Standards & Guidelines

This page provides a comprehensive reference to the standards, guidelines, and regulations that govern human-centered design, accessibility, and usability. These standards form the foundation for building interfaces that work for everyone.

Standards Overview

Accessibility Standards Matrix

Standard	Jurisdiction	Scope	Current Version	WCAG Reference
WCAG	International	Web content	2.2 (Oct 2023)	—
EN 301 549	EU	All ICT	V3.2.1 (2021)	WCAG 2.1 AA
Section 508	US Federal	Federal ICT	Revised (2017)	WCAG 2.0 AA
ADA Title II	US state/local govt	Web + mobile apps	DOJ final rule (2024)	WCAG 2.1 AA
Section 504	US HHS-funded	Web + mobile apps	HHS final rule (2024)	WCAG 2.1 AA
EAA	EU	Commercial ICT	Applicable June 2025	WCAG 2.1 AA
AODA	Ontario, CA	Organizations	2021	WCAG 2.0 AA
CAN/ASC	Canada	All ICT	EN 301 549:2024	WCAG 2.1 AA

Human Factors Standards Matrix

Standard	Focus	Key Parts
ISO 9241	Human-system interaction	40+ parts on usability, accessibility, UX
ISO 6385	Work system design	Ergonomic principles
ISO 11064	Control room design	Display, layout, environment
ISO 10075	Mental workload	Cognitive demands, fatigue
ISO 20282	Ease of operation	Consumer products

Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG)

WCAG Versions

Version	Published	Success Criteria	Key Additions
WCAG 2.0	Dec 2008	61	Original foundation
WCAG 2.1	Jun 2018	78 (+17)	Mobile, cognitive, low vision
WCAG 2.2	Oct 2023	87 (+9)	Cognitive, motor, authentication
WCAG 3.0	In development	New structure	Broader scope, new testing

WCAG 2.2 New Success Criteria

Criterion	Level	Focus
2.4.11 Focus Not Obscured (Min)	AA	Focus visible, not hidden
2.4.12 Focus Not Obscured (Enhanced)	AAA	Focus fully visible
2.4.13 Focus Appearance	AAA	Enhanced focus indicators
2.5.7 Dragging Movements	AA	Alternatives to drag-and-drop
2.5.8 Target Size (Minimum)	AA	24×24px minimum targets
3.2.6 Consistent Help	A	Help in consistent location
3.3.7 Redundant Entry	A	Don’t ask for same info twice
3.3.8 Accessible Authentication (Min)	AA	Auth without cognitive tests
3.3.9 Accessible Authentication (Enhanced)	AAA	No object recognition/personal content

WCAG Conformance Levels

Level	Requirements	Typical Use
Level A	25 criteria	Bare minimum (not sufficient)
Level AA	+13 criteria	Common conformance target; legal applicability varies
Level AAA	+23 criteria	Enhanced accessibility (not required)

Note: WCAG 2.2 is backwards compatible — conforming to 2.2 also means conforming to 2.1 and 2.0.

WCAG Resources

Specification: https://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG22/
Quick Reference (filterable): https://www.w3.org/WAI/WCAG22/quickref/
Understanding Documents: https://www.w3.org/WAI/WCAG22/Understanding/
Techniques: https://www.w3.org/WAI/WCAG22/Techniques/
Our comprehensive WCAG guide →

European Standards

EN 301 549

The European standard for accessibility requirements in ICT products and services.

Version	Date	WCAG Alignment
V1.1.2	2015	WCAG 2.0 AA
V2.1.2	2018	WCAG 2.1 AA
V3.1.1	2019	WCAG 2.1 AA
V3.2.1	2021	WCAG 2.1 AA (still the harmonised standard)
V4.1.0	June 2026	WCAG 2.2 AA (final draft)
V4.1.1	Expected late 2026	WCAG 2.2 AA

Status as of August 2026: V3.2.1 remains the version cited in the Official Journal of the EU, so WCAG 2.1 AA is still the operative legal requirement. ETSI published the final draft V4.1.0 in June 2026; V4.1.1 is expected to be cited in the Official Journal around October 2026, at which point conformance creates a presumption of conformity with the EAA. Plan for WCAG 2.2 AA now, but note that 2.1 AA is what is currently enforceable.

