WCAG 2.1 QA Checklist

This is a detailed list of editorial characteristics to assure completeness and consistency in WCAG 2.1.

• SC
  • Header uses title case
  • Lists in SC
    • Lists with headers use definition lists and title case in headers (styling will be used to avoid a definition list look)
    • Lists without headers use unordered lists
    • List items end with semi-colons, last item ends with period
  • Exceptions should be at end of SC
  • Notes are not normative, so should be used only for clarifications
  • Editorial notes are used as notes to the reader of the draft, and should be able to be removed without changing meaning
  • Wording describes a success condition, not worded imperatively
  • Common usages
    • "programmatically determined", not "determinable" etc.
    • "a mechanism is available" not "there is a mechanism to" etc.
  • SC should start with the header, then the conformance level, then the change indicator, then the ednote pointing to issues, then the SC text.
  • Only link to terms on first usage of the term in a given SC.
• Terms
  • Use a singular, not plural form in the definition; use data-lt attributes if plural forms needed inline in SC
  • terms are lower case unless using proper names other other forms that must be capitalized
  • first line of term should be a phrase that in principle could drop in place of the term within the SC text
  • first line of term is not capitalized and does not end with punctuation
  • Additional information for the definition starts in a new paragraph, and uses full sentences and normal capitalization
  • use the shortest clear version of the term, with expansions if needed in a parenthetical, e.g., "easily available" is the term, followed by "(or easily available mode or setting)"
  • minimize alternate forms of term, normally there should be only one or two forms
  • referenced from somewhere in the doc
• Meta information
  • New SC should be marked with class="new" on the section element, and a paragraph with class="change" and text content "New". A paragraph with class="new" will not format correctly.
  • Conformance level should be indicated in a paragraph with class="conformance-level".
  • Notes pointing to issues should be in a paragraph with class="ednote".
• Understanding
  • Understanding page exists for each SC
  • Understanding file named same as SC file
  • Understanding file referenced from Understanding index
  • Properly follows the Understanding template
• General
  • Avoid first or second person voices
  • Follow W3C Manual of Style and Chicago Manual of Style, notably use U.S. English spelling, Oxford comma, ...
  • Keep related clauses together in the sentence, don't separate and reference with prepositions unnecessarily.