Pause, Stop, Hide
Tier 1 · The normative floor
Baseline compliance
What the normative text of WCAG 2.2 requires, and nothing more. Only a failure of this tier is a WCAG failure.
The bare minimum
Moving, blinking or scrolling information that starts automatically, lasts more than five seconds and is shown alongside other content can be paused, stopped or hidden, unless the movement is essential. Auto-updating information that starts automatically and is shown alongside other content can be paused, stopped or hidden, or its update frequency controlled, unless essential. Under WCAG's non-interference requirement this applies to everything on the page.
Normative text
Verbatim from WCAG 2.2, W3C Recommendation 12 December 2024. Underlined terms are defined below.
For moving, blinking, scrolling, or auto-updating information, all of the following are true:
- Moving, blinking, scrolling
- For any moving, blinking or scrolling information that (1) starts automatically, (2) lasts more than five seconds, and (3) is presented in parallel with other content, there is a mechanism for the user to pause, stop, or hide it unless the movement, blinking, or scrolling is part of an activity where it is essential; and
- Auto-updating
- For any auto-updating information that (1) starts automatically and (2) is presented in parallel with other content, there is a mechanism for the user to pause, stop, or hide it or to control the frequency of the update unless the auto-updating is part of an activity where it is essential.
Not required by the normative text
Common claims that this criterion does not support. Don't log these as WCAG failures.
- Removing animation. A pause, stop or hide control satisfies it.
- A control for motion that stops by itself within five seconds.
Definitions used (4)
Glossary definitions are normative. Their notes are informative.
- blinking
-
switch back and forth between two visual states in a way that is meant to draw attention
Informative notes (1)
See also flash. It is possible for something to be large enough and blink brightly enough at the right frequency to be also classified as a flash.
- mechanism
-
process or technique for achieving a result
Informative notes (2)
The mechanism may be explicitly provided in the content, or may be relied upon to be provided by either the platform or by user agents, including assistive technologies.
The mechanism needs to meet all success criteria for the conformance level claimed.
- paused
-
stopped by user request and not resumed until requested by user
- essential
-
if removed, would fundamentally change the information or functionality of the content, and information and functionality cannot be achieved in another way that would conform
Notes in the criterion Informative
WCAG 2.2 lists notes among its informative material, which "does not create requirements that impact a conformance claim." They help interpret the criterion but are not part of the floor.
For requirements related to flickering or flashing content, refer to Guideline 2.3.
Since any content that does not meet this success criterion can interfere with a user's ability to use the whole page, all content on the web page (whether it is used to meet other success criteria or not) must meet this success criterion. See Conformance Requirement 5: Non-Interference.
Content that is updated periodically by software or that is streamed to the user agent is not required to preserve or present information that is generated or received between the initiation of the pause and resuming presentation, as this may not be technically possible, and in many situations could be misleading to do so.
An animation that occurs as part of a preload phase or similar situation can be considered essential if interaction cannot occur during that phase for all users and if not indicating progress could confuse users or cause them to think that content was frozen or broken.
Tier 2 · The gap
Usability & user impact
Where content can meet this criterion and still make things harder for people with disabilities. These are not failures of SC 2.2.2, so raise them as usability defects. Known failures, including failures of related criteria, are listed in Tier 1.
A small pause button that is hard to find, or that resets when the page reloads, still passes. Motion can distract people with attention-related disabilities long before they find it.
Tier 3 · The golden path
Recommended best practice
The pattern that meets the floor, closes the gap, and avoids audit disputes. A recommendation, not a requirement.
Don't autoplay carousels or background video. If you must, honor reduced-motion settings and put an obvious pause control first.
W3C's Understanding document and techniques for SC 2.2.2 ↗ are informative: sufficient techniques show ways to pass, and documented failures show common ways to fail, but neither changes what the criterion requires.
How SC 2.2.2 maps to the WCAG 3 draft
From this site's reviewed map to the WCAG 3 editor's draft. It's an interpretation: W3C has not published a mapping.
No provision in the current draft covers auto-updating content.
Successor provisions
From WCAG 2.2, section 5.1: “The main content of WCAG 2.2 is normative and defines requirements that impact conformance claims. Introductory material, appendices, sections marked as "non-normative", diagrams, examples, and notes are informative (non-normative). Non-normative material provides advisory information to help interpret the guidelines but does not create requirements that impact a conformance claim.”