Scope: Hardware, software, websites, apps, documents, support services

Key additions beyond WCAG:

Real-Time Text (RTT) requirements
ICT with two-way voice communication
Video communication with sign language
Hardware accessibility (physical controls)

Specification: https://www.etsi.org/standards/search#page=1&search=EN%20301%20549

European Accessibility Act (EAA)

The EU directive requiring accessibility for products and services.

Effective: June 28, 2025

Scope:

E-commerce websites and mobile apps
Banking services
Transport services (ticketing, check-in)
E-books and e-readers
Communication services

Technical Standard: EN 301 549 V3.2.1 (WCAG 2.1 AA)

Penalties: Set by each member state, not by the directive. Reported maximums range from roughly €60,000 (Ireland) to about €900,000 (Sweden). France sets €50,000 for a first offence, rising to €250,000 for repeat violations; Germany sets up to €100,000.

Enforcement in practice (first year): All 27 member states have transposed the directive, but enforcement has been uneven. France moved first — in November 2025 the DGCCRF issued formal enforcement notices to four major retailers (Auchan, Carrefour, E.Leclerc, Picard) after inspections found systematic e-commerce accessibility failures. German e-commerce operators began receiving law-firm warning letters shortly after transposition. Active Dutch enforcement is expected in the second half of 2026. As of mid-2026 no confirmed EAA fine had been publicly verified — but authorities can also order product withdrawal, mandate audits, and publish non-compliance, which several have signalled they will use before reaching for fines.

US Standards and Regulations

Section 508

US federal accessibility requirements for ICT.

Current Status:

Still references WCAG 2.0 Level AA, unchanged since the 2017 refresh
No rulemaking to adopt WCAG 2.1 or 2.2 has been announced by the US Access Board. Commentary predicting a 2.2 update by 2026 did not materialise — treat any such claim with suspicion and check access-board.gov/ict directly
Applies to federal agencies and contractors

This leaves US federal procurement one full WCAG generation behind state and local government, which the DOJ moved to WCAG 2.1 AA. In practice most federal agencies and vendors target 2.1 AA or 2.2 AA anyway, because VPATs are increasingly requested against the newer versions.

Enforcement: US Access Board, Department of Justice

Documentation: VPAT (Voluntary Product Accessibility Template)

Resources:

Section508.gov: https://www.section508.gov/
Access Board: https://www.access-board.gov/

Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)

Civil rights law prohibiting discrimination based on disability.

Title II (State/Local Government):

April 2024 DOJ final rule
References WCAG 2.1 Level AA (not 2.2 — a common misreading)
Applies to government websites, mobile apps, and content provided by private contractors on a public entity’s behalf

Compliance deadlines — extended one year in April 2026:

Entity size	Original deadline	Current deadline
Population ≥ 50,000	24 April 2026	26 April 2027
Population < 50,000, and special district governments	24 April 2027	26 April 2028

The DOJ announced the extension on 17 April 2026, a week before the first deadline would have hit. The technical standard and the scope of covered content were not changed.

Title III (Public Accommodations):

Covers private businesses
Courts reference WCAG 2.1 AA in settlements
No explicit technical standard (yet)

Litigation: Seyfarth Shaw counted 3,117 federal website accessibility lawsuits in 2025, up 27% from 2,452 in 2024 — 36% of all 8,667 federal ADA Title III filings that year, against 28% in 2024. Filings concentrate heavily: New York (1,021), Florida (961, roughly double its 470 in 2024), and Illinois (585). California recorded just 4, reflecting state court rulings that online-only businesses fall outside ADA coverage. Including state courts, combined annual filings exceed 5,000, and roughly 46% of federal cases involve repeat defendants.

Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act (HHS)

Often missed alongside Title II: HHS’s 2024 final rule extends digital accessibility duties to any organisation receiving HHS federal financial assistance — hospitals, health systems, health plans, community health centres, clinical research institutions, and digital health companies.

