Foundational and Normative content.
Option 2: Prioritizes reaching similar coverage to WCAG 2.2 AAA and providing an opportunity for public feedback before fully maturing content. It then builds off that work.

Incremental approach

Option 3: Selects and defines a few specific changes to make to WCAG 2.2 Completes the changes and delivers by the end of the charter.

Hybrid approach

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Possible Additions to Charter Regardless of WCAG 3 Option

Regardless of the schedule selected, notes can be added to the charter to make high priority/high impact changes available earlier than the final publication, such as:

Assertions
Color contrast algorithm update
Recommendations to policy makers�

Options 1 and 2 include the possibility of updating WCAG 2 that is not backward compatible exists regardless of the WCAG 3 options

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Proposed Approaches

Iterative Approach: Continue work from current state and deliver WCAG 3 with all the pieces that can then be iterated on and stay backwards compatible with itself. Impactful content (assertions, color contrast, etc) is delivered as notes pre-publication.
Incremental Approach: Start from WCAG 2.2 and incrementally address items issue by issue through notes, changes to groups of guide

Each version may not meet the stricter definition of backward compatible. We might be able to meet the broader definition of backward compatible.
This approach would likely add new Success Criteria (SC) but not deprecate as needed instead of altering existing language. SC numbers would remain unique IDs.

Hybrid Approach: Take the iterative approach and move solutions into WCAG 2

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Schedule comparison (1 of 4) (Document version)

	Option 1: WCAG 3 Broader Scope	Option 2: WCAG 3 Narrower Scope	Option 3: WCAG 2 Incremental
Approach	Iterative	Iterative	Incremental
Starting Point	WCAG 3	WCAG 3	WCAG 2.2
Description	Focuses on getting as much possible done at the same time, in stages. It prioritizes maturing Foundational and Normative content.	Prioritizes reaching similar coverage to WCAG 2.2 AAA and providing an opportunity for public feedback before fully maturing content. It then builds off that work.	Selects and defines a few specific changes to make to WCAG 2.2 Completes the changes and delivers by the end of the charter.

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Schedule comparison (2 of 4)

	Option 1: WCAG 3 Broader Scope	Option 2: WCAG 3 Narrower Scope	Option 3: WCAG 2 Incremental
Phase 1 �(2025-27)	Foundational Requirements with the user needs and testing tab including a generic method and a web method (Mature). Informative supporting documentation for 3+ requirements Conformance model(s) (Mature) FPWD of a first draft of informative note on how WCAG 3 could be adopted into regulation including small organizations, third party and large websites FPWD of note on high impact items (assertions, color contrast)	Foundational Requirements, Supplemental requirements & Assertions comparable to WCAG 2.2 AAA with at least one method each (Refining) Conformance model (Mature) FPWD of a first draft informative note on how WCAG 3 could be adopted into regulation including small organizations, third party and large websites FPWD of note on high impact items (assertions, color contrast)	Select and define a few specific changes to make to WCAG 2.2 Complete the changes and deliver by the end of the charter (2.3? 3.0?) Incubate changes for next phase

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Schedule comparison (3 of 4)

	Option 1: WCAG 3 Broader Scope	Option 2: WCAG 3 Narrower Scope	Option 3: WCAG 2 Incremental
Phase 2 (2027-29)	Assertions (Mature) All informative documentation for Foundational Requirements Final draft of informative note on how WCAG 3 could be adopted into regulation	All informative documentation for Phase 1 Foundational Requirements, Supplemental requirements & Assertions comparable to WCAG 2.2 AAA with at least one method each (Mature) Final draft of informative note on how WCAG 3 could be adopted into regulation	Select and define a few specific changes to make to WCAG 2.2 Complete the changes and deliver by the end of the charter or the charter afterwards (2.4?, 3.1?) Incubate changes for next phase

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Schedule comparison (4 of 4)

	Option 1: WCAG 3 Broader Scope	Option 2: WCAG 3 Narrower Scope	Option 3: WCAG 2 Incremental
Phase 3 (2029-31)	Supplemental Requirements with the user needs and testing tab including a generic method and an html method. (2030) All informative documentation for Supplemental Requirements. (2031)	Additional requirements and assertions based on research support and technology changes Best practices	Select and define a few specific changes to make to WCAG 2.2 Complete the changes and deliver by the end of the charter or the charter afterwards (2.4?, 3.1?) Incubate for next phase
Onward	Additional requirements and assertions based on research support and technology changes	Additional requirements and assertions based on research support and technology changes	Select and define a few specific changes to make to WCAG 2.2 Complete the changes and deliver by the end of the charter or the charter afterwards (2.4?, 3.1?) Incubate for next phase

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24 June Meeting

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Option 3 update

Clarification: “I’m suggesting is we write WCAG 3 incrementally. We focus on the outcomes, assertions, and conformance questions that can have the most impact, and publish that as a recommendation by the end of the next charter. Because we want to publish a "full" recommendation, we'll need to include parts of WCAG 2 that aren't covered by the new content. We'd need to spend some time figuring out how to do that…. The difference between option 3 and option 1 & 2 is that we'd use existing WCAG 2 content until we have the WCAG 3 part of it ready.”

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Additional options

Option 4: Topic based

I suggest to slice topic-wise. Agree which topics we finalize first, getting the outcomes together, defining the fundamental and supplementary outcomes and then putting together all material, prioritizing the fundamentals. This way, we one one hand can crosscheck the fundamental-to-supplementary approach while doing it on a specific scope, on the other hand we can easily work in what we did during the recent past.

On the third hand it is easier for humans to think through one topic after another.

Additional suggestion: Restrict to A/AA equivalency or approximate equivalency for 1st release.

