Accessibility Pass (WCAG 2.2 AA)

Accessibility means finishing a real task without an avoidable barrier. Repair the failing path; prove it in the rendered interface.

Triage one rendered user path

Write one path before opening a checker: entry → action → result/recovery. Name outcome, affected UI, and smallest viewport or assistive setup that exposes failure.

Start with native HTML. Use ARIA only for relationships or live behavior native elements cannot supply. A role, audit score, or automated pass never proves the path.

Prove the path in the interface

1. Tab forward/back from browser chrome through completion; record order, visible indicator, and traps.
2. Trigger failure by keyboard; confirm purposeful focus, programmatic error association, and retained data.
3. Read the region with a screen reader or inspect computed name, role, value, state, and description; confirm one announcement.
4. Measure the rendered foreground/background pair; test reflow at 200% and 400%, including meaningful text over imagery and disabled-looking controls.
5. Repeat animated interactions with reduced motion; the static path still exposes progress and completion.

A screenshot supports a claim but cannot prove keyboard order or announcements. Automated audits find candidates, not path clearance.

Report a repair ledger

Use this row format for every finding:

Separate confirmed defect from design concern. State browser, assistive technology or inspection method, viewport/zoom, and exact reproduction step. If the artifact is absent, stop and ask for the rendered path; never invent evidence.

Delivery/handoff

Prioritize task blockers, frequent-path defects, then polish. Send component lifecycle or form-state questions to the owning skill when the defect is state design, not WCAG repair.

• Audit method
• Keyboard and focus helper
• Decision records

Ship check

• Named path has keyboard, semantic, zoom/reflow, and dynamic-state evidence.
• Every finding names control/region, repair, and verification result.
• Automated checks are discovery, not sign-off.
• Focus, announcements, errors, and reduced-motion behavior have an owner.

Provenance — standard, not opinion

Grounded in the W3C Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.2, Level AA — the conformance target named throughout this skill (keyboard, focus, contrast, reflow, target size, reduced motion, error identification, status announcements). Independent Kyanite Labs synthesis of the standard's success criteria, credited — not copied. WCAG 2.2 is a W3C Recommendation; its success criteria are factual conformance requirements. Hand cognitive-load concerns to cognitive-a11y (COGA).

Contract (generated)

Canonical detail: contract.json.

• Route: A rendered interface needs WCAG 2.2 AA repair findings verified by keyboard, browser, or measurement.; avoid: The request is only cognitive load or multilingual expansion without an accessibility defect.
• Exclude: Do not self-attest a fix without browser or source evidence. (+1 in contract.json)
• Stop / handoff: Stop when the user path or target artifact is unavailable. (+1 in contract.json); receives [component-states, form-ux, responsive-layout, theming, art-direction, cognitive-a11y, color-system, data-viz, deslop-ui, empty-states, i18n-ready, improve-existing-website, micro-motion, web-typography] -> sends [tastecheck-pass]
• Output: prioritized WCAG repair ledger with measured verification
• Evidence: table_with_evidence with status, reason, remediation, evidence, provenance.