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.