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This document is an appendix to "User Agent Accessibility Guidelines 1.0" [UAAG10]. It provides a list of all checkpoints from the User Agent Accessibility Guidelines 1.0, organized by concept, as a checklist for user agent developers. Please refer to the Guidelines document for introductory information, information about related documents, a glossary of terms, and more.
This list may be used to review a tool or set of tools for accessibility. For each checkpoint, indicate whether the checkpoint has been satisfied, has not been satisfied, or is not applicable.
A list version of the checkpoints is also available.
This section describes the status of this document at the time of its publication. Other documents may supersede this document. The latest status of this document series is maintained at the W3C.
This document is an appendix to a Working Draft. It is a draft document and may be updated, replaced or obsoleted by other documents at any time. It is inappropriate to use W3C Working Drafts as reference material or to cite them as other than "work in progress". This is work in progress and does not imply endorsement by, or the consensus of, W3C Members.
Please send comments about this document to the public mailing list w3c-wai-ua@w3.org; public archives are available.
This document has been produced as part of the Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI). WAI Accessibility Guidelines are produced as part of the WAI Technical Activity. The goal of the WAI User Agent Accessibility Guidelines Working Group is discussed in the Working Group charter.
A list of current W3C Recommendations and other technical documents can be found at the W3C Web site.
Note: To reduce the length of this document, some normative information about checkpoints does not appear in the checklist below. Please refer to the Guidelines document for additional information on normative inclusions and exclusions, and for information about sufficient techniques.
Each checkpoint in this document is assigned a priority that indicates its importance for users with disabilities.
Checkpoints | Provisions | Satisfied | Comments |
---|---|---|---|
1.1 Full keyboard
access. (P1) |
1. Ensure that the user can operate through keyboard input alone any user agent functionality available through the user interface. | ||
1.2 Activate
event handlers. (P1)
|
1. Allow the user to activate, through keyboard input alone, all event handlers of any input device event type that are explicitly associated with the element designated by the content focus. | ||
2. In order to satisfy provision one, the user must be able to activate as a group all event handlers of the same input device event type. | |||
1.3 Provide text messages.
(P1) |
1. Ensure that every message (e.g., prompt, alert, notification, etc.) that is a non-text element and is part of the user agent user interface has a text equivalent. | ||
2.1 Render content
according to specification. (P1) |
1. Render content according to format specification (e.g., for a markup language or style sheet language). | ||
2.2 Provide text view.
(P1) |
1. For content authored in text formats, provide a view of the text source. For the purposes of this checkpoint, a text format is any media object given an Internet media type of "text" (e.g., text/plain, text/html, or text/*) as defined in RFC 2046 [RFC2046], section 4.1. | ||
2.3 Render conditional
content. (P1) |
1. Allow configuration to provide access to each piece of unrendered conditional content "C". | ||
2. When a specification does not explain how to provide access to this
content, do so as follows:
|
|||
2.4 Allow
time-independent interaction. (P1) |
1. For rendered content where user input is only possible within a finite time interval controlled by the user agent, allow configuration to provide a view where user interaction is time-independent. | ||
2.5 Make captions,
transcripts, audio descriptions available.
