WCAG 1 checkpoints and relevant content types

Status of this document

This document is an attempt by the authoring tool accessibiltyi guidelines working group to represent the kinds of tools (and therefore the relevant kinds of content) for each of the checkpoints in WCAG 1. This is an excerpt from the 1 August draft of the Techniques for Authoring Tool Accessibility. This is a partial snapshot from a draft of a work in progress, and is likely to become outdated fairly fast. This document was last edited $Date: 2001/10/22 13:27:02 $ and was last brought up to date with the thoughts of the Working Group on 1 August 2001.

How the document is organised

This is a list of the WCAG checkpoints in numerical order. For each checkpoint the working group attempted to determine the types of tools which might have pre-supplied content, which should be evaluated against that checkpoint.

It uses iconic identifiers for each tool type as follows:

Authoring tool categories

Note: For the purposes of these techniques, authoring tools may fall into one or more of the following categories. For example, an HTML authoring tool that allows the user to create JavaScripts will fall under two categories, Markup Editing Tools and Programming Tools. A SMIL editor that includes a text-only view of the markup and a preview mode would be considered both a Markup Editing Tool and a Multimedia Creation Tool. 

1. Markup Editing Tools: Tools that assist authors to produce markup documents. These include text-based and WYSIWYG markup editors for HTML, XHTML, SMIL, etc. and word processors that save as markup formats.
2. Multimedia Creation Tools: Tools that assist authors to create multimedia Web content without allowing access to the raw markup or code of the output format. These include multimedia production tools outputting SMIL or Quicktime as well as image editors, video editors, sounds editors, etc.
3. Content Management Tools: Tools that assist authors to create and organize specific types of Web content without the author having control over the markup or programming implementation. Good examples include courseware in which the author is prompted to enter various information which is then displayed in a format determined by the tool. Note: If the tool allows the author to control the markup that is actaully used to implement the higher-order content, then that functionality would be considered to be a Markup Editing Tool.
4. Programming Tools: Tools for creating all kinds of Web Applications, including Java applets, Flash, server and client-side scripts, etc.Also includes tools that assist authors to create markup languages (i.e. XML) and tools that assist authors to create user interfaces (i.e. UIML?).
5. Conversion Tools: Tools for converting content from one format to another. This includes tools for chanigng the format of images, for conversion of other document formats to XHTML, and tools for importing document formats. Note that this tool type is not considered here.

