accessibility-wcag-arialisted

<!-- last-verified: 2026-07 --> # Accessibility: WCAG 2.2 AA + ARIA APG Accessibility is a build-time requirement, not a later audit. The bar is **WCAG 2.2 Level AA** — meet it as you write the component, using the ARIA Authoring Practices Guide for the exact roles, states, and keyboard behavior each widget needs. Bake it in; retrofitting a11y onto shipped UI is far costlier. ## The enforceable bar: WCAG 2.2 AA - **WCAG 2.2 AA** is the target for essentially all product and regulatory contexts (it is also published as **ISO/IEC 40500:2025**, the citable standard in procurement and legal requirements). Design and review against 2.2 AA criteria specifically. - **WCAG 3.0 is a far-off working draft** — different model, not stable, not actionable. Do **not** design to 3.0 or cite it as a requirement; note it only as a future direction. When someone says "WCAG compliant," they mean 2.2 AA. - AA is the operative level. A is too weak to be the goal; AAA is aspirational for specific criteria, not a blanket target. ## Per-widget source of truth: the ARIA APG The **ARIA Authoring Practices Guide** (`w3.org/WAI/ARIA/apg/patterns/`) is the best per-widget reference — roughly 30 patterns, each with a working reference implementation, the required roles/states/properties, and a **keyboard interaction table**. Before building any composite widget (dialog, menu, tabs, combobox, disclosure, listbox, slider, tree), open its APG pattern and follow it rather than improvising AR