Techniques for WCAG 2.0

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G89: Providing expected data format and example

Applicability

Pages that collect information from users, and restrict the format the user can use.

This technique relates to:

Description

The objective of this technique is to help the user avoid input errors by informing them about restrictions on the format of data that they must enter. This can be done by describing characteristics of the format or providing a sample of the format the data should have.

Note: For data formats with common variations, such as dates and times, it may be useful to provide a preference option so users can use the format that is most comfortable to them.

Examples

Example 1

The following HTML form control for a date indicates in the label that the date must be in day-month-year format, not month-day-year as many users in the United States may assume.

Example Code:


              <label for="date">Date (dd-mm-yyyy)</label>
                <input type="text" name="date" id="date" />
            

Tests

Procedure

  1. Identify form controls that will only accept user input data in a given format.

  2. Determine if each of the form controls identified in 1 provides information about the expected format.

Expected Results

If this is a sufficient technique for a success criterion, failing this test procedure does not necessarily mean that the success criterion has not been satisfied in some other way, only that this technique has not been successfully implemented and can not be used to claim conformance.

Techniques are Informative

Techniques are informative—that means they are not required. The basis for determining conformance to WCAG 2.0 is the success criteria from the WCAG 2.0 standard—not the techniques. For important information about techniques, please see the Understanding Techniques for WCAG Success Criteria section of Understanding WCAG 2.0.