Requirement: WCAG 2.1 Level AA across websites, mobile apps, patient portals, and kiosks.

Recipient size	Original deadline	Current deadline
15 or more employees	11 May 2026	11 May 2027
Fewer than 15 employees	10 May 2027	10 May 2028

HHS’s Office for Civil Rights published an interim final rule on 7 May 2026 — four days before the original deadline — extending both dates by a year, citing the number of community health centres and hospitals that would not have made it.

Resource: HHS OCR announcement

ISO 9241: Human-System Interaction

The comprehensive international standard for ergonomics of human-system interaction, comprising 40+ parts.

Key Parts

Part	Title	Latest Update
9241-11	Usability: Definitions and concepts	2018
9241-110	Interaction principles	2020
9241-112	Information presentation	2025 (draft)
9241-115	Interaction design	2024
9241-125	Recommendations for visual presentation	2017
9241-129	Software individualization	2010
9241-143	Forms	2012
9241-151	World Wide Web interfaces	2008
9241-161	Visual elements	2016
9241-171	Software accessibility	2008
9241-210	Human-centred design	2019
9241-220	HCD processes	2019
9241-221	Process assessment	2023
9241-400	Physical input devices — Principles	2007
9241-920	Tactile and haptic interactions	2024

Part 11: Usability (2018 Revision)

Defines usability as:

“The extent to which a system, product or service can be used by specified users to achieve specified goals with effectiveness, efficiency, and satisfaction in a specified context of use.”

Key components:

Effectiveness — Accuracy and completeness of goal achievement
Efficiency — Resources expended relative to results
Satisfaction — Comfort and acceptability of use

2018 updates:

Broadened scope from interfaces to entire system/service experience
Added evaluation of negative consequences (health, safety, privacy)
Enhanced definition of satisfaction (emotional and subjective aspects)
Defines accessibility as “usability for people with the widest range of capabilities”

Part 210: Human-Centred Design (2019 Revision)

Provides guidance on human-centered design processes throughout the product lifecycle.

Key principles:

Design is based on explicit understanding of users, tasks, and environments
Users are involved throughout design and development
Design is driven and refined by user-centered evaluation
Process is iterative
Design addresses the whole user experience
Design team includes multidisciplinary skills and perspectives

2019 updates:

Incorporated agile and iterative design processes
Replaced earlier ISO 13407 (1999)
Added sustainability and accessibility considerations

Part 110: Interaction Principles (2020)

Seven principles for interaction design:

Principle	Description
Suitability for the task	Supports efficient task completion
Self-descriptiveness	Interactions and states are clear
Conformity with expectations	Consistent with user expectations
Learnability	Supports discovery and learning
Controllability	User can control interaction pace and sequence
Use error robustness	Prevents, tolerates, and recovers from errors
User engagement	Motivating and engaging experience

Part 115: Interaction Design (2024)

New part covering:

Conceptual design
User-system interaction
User interface design
Navigation design
Audio user interfaces (alerts, speech recognition)
Integration with AI-driven applications (voice assistants)

Part 920: Tactile and Haptic Interactions (2024)

New part addressing:

Touch interfaces
Virtual reality haptics
Multimodal feedback
Tactile encodings for accessibility

Specification access: https://www.iso.org/series/604236

Platform Design Guidelines

Apple Human Interface Guidelines (HIG)

Design standards for Apple platforms.

Platform	Focus
iOS/iPadOS	Touch interaction, gestures, navigation
macOS	Pointer interaction, menus, windows
watchOS	Glanceable, brief interactions
tvOS	Focus-based, remote interaction
visionOS	Spatial computing, eye/hand tracking

Key principles:

Clarity — Text is legible, icons are precise
Deference — Content is prioritized over chrome
Depth — Visual layers and motion aid understanding

Accessibility requirements:

Dynamic Type support
VoiceOver optimization
Reduced Motion support
Increased Contrast support

URL: https://developer.apple.com/design/human-interface-guidelines/

Material Design 3 (Google)

Google’s design system for Android and web.

