Error Identification
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
If an input error is automatically detected, the item in error is identified and the error is described to the user in text.
Normative text
Verbatim from WCAG 2.2, W3C Recommendation 12 December 2024. Underlined terms are defined below.
If an input error is automatically detected, the item that is in error is identified and the error is described to the user in text.
Not required by the normative text
Common claims that this criterion does not support. Don't log these as WCAG failures.
- Inline messages next to each field.
- Programmatically linking the message to the field (for example with aria-describedby or aria-invalid).
- Detecting errors in the first place. It applies only when errors are automatically detected.
Definitions used (1)
Glossary definitions are normative. Their notes are informative.
- input error
-
information provided by the user that is not accepted
Informative notes (1)
This includes:
- Information that is required by the web page but omitted by the user
- Information that is provided by the user but that falls outside the required data format or values
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 3.3.1, so raise them as usability defects. Known failures, including failures of related criteria, are listed in Tier 1.
An error summary that names fields but is not linked to them makes screen reader users hunt back through the form to find each problem.
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.
Show the message next to the field, associate it programmatically, and for long forms add a summary that links to each field.
W3C's Understanding document and techniques for SC 3.3.1 ↗ 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 3.3.1 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.
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.”