WCAG 2.2.1 Timing Adjustable

Success criterion 2.2.1 helps people who need more time to read, understand and act: people with cognitive or learning disabilities, screen reader users, people with motor disabilities who type slowly, and anyone who is interrupted while filling in a form. It is level A and part of EN 301 549 (clause 9.2.2.1).

What the criterion requires

For each time limit set by the content, at least one of these must be true:

• Turn off: the user can turn the time limit off before meeting it;
• Adjust: the user can adjust it before meeting it, over a wide range of at least ten times the default;
• Extend: the user is warned before time expires and gets at least 20 seconds to extend it with a simple action (for example "press the space bar"), and can extend it at least ten times;
• Real-time exception: the limit is a required part of a real-time event (such as an auction) and no alternative is possible;
• Essential exception: the limit is essential and extending it would invalidate the activity;
• 20 hour exception: the time limit is longer than 20 hours.

Typical failures on an online shop

• the checkout or account session expires and silently throws away the form the customer was filling in;
• a reserved-cart timer ("items held for 10 minutes") that empties the cart with no warning and no way to extend;
• a page set to reload or redirect after a few seconds with <meta http-equiv="refresh">;
• a payment step or one-time-code screen that times out with no warning;
• a promo popup that disappears automatically before it can be read, when it holds information the user needs.

How to check it

Automated: our checker flags meta refresh with a delay, which reloads or redirects the page on a timer (see the rule library). Session timeouts and script-driven timers are not visible to a scan and need a manual check.

By hand: list every place where time runs out: login sessions, cart reservations, checkout, payment and verification codes. Leave each one idle until the limit approaches. Check that a warning appears, that it is announced to screen readers, that one simple action extends the time and that you get at least 20 seconds to do it. Confirm that data typed so far is kept.

How to fix it

• Remove time limits that are not needed; otherwise set them above 20 hours.
• Show an accessible warning dialog before a session ends, with an "Extend" button that keeps focus and works from the keyboard.
• Save form progress so that an expired session does not lose the customer's input.
• Replace timed meta refresh redirects with a server-side redirect or a link the user follows.

Related criteria

• 2.2.2 Pause, Stop, Hide — moving and auto-updating content must be controllable.
• 2.1.1 Keyboard — the extend action must work from the keyboard.
• WCAG 2.2 checklist — all A and AA criteria in one list.

Frequently asked questions

Does a session timeout fail WCAG 2.2.1?

Not by itself. It passes if users can turn it off, adjust it to at least ten times the default, or are warned before it expires and given at least 20 seconds to extend it with a simple action, at least ten times. Time limits longer than 20 hours are also exempt.

Is an auction countdown allowed?

Yes. A time limit that is a required part of a real-time event, such as an auction, with no possible alternative, is one of the exceptions. A reserved-cart timer is different: holding items for a customer is not a real-time event, so it needs one of the options above, such as a warning and a way to extend.

Does a meta refresh count as a time limit?

Yes. A page that reloads or redirects automatically after a delay sets a time limit the user cannot control, which is why our checker flags timed meta refresh.