W3C

From WCAG 2.0 to MWBP 1.0: Making content that meets Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.0 also meet Mobile Web Best Practices 1.0

W3C Editor's Draft 20 June 2008

Table of Contents

Introduction

Incomplete draft: This document is an editor's copy that has no official standing and is incomplete. Particularly, the section WCAG 2.0 and MWBP Together is only an outline; WCAG 1.0 to MWBP is only partly filled out. It is subject to major changes and is therefore not intended for implementation. It is provided for review and feedback only. Please send feedback to public-bpwg-comments@w3.org (archive).

This page is part of a suite of related documents. Please refer to the “How to Use These Documents” section for more information.

It describes how some WCAG success criteria (SC) can help with achieving compliance with the Mobile Web Best Practices 1.0 (MWBP). For content that already complies with WCAG, it outlines what may need to be done to comply with all of MWBP.

As described in this section, many SCs have the added benefit of partial or complete compliance with certain BPs. However, the best practices may describe a different aspect of the same concept. It should not be assumed that following any SC will ensure compliance with the MWBP. To ensure compliance it is important to always consult the Mobile Web Best Practices 1.0 document.

Summary of work required to make content that meets WCAG 2.0 also meet MWBP

Compliance with the WCAG 2.0 helps go some way towards achieving compliance with some BPs. This section provides a summary of these BPs. For those BPs not listed, there is no synergy between the recommendations.

Nothing: content already complies with these BPs. Refer to the description of each success criterion for an explanation of how and in what way it meets the BP.

Something: more effort of some kind or a check, to comply with these BPs. Refer to the description of each success criterion for an explanation of how and in what way it partially or possibly meets the BP.

Everything: start from scratch to comply with these BPs. Use the links to read the description of each BP in the MWBP document and how to comply with it.

[Not evaluated yet]. When reviewing the document the following list should be ignored. During document editing, it contains CPs, SCs or BPs not yet evaluated. It is progressively reduced as items are studied and moved to the “something”, “nothing” and “everything” lists. It will not appear in the finished document.

Addressing MWBP 1.0 Best Practices

This section deals with each of the best practices which WCAG 2.0 helps with meeting.

[ACCESS_KEYS] Assign access keys to links in navigational menus and frequently accessed functionality

[AUTO_REFRESH] Do not create periodically auto-refreshing pages, unless you have informed the user and provided a means of stopping it

[AVOID_FREE_TEXT] Avoid free text entry where possible.

[BACKGROUND_IMAGE_READABILITY] When using background images make sure that content remains readable on the device

[BALANCE] Take into account the trade-off between having too many links on a page and asking the user to follow too many links to reach what they are looking for

[CENTRAL_MEANING] Ensure that material that is central to the meaning of the page precedes material that is not.

[CLARITY] Use clear and simple language

[COLOR_CONTRAST] Ensure that foreground and background color combinations provide sufficient contrast

[CONTROL_LABELLING] Label all form controls appropriately and explicitly associate labels with form controls

[CONTROL_POSITION] Position labels so they lay out properly in relation to the form controls they refer to

[DEFAULT_INPUT_MODE] Specify a default text entry mode, language and/or input format, if the device is known to support it

[ERROR_MESSAGES] Provide informative error messages and a means of navigating away from an error message back to useful information

[FONTS] Do not rely on support of font related styling

[IMAGE_MAPS] Do not use image maps unless you know the device supports them effectively

It is not the intent of the BP to discourage the use of image maps.

[MEASURES] Do not use pixel measures and do not use absolute units in markup language attribute values and style sheet property values

[MINIMIZE_KEYSTROKES] Keep the number of keystrokes to a minimum

[NO_FRAMES] Do not use frames

[NON-TEXT_ALTERNATIVES] Provide a text equivalent for every non-text element

[OBJECTS_OR_SCRIPT] Do not rely on embedded objects or script

[PAGE_SIZE_USABLE] Divide pages into usable but limited size portions

[PAGE_TITLE] Provide a short but descriptive page title

[POP_UPS] Do not cause pop-ups or other windows to appear and do not change the current window without informing the user

[REDIRECTION] Do not use markup to redirect pages automatically. Instead, configure the server to perform redirects by means of HTTP 3xx codes

[STRUCTURE] Use features of the markup language to indicate logical document structure

[STYLE_SHEETS_SUPPORT] Organize documents so that if necessary they may be read without style sheets

[STYLE_SHEETS_USE] Use style sheets to control layout and presentation, unless the device is known not to support them

[TAB_ORDER] Create a logical order through links, form controls and objects

[TABLES_ALTERNATIVES] Where possible, use an alternative to tabular presentation

[TABLES_LAYOUT] Do not use tables for layout

[TABLES_NESTED] Do not use nested tables

[TABLES_SUPPORT] Do not use tables unless the device is known to support them

[USE_OF_COLOR] Ensure that information conveyed with color is also available without color.

[VALID_MARKUP] Create documents that validate to published formal grammars

BPs with no coverage

This list is provided as a completeness check during editing and will be removed in the final document, as discussed by EOWG.