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Schedule comparison (1 of 5) (Document version)

	Option 2: WCAG 3 Narrower Scope	Option 5: WCAG 2.2 into WCAG 3 format
Approach	Iterative	Incremental
Starting Point	WCAG 3	WCAG 2.2
Description	Prioritizes reaching similar coverage to WCAG 2.2 AAA and providing an opportunity for public feedback before fully maturing content. It then builds off that work.	Starts Phase 1 with WCAG 2.2 SC at Level A and AA so that the existing WCAG 2.2 SC is available in the WCAG 3 format as soon as possible. Focuses on web content at the first Phase for each Target, and then adds non-web content at the following Phase. Each Target/Scope will be completed with Mature by the end of each Phase. Note: For each Target below, We'll extract the relevant parts from the guideline documents (paths) we are currently working on. Any changes (e.g. modify, detail, add or remove) to the requirement(s) defined in existing WCAG 2.2 SC can be made if needed.

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Schedule comparison (2 of 5)

	Option 2: WCAG 3 Narrower Scope	Option 5: WCAG 2.2 into WCAG 3 format
Phase 1 �(2025-27)	Foundational Requirements, Supplemental requirements & Assertions comparable to WCAG 2.2 AAA with at least one method each (Refining) Conformance model (Mature) FPWD of a first draft informative note on how WCAG 3 could be adopted into regulation including small organizations, third party and large websites FPWD of note on high impact items (assertions, color contrast)	Target 1: WCAG 2.2 A & AA Scope: Web content Deliverables: Foundational & Supplemental requirements [Mature] assertions [Mature] Informative supporting documentation [Mature] Conformance model(s) [Mature] Some new requirements (not in WCAG 2.2) with high priority can be added. Especially COGA user needs AI issues Some non-web stuff can be added as well if possible.

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Schedule comparison (3 of 5)

	Option 2: WCAG 3 Narrower Scope	Option 5: WCAG 2 Incremental
Phase 2 (2027-29)	All informative documentation for Phase 1 Foundational Requirements, Supplemental requirements & Assertions comparable to WCAG 2.2 AAA with at least one method each (Mature) Final draft of informative note on how WCAG 3 could be adopted into regulation	Target 2-1: WCAG 2.2 A & AA Scope: Add non-Web content to Phase 1 Deliverables Deliverables: Foundational & Supplemental requirements [Mature] assertions [Mature] Informative supporting documentation [Mature] Conformance model(s) [Mature] Target 2-2: WCAG 2.2 AAA Scope: Web content Deliverables: Foundational & Supplemental requirements [Mature] assertions [Mature] Informative supporting documentation [Mature]

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Schedule comparison (4 of 5)

	Option 2: WCAG 3 Narrower Scope	Option 5: WCAG 2 Incremental
Phase 2 (2027-29)	All informative documentation for Phase 1 Foundational Requirements, Supplemental requirements & Assertions comparable to WCAG 2.2 AAA with at least one method each (Mature) Final draft of informative note on how WCAG 3 could be adopted into regulation	Target 2-3: New requirements (Not in WCAG 2.2) Scope: Web content Deliverables: Foundational & Supplemental requirements [Mature] assertions [Mature] Informative supporting documentation [Mature]

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Schedule comparison (5 of 5)

	Option 2: WCAG 3 Narrower Scope	Option 3: WCAG 2 Incremental
Phase 3 (2029-31)	Additional requirements and assertions based on research support and technology changes Best practices	Target 3-1: WCAG 2.2 AAA Scope: Add non-Web content to Phase 2 deliverables Deliverables: Foundational & Supplemental requirements [Mature] assertions [Mature] Informative supporting documentation [Mature] Conformance model(s) [Mature] Target 3-2: New requirements (Not in WCAG 2.2) Scope: Add non-Web content to Phase 2 deliverables Deliverables: Foundational & Supplemental requirements [Mature] assertions [Mature] Informative supporting documentation [Mature]

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Foundational requirements (from all known & researched sources)

Requirements & Assertions comparable to WCAG 2.2 AAA.

Specific updates �(relying on WCAG 2 content)

2027

Specific updates

2029

Supplemental & assertions

Additional requirements and assertions

2031

2025

WCAG3-Broad

WCAG3-Narrower

WCAG2-Incremental

Pub

Specific updates

Pub

Requirements comparable to WCAG 2.2 AA, topically organised.

Additional requirements and assertions

WCAG3-Topical

WCAG2-Migration

Pub

Requirements strictly mapped from WCAG 2.2 AA

Additional requirements and assertions

Pub

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Decision on approaches

One charter period: Use WCAG 3 content and fills gaps with WCAG 2 content�
Two charter period: If not, what is the scope we aim for to start with?
Option 2: Equivalent (but not the same) as WCAG 2 first, then expanding.
Option 4: Same scope as 2, but working by topic.
Option 5: Strictly equivalent to WCAG 2, then expanding.�
Three charter period: Option 1: Broad scope, but focuses on foundational first, then supplemental and requirements.

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In-work content

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Requirements & Assertions comparable to WCAG 2.2 AAA.

2028

2030

2032

2026

WCAG2AAA-Comparable

Pub

Requirements comparable to WCAG 2.2 AA, topically organised.

Additional assertions & requirements

WCAG2AA-Topical

WCAG2AA-Migration

Pub

Strict WCAG 2.2 AA Req’s

Pub

Priority updates �(relying on WCAG 2 content)

Specific updates

Incremental

Pub

Specific updates

Pub

Additional requirements including AAA and assertions

Pub

2034

Specific updates

Pub

When enough scope and impact is reached that regulators are likely to adopt it.

Priority Update Notes