Accessibility Standard

The accessibility standard setting determines which set of accessibility rules axe Watcher uses during testing. Different standards correspond to different versions and conformance levels of WCAG (Web Content Accessibility Guidelines) and other accessibility specifications. This setting controls the baseline criteria against which your web pages are evaluated.

Default Value

When you don't specify an accessibility standard override, axe Watcher uses the standard configured in your organization's global configuration. This is typically set by your administrator to ensure consistent testing across all teams.

Overriding

You can override the accessibility standard when your organization's global configuration permits it. Your administrator sets which standards are available for override in the Global panel of axe Configuration. If you attempt to use a standard that isn't permitted, you'll receive a 422 error from the server.

You cannot use the accessibilityStandard override together with runOptions.runOnly—these options are mutually exclusive and will cause an error if combined.

Available Options

JavaScript/TypeScript (string):

• 'All' - Tests against all available standards
• 'WCAG 2.2 AAA'
• 'WCAG 2.2 AA'
• 'WCAG 2.2 A'
• 'WCAG 2.1 AAA'
• 'WCAG 2.1 AA'
• 'WCAG 2.1 A'
• 'WCAG 2.0 AAA'
• 'WCAG 2.0 AA'
• 'WCAG 2.0 A'
• 'Trusted Tester v5'
• 'EN 301 549'

Java (ConfigurationOverrides.AccessibilityStandard enum values):

• WCAG2A - WCAG 2.0 Level A
• WCAG2AA - WCAG 2.0 Level AA
• WCAG2AAA - WCAG 2.0 Level AAA
• WCAG21A - WCAG 2.1 Level A
• WCAG21AA - WCAG 2.1 Level AA
• WCAG21AAA - WCAG 2.1 Level AAA
• WCAG22A - WCAG 2.2 Level A
• WCAG22AA - WCAG 2.2 Level AA
• WCAG22AAA - WCAG 2.2 Level AAA
• TTV5 - Trusted Tester v5
• EN301549 - EN 301 549
• ALL - All standards

JavaScript/TypeScript Example

const config = {
  axe: {
    apiKey: process.env.AXE_API_KEY,
    projectId: process.env.AXE_PROJECT_ID,
    configurationOverrides: {
      accessibilityStandard: 'WCAG 2.2 AA'
    }
  }
};

Java Example

ConfigurationOverrides overrides = new ConfigurationOverrides()
    .setAccessibilityStandard(ConfigurationOverrides.AccessibilityStandard.WCAG22AA);

AxeWatcherOptions options = new AxeWatcherOptions()
    .setApiKey(System.getenv("AXE_API_KEY"))
    .setProjectId(System.getenv("AXE_PROJECT_ID"))
    .setConfigurationOverrides(overrides);