Key features:

Dynamic Color — Personalized color from user wallpaper
Adaptive components — Responsive to screen size
Motion system — Meaningful, focused animations
Typography scale — Hierarchical type system

Accessibility:

Minimum 4.5:1 contrast ratios
48×48dp minimum touch targets
State indicators for interactive elements
Focus management for keyboard users

URL: https://m3.material.io/

Microsoft Fluent Design System

Microsoft’s design language for Windows and web.

Pillars:

Light — Illuminate focus and meaning
Depth — Create hierarchy and relationships
Motion — Connect experiences and actions
Material — Ground experiences in reality
Scale — Expand experiences seamlessly

Accessibility:

High Contrast mode support
Narrator optimization
Keyboard navigation patterns
Touch and pen support

URL: https://fluent2.microsoft.design/

GNOME Human Interface Guidelines

First-party design guidance for applications built with the GNOME platform, particularly GTK 4 and Libadwaita.

Key coverage:

Adaptive layouts across desktops, laptops, convertibles, phones, and tiled windows
Keyboard navigation, standard shortcuts, and access keys
Accessibility testing with high contrast, large text, screen readers, and on-screen keyboards
Interface patterns for containers, navigation, feedback, and controls

Scope: These are GNOME-specific platform conventions, not an accessibility conformance standard. Use them alongside WCAG and any applicable regulatory requirements.

URL: https://developer.gnome.org/hig/index.html

Usability Heuristics

Nielsen’s 10 Usability Heuristics

The most widely recognized usability principles, developed by Jakob Nielsen in 1994.

#	Heuristic	Description
1	Visibility of system status	Keep users informed through feedback
2	Match between system and real world	Use familiar language and concepts
3	User control and freedom	Support undo, redo, and escape
4	Consistency and standards	Follow platform conventions
5	Error prevention	Prevent errors before they occur
6	Recognition rather than recall	Minimize memory load
7	Flexibility and efficiency of use	Support accelerators for experts
8	Aesthetic and minimalist design	Remove irrelevant information
9	Help users recognize and recover	Clear error messages with solutions
10	Help and documentation	Provide searchable, task-oriented help

Original article: https://www.nngroup.com/articles/ten-usability-heuristics/
Complete guide on this site →

Industry Resources

Research and Guidance

Organization	Focus	URL
Nielsen Norman Group	UX research, usability	https://www.nngroup.com/
W3C WAI	Web accessibility	https://www.w3.org/WAI/
WebAIM	Accessibility tools/training	https://webaim.org/
A11y Project	Community accessibility	https://www.a11yproject.com/
Deque	Accessibility tools/training	https://www.deque.com/
Baymard Institute	E-commerce UX research	https://baymard.com/

Accessibility Testing Tools

Tool	Type	URL
axe DevTools	Browser extension	https://www.deque.com/axe/
WAVE	Browser extension	https://wave.webaim.org/
Lighthouse	Chrome DevTools	Built into Chrome
Pa11y	CI/CD integration	https://pa11y.org/
NVDA	Screen reader (Windows)	https://www.nvaccess.org/
VoiceOver	Screen reader (macOS/iOS)	Built into Apple devices

Annual Reports

Report	Publisher	Focus
WebAIM Million	WebAIM	Accessibility of top 1M sites
State of Mobile UX	Baymard	E-commerce mobile usability
Accessibility Legal Landscape	Seyfarth Shaw	ADA lawsuit trends

Recent Developments (2025–2026)

WCAG 2.2 Adoption

WCAG 2.2 became a W3C Recommendation in October 2023. Key adoption milestones:

ISO/IEC 40500:2025 approval (October 2025)
EN 301 549 v4.1.1 (planned 2026) will reference WCAG 2.2 AA
Courts increasingly citing WCAG 2.2 in litigation

European Accessibility Act Enforcement

The EAA became legally applicable on June 28, 2025:

E-commerce, banking, transport must comply
Penalties up to €100,000 or 4% of revenue
Technical standard: EN 301 549 / WCAG 2.1 AA

