End to End Analysis of Guideline 3.1
(completed by Becky Gibson July 8, 2004)


       Updates 8/10/04 based on the July 30 working draft - Becky Gibson

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Guideline

Gateway

HTML Techniques

CSS

 HTML Test Cases

(from Open Accessibility Checks  unless otherwise noted.  )

 

 

 

 

 

 

Guideline 3.1

 

3.1 Ensure that the meaning of content can be determined.
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

3.1.2 Unambiguous decoding:

Ensure that all characters and words in the content can be unambiguously decoded.

Editorial Note: This has been carried over from WCAG 1.0. I (Tom) am slightly unsure as to the meaning or need implied by this technique.

 

 10.10 Emoticons

Task:

Use emoticons and other ASCII symbols judiciously.

 

 

 

 

 

3.1.3 Spell and grammar checks

Task:

Use spelling and grammar checkers.

A person reading a page with a speech synthesizer may not be able to decipher the synthesizer's best guess for a word with a spelling error. Grammar checkers will help to ensure that the textual content of your page is correct. This will help readers for whom your document is not written in their native tongue, or people who are just learning the language of the document. Thus, you will help increase the comprehension of your page.

 

 

 

 

 Level 1 Success Criteria:

The natural language of the document as a whole can be identified by automated tools. [I]

 

3.1.1 Language

Task:

Ensure that the language of content can be programmatically determined.

Where the technology support it ensure that all content is provided with a primary language, specified with an international language code specified in the document. When a change of language occurs make a note of the change of language with a mechanism provided by the technology. Often in languages include 'borrowed' words. For example English takes the phrase 'laissez faire' from the French, however it has been almost naturalized into the language. Many authors would choose not to mark this as a change of language because it has been naturalized, however screen readers and audio browsers are not capable of pronouncing this correctly without the language change being noted. 'Laissez faire' is pronounced "lay-sez fair" however a screen reader might pronounce it "la-is-sez fair-ee" because it is trying to apply English grammar rules to the word. This will not be true of all borrowed words but authors should be aware of the issue and try to ensure that phrases which may be mispronounced by assistive technology are marked up as a change in language.

Editorial Note: Add a reference to the language codes.

It is imperative however that any significant changes in language of a document are marked up. If a document contains several primary languages, it should be marked with the primary language as that with the most content and the rest declared individually in blocks.

 4.1 Identifying the primary language

Task:

Use the lang attribute of the html element to define the document's language.

 



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 Level 1 Success Criteria:

The meaning of abbreviations and acronyms can be programmatically located. [I]

 

3.1.4 Abbreviations and acronyms

Task:

Ensure that the definition of abbreviations and acronyms can be unambiguously determined.

Editorial Note: References to dictionaries, and site wide glossary definitions. Perhaps use the w3.org as an example.

 

5.2 Abbreviations

Task:

Use the abbr element to expand abbreviations where they first occur.

5.3 Acronym

Task:

Use the acronym element to expand acronyms where they first occur.

 

 


 


From  Draft UAAG test suite for HTML 4.01 :


From OAC:

Level 2 Success Criteria

The meanings and pronunciations of all words in the content can be programmatically located. [I]

 

 

 

5.10 Supplemental meaning cues

Task:

Use the span element with the title attribute to provide generic meaning cues.

1.4 Glossary

Task:

Provide a reference to a glossary

 

 

Level 2 Success Criteria

The meaning of all idioms in the content can be programmatically determined. [I]

 

 

5.10 Supplemental meaning cues

Task:

Use the span element with the title attribute to provide generic meaning cues.

 

 

Level 2 Success Criteria

For each foreign language passage or phrase in the body of the content, the language is identified through markup or other means. Foreign passages or phrases are passages or phrases that are in a language other than the primary language of the document. [I]

 

3.1.1 Language

Task:

Ensure that the language of content can be programmatically determined.

Where the technology support it ensure that all content is provided with a primary language, specified with an international language code specified in the document. When a change of language occurs make a note of the change of language with a mechanism provided by the technology. Often in languages include 'borrowed' words. For example English takes the phrase 'laissez faire' from the French, however it has been almost naturalized into the language. Many authors would choose not to mark this as a change of language because it has been naturalized, however screen readers and audio browsers are not capable of pronouncing this correctly without the language change being noted. 'Laissez faire' is pronounced "lay-sez fair" however a screen reader might pronounce it "la-is-sez fair-ee" because it is trying to apply English grammar rules to the word. This will not be true of all borrowed words but authors should be aware of the issue and try to ensure that phrases which may be mispronounced by assistive technology are marked up as a change in language.

Editorial Note: Add a reference to the language codes.

It is imperative however that any significant changes in language of a document are marked up. If a document contains several primary languages, it should be marked with the primary language as that with the most content and the rest declared individually in blocks.

 

4.2 Identifying changes in language

Task:

Use the lang attribute to identify the natural language used in a document.

 

 

Level 3 Success Criteria

Where a word has multiple meanings and the intended meaning is not the first in the associated dictionary(s), then additional markup or another mechanism is provided for determining the correct meaning. [I]

 

 

5.10 Supplemental meaning cues

Task:

Use the span element with the title attribute to provide generic meaning cues.

 

 

 

 

Section headings and link text are understandable when read by themselves as a group (for example, in a screen reader's list of links or a table of contents). [V]

 

3.1.6 Link text

Task:

Use link text to describe your target page as clearly as possible.

Good link text should not be overly general; don't use "click here." Not only is this phrase device-dependent (it implies a pointing device) it says nothing about what is to be found if the link if followed. Instead of "click here", link text should indicate the nature of the link target, as in "more information about sea lions" or "text-only version of this page". Note that for the latter case (and other format- or language-specific documents), content developers are encouraged to use content negotiation instead, so that users who prefer text versions will have them served automatically.

3.1.7 Duplicate link text

Task:

Do not use the same link phrase more than once when the links point to different URLs.

If more than one link on a page shares the same link text, all those links should point to the same resource. Such consistency will help page design as well as accessibility.

If two or more links refer to different targets but share the same link text, distinguish the links by specifying a different value for the "title" attribute of each A element.

 

9.1 Supplement link text with the title attribute.

Task:

Where appropriate, use the title attribute of the a element to clarify links.

 

9.4 Link Groups

Task:

Group links structurally and identify the group with the title attribute.

 

 

 

 

There is a statement associated with the content asserting that the Strategies for Reducing the Complexity of Content (the following list) were considered. [V]

3.1.5 Writing style

Task:

Ensure that the content writing is simple and well organized.

Editorial Note: This is covered much more in-depth by the guidelines. It is unsure where this content should be. It is also very English centric. It should be discussed with the main group where this is to go and if it is merely going to refer to a techniques document for each language or whether it will be adapted during translation.

The following writing style suggestions should help make the content of your site easier to read for everyone, especially people with reading and/or cognitive disabilities. Several guides (including [HACKER]) discuss these and other writing style issues in more detail.

Strive for clear and accurate headings and link descriptions. This includes using link phrases that are terse and that make sense when read out of context or as part of a series of links (Some users browse by jumping from link to link and listening only to link text.) Use informative headings so that users can scan a page quickly for information rather than reading it in detail.

State the topic of the sentence or paragraph at the beginning of the sentence or paragraph (this is called "front-loading"). This will help both people who are skimming visually, but also people who use speech synthesizers. "Skimming" with speech currently means that the user jumps from heading to heading, or paragraph to paragraph and listens to just enough words to determine whether the current chunk of information (heading, paragraph, link, etc.) interests them. If the main idea of the paragraph is in the middle or at the end, speech users may have to listen to most of the document before finding what they want. Depending on what the user is looking for and how much they know about the topic, search features may also help users locate content more quickly.

Limit each paragraph to one main idea.

Avoid slang, jargon, and specialized meanings of familiar words, unless defined within your document.

Favor words that are commonly used. For example, use "begin" rather than "commence" or use "try" rather than "endeavor."

Use active rather than passive verbs.

Avoid complex sentence structures.

To help determine whether your document is easy to read, consider using the Gunning-Fog reading measure (described in[SPOOL] with examples and the algorithm online at [TECHHEAD]). This algorithm generally produces a lower score when content is easier to read. As example results, the Bible, Shakespeare, Mark Twain, and TV Guide all have Fog indexes of about 6. Time, Newsweek, and the Wall St. Journal an average Fog index of about 11.

 

 

 

 

Informative: 

Guideline 3.1 (meaning) Issues

Who Benefits from Guideline 3.1 (Informative)

Phrases from various languages are often interspersed in writing. When these phrases are identified, a speech synthesizer can voice text with the appropriate accent and pronunciation. When they are not identified, the speech synthesizer will use the default accent and pronunciation of the language on the rest of the content, which can make the phrase unintelligible. Identifying changes in language will also allow a tool to ask for automatic translations of that content. When editing content, authoring tools can switch between appropriate spelling dictionaries.

Providing the expansion of abbreviations and acronyms not only helps people who are not familiar with the abbreviation or acronym but can clarify which meaning of an abbreviation or acronym is appropriate to use. For example, the acronym "ADA" stands for both the American with Disabilities Act as well as the American Dental Association.

Defining key terms and specialized language will help people who are not familiar with the topic.

Facilitating unambiguous decoding of characters and words in content is also helpful for individuals who are learning to read or learning a second language.

All users, especially those with cognitive, learning, and/or reading disabilities benefit from the use of clear and simple writing. This should not discourage you from expressing complex or technical ideas.

Using clear and simple language also benefits people whose first language differs from your own, including those people who communicate primarily in sign language.

Sounds, graphics, videos and animations can help make concepts presented in a Web site easier to understand, especially for people with cognitive, reading, or learning disabilities or those who are unfamiliar with the language of the text of the site.

Summarizing information that is difficult to understand helps people who do not read well.

Providing a summary of the visual cues that show relationships between complex information helps people who do not use visual cues or who have difficulty using visual cues. For example, people who are completely blind do not use any visual cues, while people with dyslexia or with low vision might have difficulty interpreting visual cues.

Note:

Designers need to be cautious in deciding when to use illustrations. Reading a picture is probably a learned activity that is easier for some than others. Some users skip the pictures; others read only the pictures. Designers must also recognize that visual conventions are not universal and that individuals develop their own mental schema and expectations in interpreting visual information