This document is an appendix to the W3C "User Agent Accessibility
Guidelines 1.0". 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 tabular version of the list of
checkpoints is also available (e.g., for printing).
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.
This document has been produced as part of the Web Accessibility Initiative. The goal of the WAI User Agent Guidelines Working Group is
discussed in the Working
Group charter.
A list of current W3C Recommendations and other technical documents can be
found at http://www.w3.org/TR.
Priorities
Each checkpoint in this document is assigned a priority that indicates its
importance for users with disabilities.
- [Priority 1]
- This checkpoint must be satisfied by user agents,
otherwise one or more groups of users with disabilities will find it impossible
to access the Web. Satisfying this checkpoint is a basic requirement for
enabling some people to access the Web.
- [Priority 2]
- This checkpoint should be satisfied by user agents,
otherwise one or more groups of users with disabilities will find it difficult
to access the Web. Satisfying this checkpoint will remove significant barriers
to Web access for some people.
- [Priority 3]
- This checkpoint may be satisfied by user agents to make it
easier for one or more groups of users with disabilities to access information.
Satisfying this checkpoint will improve access to the Web for some people.
Priority 1 checkpoints
In General (Priority 1)
Control of style (Priority 1)
-
Checkpoint 2.2 For presentations that require user input within a
specified time interval, allow the user to configure the time interval (e.g.,
to extend it or to cause the user agent to pause the presentation automatically
and await user input before proceeding). (Techniques for
2.2)
- Checkpoint 2.4 Allow the
user to specify that text transcripts, collated text transcripts, captions, and
auditory descriptions be rendered at the same time as the associated auditory
and visual tracks. Respect author-specified synchronization cues during
rendering.
(Techniques for 2.4)
- Checkpoint 3.1 Allow the
user to turn on and off rendering of background images.
(Techniques for 3.1)
- Checkpoint 3.2 Allow the
user to turn on and off rendering of background audio.
(Techniques for 3.2)
- Checkpoint
3.3 Allow the user to turn on and off rendering of video. (Techniques for
3.3)
- Checkpoint
3.4 Allow the user to turn on and off rendering of audio. (Techniques for
3.4)
- Checkpoint 3.5 Allow the user
to turn on and off animated or blinking text. (Techniques
for 3.5)
- Checkpoint 3.6 Allow the
user to turn on and off animations and blinking images.
(Techniques for 3.6)
-
Checkpoint 3.7 Allow the user to turn on and off support for scripts
and applets. (Techniques for
3.7)
- Checkpoint 4.1 Allow the user
to configure the size of text. (Techniques
for 4.1)
- Checkpoint 4.2 Allow the user
to configure font family. (Techniques
for 4.2)
- Checkpoint 4.3 Allow the
user to configure foreground color.
(Techniques for 4.3)
- Checkpoint 4.4 Allow the
user to configure background color.
(Techniques for 4.4)
-
Checkpoint 4.5 Allow the user to slow the presentation rate of audio,
video, and animations. (Techniques for
4.5)
- Checkpoint 4.6 Allow the user to
start, stop, pause, advance, and rewind audio, video, and animations. (Techniques
for 4.6)
- Checkpoint 4.7 Allow the user to
position text transcripts, collated text transcripts, and captions on graphical
displays. (Techniques
for 4.7)
- Checkpoint 4.9 Allow the user
to configure synthesized speech playback rate. (Techniques
for 4.9)
- Checkpoint 4.10 Allow the
user to configure synthesized speech volume.
(Techniques for 4.10)
- Checkpoint 4.12 Allow the user
to select from available author and user style sheets or to ignore them.
(Techniques for 4.12)
User Interface (Priority 1)
For Keyboard and other Input Devices (Priority 1)
For Communication (Priority 1)
- Checkpoint 1.1 Ensure that
every functionality available through the user interface is also available
through every input API implemented by the user agent. (Techniques
for 1.1)
- Checkpoint 1.2 Use the standard
input and output device APIs of the operating system. (Techniques
for 1.2)
- Checkpoint 1.4 Ensure
that the user can interact with all active elements in a device-independent
manner.
