UK organisations that publish in French often share an English accessibility standard and a loose translation of it. That is a weak way to brief a designer, a developer and a reviewer who need to argue about the same requirement. W3C has updated the authorised French texts of the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines, so those teams have a current source in the language of the pages they are checking.
The update does not make a French website accessible by itself. It gives the project a reference that matches the English recommendation, which is what a bilingual build has been missing when the two versions drift.
What W3C published
On 22 September 2026, the World Wide Web Consortium announced updated authorised French translations of WCAG 2.1 and WCAG 2.2. W3C's news item sets out the update. The French text of WCAG 2.2 follows the W3C recommendation of 12 December 2024. The WCAG 2.1 translation reflects the publication of 6 May 2025. The texts themselves are the authorised French WCAG 2.2 and the authorised French WCAG 2.1.
WCAG is the set of recommendations for making web content more accessible to people with disabilities. It covers visual, auditory, motor, speech and cognitive access, and it applies on desktops, laptops, kiosks and phones. W3C notes that following the guidelines can also make content easier for people in general. An authorised translation is the text W3C recognises as a faithful version, which is the one to cite when a contract, an audit or an internal standard names WCAG in French.
Why a UK team should care about a French text
A Birmingham firm selling into France, Belgium or Switzerland, or a UK brand with a French-language section for customers and staff, needs the people on the project to mean the same thing. Owners, designers, developers and whoever checks compliance cannot do that from three unofficial summaries. A current French reference supports the requirements conversation, the audit and the content review. It also stops a team treating an old translation as if it included the 2.2 criteria it never contained.
Web Works Rise publishes this site in English and French for that reason: the same service has to be understandable in both languages. The accessibility requirement travels with the page. It is not an English-only concern that the French pages inherit by being translations. The 2026 WebAIM Million figures show how often homepages fail basic detectable checks. A second language is a second set of pages that can fail them.
Translation is not an accessibility pass
Moving the words into French does not check the page. Contrast, heading structure, form labels, keyboard order, image descriptions and the behaviour of menus, dialogs and error messages still have to be reviewed in each language. Text length changes the layout. A label that fitted in English may wrap or collide in French. A button name may become vague once it is shortened to fit. An image description written once in English and machine-translated can miss the point of the picture for a French reader.
- Use the authorised French WCAG text when the requirement is being discussed in French.
- Review contrast, headings, labels, keyboard use and alternative text on every locale, not only the primary one.
- Check components where the French string is longer than the English one.
- Write image descriptions for the French page, rather than assuming the English text will do.
- Retest interactive flows, because input methods and error text can differ.
A page that passes in English and fails in French is not a bilingual accessible site. It is an English site with a French skin. Customers using the French version do not get the benefit of the English audit. The same is true of keyboard order and error messages: a flow that was tested with English strings can shift when the French copy is longer, and the failure is invisible if nobody repeats the task in that locale.
Keep content, design and development on the same reference
Multilingual accessibility is a shared job. Content writes the labels and descriptions. Design sets type, colour and the space a longer string needs. Development builds the components so those choices survive in both locales. Citing the current WCAG text in each language keeps that conversation specific. "Make it accessible" is not a ticket. "This field needs a label that matches the French WCAG wording we have agreed" is.
The September 2026 update is a prompt to check which text the team has been using. If a wiki still links to an older French draft, audits and build tickets will keep quoting criteria that are out of date. Point the internal standard at the authorised pages, and note the recommendation dates so the next update is easy to spot.
Use one reference, then test both sites
UI and UX design for a bilingual UK site has to leave room for the French copy and keep contrast and focus intact in both. Web development has to ship those pages as real locale versions, with the same care for structure and labels. A translation file dropped onto an inaccessible template will fail twice.
Web Works Rise is a UK-led team in Birmingham, with a development hub in Tunisia, and this website is maintained in English and French. If you are about to add a French version, or you already have one that has never been checked against the current guidelines, talk to the team. The reference is now updated. The pages still need a review.