Free Resource · WCAG 2.2

The complete website accessibility compliance guide

Everything you need to make a website compliant with WCAG 2.2 and the ADA — the four principles, all 86 success criteria, a real audit checklist, and how to actually fix what you find. Written and maintained by a human, not auto-generated.

6 chapters ~100 min total Updated Sep 2026

Who needs to worry about web accessibility?

If your website is open to the public, accessibility very likely applies to you. U.S. courts have repeatedly treated websites as “places of public accommodation” under the Americans with Disabilities Act, and in April 2024 the Department of Justice adopted WCAG 2.1 Level AA as the technical standard for state and local government websites.

Accessibility isn’t only about avoiding a lawsuit. It widens who can use your site, and it overlaps heavily with the same semantic markup that helps search engines and AI answer engines understand your content. This guide walks through the standard the way I audit it in practice — because an AI-built site can look accessible and still fail where it counts.

Fast track In a hurry? Start here.
  1. Understand which rules apply to you5 min
  2. Run the 15-issue audit checklist15 min
  3. Test with free tools — then have a human verify10 min

The complete guide, chapter by chapter

Chapter 01 Legal Requirements & Standards How the ADA, Section 508 and WCAG 2.2 actually relate — and which ones apply to your business. 8 min Chapter 02 The Four Principles (POUR) Perceivable, Operable, Understandable, Robust — the foundation of every success criterion, with real examples. 12 min Chapter 03 WCAG 2.2 Success Criteria A plain-English tour of all 86 criteria with copy-ready code, including the nine new to WCAG 2.2. 25 min Chapter 04 Checklist & Audit Framework The 15 issues that draw the most complaints, prioritized — plus a print-ready checklist you can run today. 15 min Chapter 05 Testing Tools & Methods What axe, WAVE and Lighthouse catch, what they miss, and the manual testing only a human can do. 18 min Chapter 06 Implementation & Best Practices Fixing an existing site vs. building an accessible one from scratch, and keeping it compliant over time. 22 min
The 15-issue audit checklist
The problems that draw the most legal complaints — one page, print-ready.
Get the checklist

Not sure your site actually passes?

A quick human audit tells you where you really stand — no automated scan can. Let’s talk.

Request an audit