(Techniques for 1.4)
- Checkpoint
1.5 Ensure every non-text message (e.g., prompt, alert, notification,
etc.) that is part of the user agent's user interface also has a text
equivalent in the user interface. (Techniques for
1.5)
-
Checkpoint 5.1 Provide programmatic read access to
HTML and XML content by conforming to the W3C
Document Object Model (DOM)
Level 2 Core and HTML modules and exporting the interfaces
they define. (Techniques for
5.1)
-
Checkpoint 5.2 If the user can modify HTML and XML
content through the user interface, provide the same functionality
programmatically by conforming to the W3C Document Object Model (DOM) Level 2 Core and
HTML modules and exporting the interfaces they define. (Techniques for
5.2)
- Checkpoint 5.3 For markup
languages other than HTML and XML, provide programmatic
access to content using standard APIs (e.g., platform-independent APIs and
standard APIs for the operating system). (Techniques
for 5.3)
-
Checkpoint 5.4 Provide programmatic read and write access to user
agent user interface controls using standard APIs (e.g., platform-independent
APIs such as the W3C DOM, standard APIs for the operating
system, and conventions for programming languages, plug-ins, virtual machine
environments, etc.) (Techniques for
5.4)
- Checkpoint
5.5 Provide programmatic notification of changes to content and user
interface controls (including selection, content focus, and user interface
focus).
(Techniques for 5.5)
- Checkpoint 10.1 Provide
information to the user about current user preferences for input configurations
(e.g., keyboard or voice bindings).
(Techniques for 10.1)
Priority 2 checkpoints
In General (Priority 2)
- Checkpoint
2.5 When the author has not specified a text equivalent for content as
required by the markup language, make available other author-specified
information about the content (e.g., object type, file name, etc.). (Techniques for
2.5)
-
Checkpoint 5.8 Follow operating system conventions that affect
accessibility. In particular, follow conventions for user interface design,
keyboard configuration, product installation, and documentation. (Techniques for
5.8)
- Checkpoint 6.2 Use and conform
to W3C Recommendations when they are available and appropriate for a task.
(Techniques for 6.2)
-
Checkpoint 7.4 Allow the user to choose to navigate only active
elements. (Techniques for
7.4)
- Checkpoint
7.5 Allow the user to search for rendered text content, including
rendered text equivalents. (Techniques for
7.5)
-
Checkpoint 7.6 Allow the user to navigate efficiently to and among
important structural elements identified by the author. (Techniques for
7.6)
-
Checkpoint 8.2 Indicate to the user whether a link has been visited.
(Techniques for 8.2)
-
Checkpoint 8.3 Indicate to the user whether a link has been marked up
to indicate that following it will involve a fee. (Techniques for
8.3)
- Checkpoint 8.4 Make available
to the user an "outline" view of content, built from structural elements (e.g.,
frames, headings, lists, forms, tables, etc.). (Techniques
for 8.4)
-
Checkpoint 8.10 Provide a mechanism for highlighting and identifying
active elements. (Techniques for
8.10)
- Checkpoint
10.7 For the configuration requirements of this document, allow the
user to save user preferences in a profile. (Techniques for
10.7)
- Checkpoint 11.4 In a
dedicated section of the documentation, describe all features of the user agent
that promote accessibility.
(Techniques for 11.4)
-
Checkpoint 11.5 In each software release, document all changes that
affect accessibility. (Techniques for
11.5)
Control of style (Priority 2)
User Interface (Priority 2)
For Keyboard and other Input Devices (Priority 2)
For Communication (Priority 2)
Priority 3 checkpoints
In General (Priority 3)
- Checkpoint
2.6 When a text equivalent for content is explicitly empty (i.e., an
empty string), render nothing. (Techniques for
2.6)
- Checkpoint 2.7 For
author-identified but unsupported natural languages, allow the user to request
notification of language changes in content.
(Techniques for 2.7)
- Checkpoint 7.7 Allow the user
to configure structured navigation. (Techniques
for 7.7)
- Checkpoint 8.5 Allow the
user to configure the outline view.
(Techniques for 8.5)
- Checkpoint
8.6 To help the user decide whether to follow a link, make available
link information specified by the author and computed by the user agent. (Techniques for
8.6)
-
Checkpoint 9.4 When transferring content (e.g., a document, image,
audio, video, etc.) indicate what proportion of the content has been
transferred and whether the transfer has stalled. (Techniques for
9.4)
-
Checkpoint 9.5 Indicate the relative position of the viewport in
rendered content (e.g., the percentage of an audio or video clip that has been
played, the percentage of a Web page that has been viewed, etc.). (Techniques for
9.5)
User Interface (Priority 3)
For Keyboard and other Input Devices (Priority 3)
For Communication (Priority 3)
-
Checkpoint 5.7 Provide programmatic access to Cascading Style Sheets
(CSS) by conforming to the W3C Document Object Model
(DOM) Level 2
CSS module and exporting the interfaces it defines. (Techniques for
5.7)
For the latest version of any
W3C specification please consult the list of W3C
Technical Reports at http://www.w3.org/TR.
- [WCAG10]
- "Web Content
Accessibility Guidelines 1.0", W. Chisholm, G. Vanderheiden, and I. Jacobs,
eds., 5 May 1999. This WCAG 1.0 Recommendation is
http://www.w3.org/TR/1999/WAI-WEBCONTENT-19990505.