(P1) |
1. Allow configuration or control to render text transcripts, collated text transcripts, captions, and audio descriptions at the same time as the associated audio tracks and visual tracks. | ||
2.6 Respect
synchronization cues. (P1) |
1. Respect synchronization cues (e.g., in markup) during rendering. | ||
3.1 Toggle
background images. (P1)
|
1. Allow configuration not to render background image content. | ||
3.2 Toggle audio,
video, animated images. (P1) |
1. Allow configuration not to render audio, video, or animated image content, except on explicit user request. | ||
3.3 Toggle
animated/blinking text. (P1) |
1. Allow configuration to render animated or blinking text content as motionless, unblinking text. Blinking text is text whose visual rendering alternates between visible and invisible, at any rate of change. | ||
3.4 Toggle scripts. (P1) |
1. Allow configuration not to execute any executable content (e.g., scripts and applets). | ||
3.5 Toggle
automatic content retrieval. (P1) |
1. Allow configuration so that the user agent only retrieves content on explicit user request. | ||
4.1 Configure text
size. (P1) |
1. Allow global configuration of the scale of visually rendered text. Preserve text size differences when the user changes the scale. | ||
2. As part of satisfying provision one, provide a configuration option to override rendered text sizes specified by the author or user agent defaults. | |||
3. As part of satisfying provision one, offer a range of text sizes to the
user that includes at least:
|
|||
4.2 Configure font
family. (P1) |
1. Allow global configuration of the font family of all visually rendered text, with an option to override font families specified by the author or by user agent defaults. | ||
2. As part of satisfying provision one, offer a range of font families to
the user that includes at least:
|
|||
4.3 Configure text
colors. (P1) |
1. Allow global configuration of the foreground and background color of all visually rendered text, with an option to override foreground and background colors specified by the author or user agent defaults. | ||
2. As part of satisfying provision one, offer a range of colors to the user
that includes at least:
|
|||
4.4 Slow multimedia. (P1) |
1. Allow the user to slow the presentation rate of rendered audio and animations (including video and animated images). | ||
2. As part of satisfying provision one, for a visual track, provide at least one setting between 40% and 60% of the original speed. | |||
3. As part of satisfying provision one, for a prerecorded audio track including audio-only presentations, provide at least one setting between 75% and 80% of the original speed. | |||
4. When the user agent allows the user to slow the visual track of a synchronized multimedia presentation to between 100% and 80% of its original speed, synchronize the visual and audio tracks (per checkpoint 2.6). Below 80%, the user agent is not required to render the audio track. | |||
4.5 Start, stop, pause,
and navigate multimedia. (P1) |
1. Allow the user to stop, pause, and resume rendered audio and animations (including video and animated images) that last three or more seconds at their default playback rate. | ||
2. Allow the user to navigate efficiently within audio and animations (including video and animated images) that last three or more seconds at their default playback rate. | |||
4.6 Do no obscure
captions. (P1) |
1. For graphical viewports, allow configuration so that captions synchronized with a visual track are not obscured by it. | ||
4.7 Global volume
control. (P1)
|
1. Allow global configuration of the volume of all rendered audio, with an option to override audio volumes specified by the author or user agent defaults. | ||
2. As part of satisfying provision one, allow the user to choose zero volume (i.e., silent). | |||
4.8 Independent
volume control. (P1)
|
1. Allow independent control of the volumes of rendered audio sources synchronized to play simultaneously. | ||
4.9 Configure
synthesized speech rate. (P1)
|
1. Allow configuration of the synthesized speech rate, according to the full range offered by the speech synthesizer. | ||
4.10 Configure
synthesized speech volume. (P1)
|
1. Allow control of the synthesized speech volume, independent of other sources of audio. | ||
4.11 Configure synthesized speech characteristics. (P1)
|
1. Allow configuration of synthesized speech characteristics according to the full range of values offered by the speech synthesizer. | ||
4.14 Choose style
sheets. (P1) |
1. Allow the user to choose from and apply alternative author style sheets (such as linked style sheets). | ||
2. Allow the user to choose from and apply at least one user style sheet. | |||
3. Allow the user to ignore author and user style sheets. | |||
6.1 Programmatic access to
HTML/XML infoset. (P1) |
1. Provide programmatic read access to XML content by making available all of the information items defined by the W3C XML Infoset [INFOSET]. | ||
2. Provide programmatic read access to HTML content by
making available all of the following information items defined by the W3C XML
Infoset [INFOSET]:
|
|||
3. If the user can modify HTML and XML content through the user interface (e.g., through form controls), allow for the same modifications programmatically. | |||
6.2 DOM access to HTML/XML
content. (P1) |
1. As part of satisfying
checkpoint 6.1, conform to the following modules of the W3C Document Object
Model DOM Level 2 Core
Specification [DOM2CORE] and exporting bindings
for the interfaces they define:
|
||
2. As part of satisfying provision one:
|
|||
6.3 Programmatic access
to non-HTML/XML content. (P1) |
1. For content other than HTML and XML, provide structured programmatic read access to content, and write access to those parts of content that the user can modify through the user interface. | ||
2. As part of satisfying provision one, implement at least one API
according to this API cascade:
|
|||
6.4 Programmatic
access to rendering structure. (P1) |
1. For graphical user agents, provide programmatic read access to visually rendered information. | ||
2. As part of satisfying provision one, implement at least one API according to the API cascade described in provision 2 of checkpoint 6.3. | |||