US Regulatory Updates

April 2024: DOJ published the Title II final rule referencing WCAG 2.1 AA
17 April 2026: DOJ extended both Title II deadlines by a year (now April 2027 / April 2028)
7 May 2026: HHS extended both Section 504 deadlines by a year (now May 2027 / May 2028)
Section 508 remains on WCAG 2.0 AA with no announced rulemaking
3,117 federal website accessibility lawsuits in 2025, up 27% year over year (Seyfarth Shaw)

The pattern worth noting: the technical bar has not moved, but the enforcement calendar slipped a full year on both federal tracks within three weeks of each other. Teams that paced remediation to the original dates now have breathing room; teams that had not started are in the same position they were, one year later.

ISO 9241 Evolution

Recent and upcoming parts:

Part 115 (2024): Interaction design including AI/voice
Part 920 (2024): Tactile and haptic interactions
Part 112 (2025): Information presentation principles

WCAG 3.0 Development

W3C published a new WCAG 3 Working Draft on 3 March 2026. What changed:

Terminology: “outcomes” are now requirements (the draft describes 174 of them), and “Foundational Requirements” became Core Requirements
Conformance: the earlier bronze/silver/gold scoring model is no longer part of the draft. The working group is revising the model toward something more flexible for organisations rather than a single pass/fail score
Maturity labels: individual guidelines and requirements now carry a maturity level — Placeholder, Exploratory, Developing, Refining, or Mature — so readers can see which parts are stable
Scope: broader than web content alone

Timeline: a Candidate Recommendation is anticipated around Q4 2027, with a final Recommendation not before 2028. W3C has stated WCAG 2 will remain current for at least several years after WCAG 3 is finalised.

The Web Is Getting Less Accessible, Not More

The 2026 WebAIM Million (February 2026 data) reversed six consecutive years of gradual improvement:

Measure	2025	2026
Home pages with detected WCAG 2 failures	94.8%	95.9%
Average detected errors per page	51	56.1 (+10.1%)

The six most common failures, unchanged in rank for years, still account for 96% of all detected errors:

Failure	2025	2026	Change
Low contrast text	79.1%	83.9%	↑ 4.8
Missing alternative text	55.5%	53.1%	↓ 2.4
Missing form input labels	48.2%	51.0%	↑ 2.8
Empty links	45.4%	46.3%	↑ 0.9
Empty buttons	29.6%	30.6%	↑ 1.0
Missing document language	15.8%	13.5%	↓ 2.3

These are all detectable by automated tooling in seconds and fixable without redesign. See Testing & Audit Tools.

AI Transparency Enters the Picture

The EU AI Act’s Article 50 transparency obligations became applicable on 2 August 2026, and they are interface requirements as much as legal ones:

People must be clearly informed when they are interacting with an AI system (chatbots, virtual assistants) unless it is obvious from context
Synthetic audio, image, video, and text — including deepfakes — must be marked in a machine-readable, detectable format
Deployers must disclose deepfakes depicting real people, places, or events

These apply to any AI system in those situations, not only high-risk ones. Separately, obligations for standalone high-risk systems (Annex III) were deferred from August 2026 to 2 December 2027, and product-embedded high-risk systems (Annex I) to 2 August 2028.

For designers this lands squarely in disclosure and labelling patterns — see Trust & Perception and Notifications & Feedback.

References

WCAG:

WCAG 2.2 Specification — W3C
WCAG 2 Overview — W3C WAI
WCAG 3 Introduction — W3C WAI — status, maturity levels, timeline
WCAG 3 Working Draft, March 2026 — W3C WAI

European:

US:

Section508.gov
US Access Board — Revised 508 Standards — authoritative on which WCAG version actually applies
ADA Title II web rule — ada.gov
HHS OCR Section 504 deadline extension
Seyfarth Shaw ADA Title III litigation tracking — the standard source for US filing counts

Data and trends:

The WebAIM Million — annual accessibility analysis of the top 1M home pages

ISO 9241:

Platform Guidelines: