Techniques for Authoring Tool Accessibility Guidelines 1.0

Guideline 4. Provide ways of checking and correcting inaccessible content.

ATAG 4.1 Check for and inform the author of accessibility problems. [Relative Priority] (Checkpoint 4.1)

Note: Accessibility problems should be detected automatically where possible. Where this is not possible, the tool may need to prompt the author to make decisions or to manually check for certain types of problems. For the section below, the evaluation (ATAG 4.1) and repair (ATAG 4.2) techniques for each WCAG checkpoint have been grouped together in the AERT document but it still needs to be added here @@.

• T0186 See AERT document for evaluation and repair algorithms.(Suggested)
• T0187 Highlight problems detected when documents are opened, when an editing or insertion action is completed, or while an author is editing. Using CSS classes to indicate accessibility problems will enable the author to easily configure the presentation of errors.(Suggested)
• T0188 Alert authors to accessibility problems when saving.(Suggested)
• T0189 Accessibility problems can be highlighted using strategies similar to spell checking within a word processor. Accessibility alerts within the document can be linked to context sensitive help. Refer also to checkpoint 4.2.(Suggested)
• T0190 Where the tools cannot test for accessibility errors, provide the author with the necessary information, wizards, etc. to check for themselves.(Suggested)
• T0191 Include alerts for WCAG 1.0 [WCAG10] Priority 1 checkpoints in the default configuration.(Suggested)
• T0192 Provide an editing view that shows equivalent alternatives in the main content view to make it clear that they are necessary. This will make it obvious when they are missing.(Suggested)
• T0193 Allow authors to choose different alert levels based on the priority of authoring accessibility recommendations.(Suggested)
• T0194 If intrusive warnings are used, provide a means for the author to quickly set the warning to non-obtrusive to avoid frustration.(Suggested)

Reference:

• T0195 There are online tools whose output can be integrated with the user interface. Other tools are available for incorporation in existing software, either as licensed products or in some cases as "open source" solutions. The WAI Evaluation and Repair group maintains information about available tools [WAI-ER].
• T0196 The Web Accessibility Initiative's Protocols and Formats group have a draft set of notes about creating accessible markup languages [XMLGL].

ATAG 4.2 Assist authors in correcting accessibility problems. [Relative Priority] (Checkpoint 4.2)

• T0197 At a minimum, provide context-sensitive help with the accessibility checking required by checkpoint 4.1.(Suggested)
• T0198 Where there are site-wide errors, to make correction more efficient, allow the author to make site-wide changes or corrections. For example, this may be appropriate for a common error in markup, but may not be appropriate in providing a text equivalent that is appropriate for one use of an image but completely inappropriate for the other uses of the image on the same site (or even the same page).(Suggested)
• T0199 Assist authors in ways that are consistent with the look and feel of the authoring tool (See ATAG 5.1).(Suggested)
• T0200 Allow authors to control both the nature and timing of the correction process.(Suggested)
• T0201 Provide a mechanism for authors to navigate sequentially among uncorrected accessibility errors (See ATAG 7.4).(Suggested)

ATAG 4.3 Allow the author to preserve markup not recognized by the tool. [Priority 2] (Checkpoint 4.3)

Note: The author may have included or imported markup that enhances accessibility but is not recognized by the tool.

• T0202 If possible, preserve all unrecognized markup, since it might be related to accessibility (See ATAG 1.2).[Required] @@
• T0203 If changes to markup that is not recognized by the tool are necessary for the tool to further process the document (for example, a tool that requires valid markup when a document is opened), inform the author.[Required] @@
• T0204 Provide options for the author to confirm or override removal of markup on a change-by-change basis or as a batch process.(Suggested)
• T0205 Provide a summary of all automated structural changes that may affect accessibility.(Suggested)
• T0206 Do not change the DTD without notifying the author.(Suggested)

ATAG 4.4 Provide the author with a summary of the document's accessibility status. [Priority 3] (Checkpoint 4.4)

• T0207 Provide a list of all accessibility errors found in a Web page.[Required] @@
• T0208 Provide a summary of accessibility problems remaining by type and/or by number.(Suggested)

ATAG 4.5 Allow the author to transform presentation markup that is misused to convey structure into structural markup, and to transform presentation markup used for style into style sheets. [Priority 3] (Checkpoint 4.5)

T0209 Allow the author to define transformations for imported documents that have presentation, rather than structural, markup.[Required] @@

T0210 Remember that accessibility information, including attributes or properties of the elements being transformed, must be preserved - see checkpoint 1.2.[Required] @@

Some examples of transformations include (Suggested):

• T0211 Implementing XSLT in the tool.
• T0212 HTML table-based layout into CSS.
• T0213 HTML BR to the P element.
• T0214 HTML (deprecated) FONT into heuristically or author-determined structure.
• T0215 Word processor styles to Web styles.
• T0216 HTML deprecated presentational markup into CSS.
• T0217 XHTML span into ruby.
• T0218 MathML presentational markup to semantic markup.

T0219 Implement XSLT [XSLT] together with a user-interface for expressing transformations (see ATAG 2.1).(Suggested)

T0220 Allow the author to create style rules based on the formatting properties of an element, and then apply the rule to other elements in the document, to assist conversion of documents to the use of style sheets(Suggested)

T0221 Include pre-written transformations to rationalize multiple tables, and to transform (deprecated) presentation HTML into style sheets.(Suggested)