6.5 Programmatic operation.
(P1) |
1. Provide programmatic read access to user agent user interface controls. | ||
2. Provide programmatic write access for those user agent user interface controls that the user can modify through the user interface. | |||
3. As part of satisfying provisions one and two, implement at least one API according to the API cascade described in provision 2 of checkpoint 6.3. | |||
6.6 Programmatic
notification of changes. (P1) |
1. Provide programmatic notification of changes to content, user interface controls, selection, content focus, and user interface focus. | ||
2. As part of satisfying provision one, implement at least one API according to the API cascade of provision 2 of checkpoint 6.3. | |||
6.7 Conventional keyboard
APIs. (P1) |
1. Implement APIs for the keyboard as follows:
|
||
6.8 API character
encodings. (P1) |
1. For an API implemented to satisfy requirements of this document, support the character encodings required for that API. | ||
7.1 Respect
focus and selection conventions. (P1)
|
1. Follow operating environment conventions that benefit accessibility when implementing the selection, content focus, and user interface focus. | ||
7.2 Respect input
configuration conventions. (P1)
|
1. Ensure that default input configurations of the user agent do not interfere with operating environment accessibility conventions (e.g., for keyboard accessibility). | ||
8.1 Implement
accessibility features. (P1)
|
1. Implement the accessibility features of specifications (markup languages, style sheet languages, metadata languages, graphics formats, etc.). | ||
9.1 Provide content
focus. (P1) |
1. Provide at least one content focus for each viewport (including frames) where enabled elements are part of the rendered content. | ||
2. Allow the user to make the content focus of each viewport the current focus. | |||
9.2 Provide user interface
focus. (P1) |
1. Provide a user interface focus. | ||
9.3 Move content focus. (P1) |
1. Allow the user to move the content focus to any enabled element in the viewport. | ||
2. Allow configuration so that the content focus of a viewport only changes on explicit user request. Configuration is not required if the content focus only ever changes on explicit user request. See checkpoints 5.1 and 6.6 for more information about focus changes. | |||
3. If the author has not specified a navigation order, allow at least forward sequential navigation, in document order, to each element in the set established by provision one. | |||
9.4 Restore viewport
state history. (P1)
|
1. For user agents that implement a viewport history mechanism, for each state in a viewport's browsing history, maintain information about the point of regard, content focus, and selection. | ||
2. When the user returns to any state in the viewport history (e.g., via the "back button"), restore the saved values for the point of regard, content focus, and selection. | |||
10.1 Associate table cells
and headers. (P1) |
1. For graphical user agents that render tables, allow the user to view the header information associated with any table cell in the same viewport and at the same time as the table cell. | ||
10.2 Highlight
selection, content focus, enabled elements, visited links. (P1)
|
1. Allow global configuration to highlight the following four classes of information in each viewport: the selection, content focus, enabled elements, and recently visited links. | ||
2. For graphical user interfaces, as part of satisfying provision one,
allow at least one configuration where the highlight mechanisms for the four
classes of information:
|
|||
3. For graphical user interfaces, as part of satisfying provision one, if a
highlight mechanism involves text size, font family, rendered text foreground
and background colors, or text decorations, offer at least the following range
of values:
|
|||
4. Highlight enabled elements according to the granularity specified in the format. For example, an HTML user agent rendering a PNG image as part of a client-side image map is only required to highlight the image as a whole, not each enabled region. An SVG user agent rendering an SVG image with embedded graphical links is required to highlight each (enabled) link that may be rendered independently according to the SVG specification. | |||
10.6 Highlight current
viewport. (P1) |
1. Allow global configuration to highlight the viewport with the current focus (including any frame that takes current focus). | ||
2. For graphical viewports, as part of satisfying provision one, allow at least one configuration where the highlight mechanism does not rely on rendered text foreground and background colors alone (e.g., use a thick outline). | |||
3. If the techniques used to satisfy provision one involve rendered text size, font family, rendered text foreground and background colors, or text decorations, offer the same ranges of values required by provision three of checkpoint 10.2. | |||
11.1 Current user
input configuration. (P1) |
1. Provide information to the user about current user preferences for input configurations. | ||
12.1 Provide accessible
documentation. (P1) |
1. Ensure that at least one version of the user agent documentation conforms to at least level Double-A of the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 1.0 [WCAG10]. | ||
