Reading Level
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
When text needs reading ability above lower secondary education level (after removing proper names and titles), supplemental content or a simpler version is available.
Normative text
Verbatim from WCAG 2.2, W3C Recommendation 12 December 2024. Underlined terms are defined below.
When text requires reading ability more advanced than the lower secondary education level after removal of proper names and titles, supplemental content, or a version that does not require reading ability more advanced than the lower secondary education level, is available.
Definitions used (2)
Glossary definitions are normative. Their notes are informative.
- lower secondary education level
-
the two or three year period of education that begins after completion of six years of school and ends nine years after the beginning of primary education
Informative notes (1)
This definition is based on the International Standard Classification of Education [[UNESCO]].
- supplemental content
-
additional content that illustrates or clarifies the primary content
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 3.1.5, so raise them as usability defects. Known failures, including failures of related criteria, are listed in Tier 1.
Readability formulas measure sentence and word length, not whether people actually understand the text.
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.
Write plainly from the start, lead with a summary, and test comprehension with real readers.
W3C's Understanding document and techniques for SC 3.1.5 ↗ 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 3.1.5 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 uses a reading-level test.
Related, not a successor
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.”