This understanding document is part of the draft WCAG 2.2 content. It may change or be removed before the final WCAG 2.2 is published.
For information entered by or provided to the user in a process, at least one of the following is true. The information is:
- not requested a second time; or
- auto-populated; or
- available for the user to select.
Exception: Re-entering the information is essential.
Editors' note: Are there issues storing the data so a user can access it in subsequent parts of a process?
Editors' note: Are there others exceptions needed than essential? E.g. for mandated or required information re-entry.
The intent of this Success Criterion is to ensure that users can successfully complete processes. It reduces cognitive effort where information is asked for more than once during a process. It also reduces the need to recall information provided in a previous part of the process.
This Success Criterion pertains to the current user session, and is not applicable a user returns after closing a session or navigating away.
Information that is required to be remembered for input can pose a significant barrier to users with cognitive or memory difficulty. All users experience a natural gradual mental fatigue as they proceed through a process. This fatigue is accelerated by the stress of recalling information from short-term working memory. Users with learning, and cognitive disabilities are highly susceptible to mental fatigue.
Requiring people to recall information already entered can cause them to give up or enter incorrect information.
This Success Criterion does not add a requirement to remember information between sessions, a process is defined on the basis of an activity and does not continue across sessions.
There is an exception for essential uses of input re-entry for things like password entry (security), or memory games which would not be possible if the previous answers were supplied.