12.2 Document
accessibility features. (P1) |
1. Document all user agent features that benefit accessibility. | ||
12.3 Document
default bindings. (P1) |
1. Document the default user agent input configuration (e.g., the default keyboard bindings). |
Checkpoints | Provisions | Satisfied | Comments |
---|---|---|---|
2.7 Repair missing content.
(P2) |
1. Allow configuration to generate repair text when the user agent recognizes that the author has failed to provide conditional content that was required by the format specification. | ||
3.6 Toggle images. (P2)
|
1. Allow configuration not to render image content. | ||
4.12 Specific
synthesized speech characteristics. (P2)
|
1. Allow configuration of synthesized speech pitch. Pitch refers to the average frequency of the speaking voice. | ||
2. Allow configuration of synthesized speech pitch range. Pitch range specifies a variation in average frequency. | |||
3. Allow configuration of synthesized speech stress. Stress refers to the height of "local peaks" in the intonation contour of the voice. | |||
4. Allow configuration of synthesized speech richness. Richness refers to the richness or brightness of the voice. | |||
4.13 Configure
synthesized speech features. (P2)
|
1. Provide support for user-defined extensions to the synthesized speech dictionary. | ||
2. Provide support for spell-out: where text is spelled one character at a time, or according to language-dependent pronunciation rules. | |||
3. Allow at least two configurations for speaking numerals: one where numerals are spoken as individual digits, and one where full numbers are spoken. | |||
4. Allow at least two configurations for speaking punctuation: one where punctuation is spoken literally, and one where punctuation is rendered as natural pauses. | |||
5.1 No automatic
content focus change. (P2) |
1. Allow configuration so that if a viewport opens without explicit user request, its content focus does not automatically become the current focus. | ||
5.2 Keep viewport on top.
(P2) |
1. For graphical user interfaces, allow configuration so that the viewport with the current focus remains "on top" of all other viewports with which it overlaps. | ||
5.3 Manual viewport open
only. (P2) |
1. Allow configuration so that viewports only open on explicit user request. | ||
2. When configured per provision one, instead of opening a viewport automatically, alert the user and allow the user to open it on demand (e.g., by following a link or confirming a prompt). | |||
3. Allow the user to close viewports. | |||
5.4 Selection and
focus in viewport. (P2)
|
1. Ensure that when a viewport's selection or content focus changes, it is at least partially in the viewport after the change. | ||
5.5 Confirm form
submission. (P2) |
1. Allow configuration to prompt the user to confirm (or cancel) any form submission. | ||
6.9 DOM access to CSS style
sheets. (P2) |
1. For user agents that implement Cascading Style Sheets (CSS), provide programmatic access to style sheets by conforming to the CSS module of the W3C Document Object Model (DOM) Level 2 Style Specification [DOM2STYLE] and exporting bindings for the interfaces it defines. | ||
2. As part of satisfying provision one:
|
|||
6.10 Timely exchanges
through APIs. (P2) |
1. For APIs implemented to satisfy the requirements of this document, ensure that programmatic exchanges proceed in a timely manner. | ||
7.3 Respect operating
environment conventions. (P2) |
1. Follow operating environment conventions that benefit accessibility. In particular, follow conventions that benefit accessibility for user interface design, keyboard configuration, product installation, and documentation. | ||
7.4 Provide input
configuration indications. (P2) |
1. Follow operating environment conventions to indicate the input configuration. | ||
8.2 Conform to
specifications. (P2) |
1. Use and conform to either
|
||
9.5 No events on
focus change. (P2)
|
1. Allow configuration so that moving the content focus to or from an enabled element does not automatically activate any explicitly associated event handlers of any event type. | ||