The checkpoints

• (WCAG 1.1, P1) Provide a text equivalent* for every non-text element in a template. This includes:
  • images
  • graphical representations of text (including symbols)
  • image map regions
  • animations (e.g., animated GIFs)
  • applets and programmatic objects
  • ascii art
  • frames
  • scripts
  • images used as list bullets
  • spacers
  • graphical buttons
  • sounds (played with or without user interaction)
  • stand-alone audio files
  • audio tracks of video
  • video.
•   (WCAG 1.2, P1) Provide redundant text links* for each active region of a server-side image map in a template.
• (WCAG 1.3, P1) Until user agents can automatically read aloud the text equivalent of a visual track, provide an auditory description* of the important information of the visual track of a multimedia presentation template.
• (WCAG 1.4, P1) For templates of time-based multimedia presentations (e.g., a movie or animation), ensure synchronized equivalent alternatives* are provided. (e.g., captions or auditory descriptions of the visual track)
• (WCAG 1.5, P3) Until user agents render text equivalents for client-side image map links, provide redundant text links* for each active region of a client-side image map in a template.
• (WCAG 2.1, P1) Ensure that all information conveyed with color in a template is also available without color.
• (WCAG 2.2, Images: P2, Text: P3) Ensure that template foreground and background color combinations of images and text provide sufficient contrast when viewed by someone having color deficits or when viewed on a black and white screen.
• (WCAG 3.1, P2) When an appropriate markup language exists, use markup rather than images in templates to convey information.
• (WCAG 3.2, P2) Create templates that validate to published formal grammars.
• (WCAG 3.3, P2) Use style sheets to control layout and presentation in templates.
• (WCAG 3.4, P2) Use relative rather than absolute units in markup language attribute values and style sheet property values for templates.
• (WCAG 3.5, P2) Use header elements to convey template structure and use them according to specification.
• (WCAG 3.6, P2) Mark up lists and list items properly in templates.
• (WCAG 3.7, P2) Mark up quotations in templates. Do not use quotation markup for formatting effects such as indentation.
• (WCAG 4.1, P1) Clearly identify changes in the natural language of text in a template.
• (WCAG 4.2, P3) Specify the expansion of each abbreviation or acronym in a template where it first occurs.
• (WCAG 4.3, P3) Identify the primary natural language of a template.
• (WCAG 5.1, P1) For data tables in a template, identify row and column headers.
• (WCAG 5.2, P1) For data tables in a template that have two or more logical levels of row or column headers, use markup to associate data cells and header cells.
• (WCAG 5.3, P2) Do not include tables for layout in a template unless the table makes sense when linearized.
• (WCAG 5.4, P2) If a table is used for layout in a template, do not use any structural markup for the purpose of visual formatting.
• (WCAG 5.5, P3) Provide summaries* for tables in a template.
• (WCAG 5.6, P3) Provide abbreviations* for header labels of tables in templates.
• (WCAG 6.1, P1) Organize templates so they may be read without style sheets.
• (WCAG 6.2, P1) Ensure that equivalents* for dynamic content in a template are updated when the dynamic content changes.
• (WCAG 6.3, P1) Ensure that page templates are usable when scripts, applets, or other programmatic objects are turned off or not supported. If this is not possible, provide equivalent information* on an alternative accessible page.
• (WCAG 6.4, P2) For template scripts and applets, ensure that event handlers are input device-independent.
• (WCAG 6.5, P2) Ensure that dynamic content in a template is accessible or provide an alternative presentation* or page.
• (WCAG 7.1, P1) Until user agents allow users to control flickering, avoid templates that causes the screen to flicker.
• (WCAG 7.2, P2) Until user agents allow users to control blinking, avoid templates that causes content to blink.
• (WCAG 7.3, P2) Until user agents allow users to freeze moving content, avoid templates generating markup that causes movement.
• (WCAG 7.4, P2) Until user agents provide the ability to stop the refresh, do not produce auto-refreshing templates.
• (WCAG 7.5, P2) Until user agents provide the ability to stop auto-redirect, do not redirect pages automatically from a template. Instead, configure the server to perform redirects.
• (WCAG 8.1, Important and not elsewhere: P1, Otherwise: P2) Make programmatic element templates, such as scripts and applets, and templates directly accessible or compatible with assistive technologies.
• (WCAG 9.1, P1) Use client-side image maps in templates instead of server-side image maps except where the regions cannot be defined with an available geometric shape.
• (WCAG 9.2, P2) Ensure that any element in a template that has its own interface can be operated in a device-independent manner.
• (WCAG 9.3, P2) For scripts in a template, specify logical event handlers rather than device-dependent event handlers.
• (WCAG 9.4, P3) Create a logical tab order through links, form controls, and objects in a template.
• (WCAG 9.5, P3) Provide keyboard shortcuts to important links (including those in client-side image maps), form controls, and groups of form controls in a template.
• (WCAG 10.1, P2) Until user agents allow users to turn off spawned windows, do not produce templates that cause pop-ups or other windows to appear or change the current window without informing the user.
• (WCAG 10.2, P2) Until user agents support explicit associations between labels and form controls, for all form controls with implicitly associated labels* in a template, ensure that the label is properly positioned .
• (WCAG 10.3, P3) Until user agents render side-by-side text correctly, provide a linear text alternative (on the current page or some other) for all tables in a template that lay out text in parallel, word-wrapped columns.
• (WCAG 10.4, P3) Until user agents handle empty controls correctly, include default, place-holding characters in edit boxes and text areas in a template.
• (WCAG 10.5, P3) Until user agents render adjacent links distinctly, include non-link, printable characters (surrounded by spaces) between adjacent links in a template.
• (WCAG 11.1, P2) Produce templates using W3C technologies when they are available and appropriate for a task and use the latest versions when supported.
• (WCAG 11.2, P2) Avoid using deprecated features of W3C technologies in templates.
• (WCAG 11.3, P3) Provide information in a template so that users may receive documents according to their preferences (e.g., language, content type, etc.)
• (WCAG 12.1, P1) Title* each frame in a template to facilitate frame identification and navigation.
• (WCAG 12.2, P2) Describe* the purpose of frames in a template and how frames relate to each other if it is not obvious by frame titles alone.
• (WCAG 12.3, P2) Divide large blocks of information in a template into more manageable groups where natural and appropriate.
• (WCAG 12.4, P2) Associate labels* explicitly with their controls in a template.
• (WCAG 13.1, P2) Clearly identify the target* of each link in a template.
• (WCAG 13.2, P2) Provide metadata* to add semantic information to templates.
• (WCAG 13.3, P2) Provide information* about the general layout of a template page or site (e.g., a site map or table of contents).
• (WCAG 13.4, P2) Use navigation mechanisms in a consistent manner in templates.
• (WCAG 13.5, P3) Provide navigation bars to highlight and give access to the navigation mechanism in templates.
• (WCAG 13.6, P3) Group related links, identify the group (for user agents), and, until user agents do so, provide a way to bypass the group in templates.
• (WCAG 13.7, P3) If search functions are provided in a template, enable different types of searches for different skill levels and preferences.
• (WCAG 13.8, P3) Place distinguishing information* at the beginning of headings, paragraphs, lists, etc. in templates.
• (WCAG 13.9, P3) Provide information* about template collections (i.e., templates comprising multiple pages.).
• (WCAG 13.10, P3) Provide a means to skip over multi-line ASCII art in templates.
• (WCAG 14.1, P1) Use the clearest and simplest language appropriate for template content.
• (WCAG 14.2, P3) Supplement text with graphic or auditory presentations where they will facilitate comprehension of the template.
• (WCAG 14.3, P3) Create a style of presentation that is consistent across templates for a site.
• Not Applicable: WCAG 11.4