9.6 Show event handlers.
(P2)
|
1. For the element with content focus, make available the list of input device event types for which there are event handlers explicitly associated with the element. | ||
9.7 Move content focus in
reverse. (P2) |
1. As part of satisfying provision three of checkpoint 9.3, allow the same sequential navigation in reverse document order. | ||
2. As part of satisfying provision three of checkpoint 9.3, the user agent must not include disabled elements in the navigation order. | |||
9.8 Provide text search. (P2) |
1. Allow the user to search within rendered text for a sequence of characters from the document character set. | ||
2. Allow the user to start a forward search (in document order) from any selected or focused location in content. | |||
3. When there is a match, do both of the following:
|
|||
4. Alert the user when there is no match, when the search reaches the end of content, and prior to any wrapping. A wrapping search is one that restarts automatically at the beginning of content once the end of content has been reached. | |||
5. Provide a case-insensitive search option for text in scripts (i.e., writing systems) where case is significant. | |||
9.9 Allow structured
navigation. (P2) |
1. Allow the user to navigate efficiently to and among important structural elements in rendered content. | ||
2. As part of satisfying provision one, allow forward and backward sequential navigation. | |||
10.3 Single
highlight configuration. (P2)
|
1. As part of satisfying provision two of checkpoint 10.2, allow configuration through a single setting. | ||
10.4 Provide outline
view. (P2) |
1. Make available to the user an "outline" view of content, composed of labels for important structural elements (e.g., heading text, table titles, form titles, and other labels that are part of the content). | ||
11.2 Current
author input configuration. (P2) |
1. Provide a centralized view of the current author-specified input configuration. | ||
11.3 Allow override of
bindings. (P2) |
1. Allow the user to override any binding that is part of the user agent default input configuration. | ||
11.4 Single-key access. (P2) |
1. As part of satisfying checkpoint 11.3 for the keyboard, allow the user to override any binding in the user agent default keyboard configuration with a binding to either a key plus modifier keys or to a single key. | ||
2. For each functionality in the set required by checkpoint 11.5, allow the user to configure a single-key binding. A single-key binding is one where a single key press performs the task, with zero modifier keys. | |||
11.5 Default input
configuration. (P2) |
1. Ensure that the user agent default input configuration includes bindings
for the following functionalities required by other checkpoints in this
document:
|
||
2. If the user agent supports the following functionalities, the default
input configuration must also include bindings for them:
|
|||
11.6 User profiles. (P2) |
1. For the configuration requirements of this document, allow the user to save user preferences in at least one user profile. | ||
2. Allow the user to choose from among available default profiles, profiles created by the same user, and no profile (i.e., the user agent default settings). | |||
12.4 Document changes
between versions. (P2) |
1. Document changes from the previous version of the user agent to features that benefit accessibility, including features of the user interface. | ||
12.5 Provide
dedicated accessibility section. (P2) |
1. As part of satisfying checkpoint 12.2, provide a centralized view of all features of the user agent that benefit accessibility, in a dedicated section of the documentation. |
Checkpoints | Provisions | Satisfied | Comments |
---|---|---|---|
2.8 No repair text. (P3) |
1. Allow at least two configurations for when the user agent recognizes
that conditional content required by the format specification is present but
empty:
|
||
2.9 Render
conditional content automatically. (P3) |
1. Allow configuration to render all conditional content automatically. | ||
2. As part of satisfying provision one, provide access according to specification, or where unspecified, by applying one of the techniques described in checkpoint 2.3: 1a, 2a, or 1b. | |||
2.10 Don't
render unsupported language. (P3) |
1. Allow configuration not to render content in unsupported natural languages, when that content would otherwise be rendered. Content "in a natural language" includes pre-recorded spoken language and text in a given script, i.e., writing system. | ||
2. When configured per provision one, indicate to the user in context that author-supplied content has not been rendered. | |||
9.10 Configure
important elements. (P3) |
1. Allow configuration of the set of important elements identified in checkpoints 9.9 and 10.4. | ||
2. As part of satisfying provision one, allow the user to include and exclude element types in the set. | |||
10.5 Provide link information.
(P3) |
1. To help the user decide whether to traverse a link, make available the
following information about it:
|
||
10.7 Indicate viewport
position. (P3) |
1. Indicate the viewport's position relative to rendered content (e.g., the proportion of an audio or video clip that has been played, the proportion of a Web page that has been viewed, etc.). | ||
11.7 Tool bar
configuration. (P3) |
1. For graphical user agent user interfaces with tool bars, allow the user to configure the position of controls on those tool bars. | ||
2. Offer a predefined set of controls that may be added to or removed from tool bars. | |||
3. Allow the user to restore the default tool bar configuration. |
For the latest version of any W3C specification please consult the list of W3C Technical Reports at http://www.w3.org/TR.