
List of Checkpoints for User Agent Accessibility Guidelines
1.0
- This version:
-
http://www.w3.org/WAI/UA/WD-UAAG10-20001229/uaag10-chklist
- (plain text,
PostScript, PDF)
- This document is an appendix to:
-
http://www.w3.org/WAI/UA/WD-UAAG10-20001229
- Latest version of User Agent Accessibility Guidelines 1.0:
-
http://www.w3.org/WAI/UA/UAAG10
- Editors:
- Ian Jacobs, W3C
Jon Gunderson, University of Illinois at
Urbana-Champaign
Eric Hansen, Educational Testing Service
Copyright
©1999 - 2000 W3C® (MIT,
INRIA, Keio), All Rights
Reserved. W3C
liability,
trademark, document
use and software
licensing rules apply.
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 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; public archives are
available.
This document has been produced as part of the Web Accessibility Initiative. 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.
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
For Content Accessibility (Priority 1)
- Checkpoint 2.1 Make all
content available through the user interface.
(Techniques for 2.1)
- Checkpoint 2.2 For a
presentation that requires user input within a specified time interval, allow
the user to configure the user agent to pause the presentation automatically
and await user input before proceeding. (Techniques
for 2.2)
- Checkpoint 2.3 Provide easy
access to each equivalent and each equivalency target through at least one of
the following mechanisms: (1) allowing configuration to render the equivalent
instead of the equivalency target; (2) allowing configuration to render the
equivalent in addition to the equivalency target; (3) allowing the user to
select the equivalency target and then inspect its equivalents; (4) providing a
direct link to the equivalent in content, just before or after the equivalency
target in document order. (Techniques
for 2.3)
- 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 audio
and visual tracks.
(Techniques for 2.4)
- Checkpoint 2.5 Respect
author-specified synchronization cues during rendering.
(Techniques for 2.5)
- Checkpoint
3.1 Allow the user to configure the user agent not to render
background images. In this configuration, provide an option to alert the user
when a background image is available but has not been rendered.
(Techniques for 3.1)
- Checkpoint 3.2 Allow the
user to configure the user agent not to render audio, video, or animated images
except on explicit request from the user. In this configuration, provide an
option to render a substitute placeholder in context for each unrendered source
of audio, video, or animated image. When placeholders are rendered, allow the
user to activate each placeholder individually and replace it with the original
author-supplied content.
(Techniques for 3.2)
- Checkpoint 3.3 Allow the
user to configure the user agent to render animated or blinking text as
motionless text.
(Techniques for 3.3)
- Checkpoint 3.4 Allow
the user to configure the user agent to render blinking images as motionless
images.
(Techniques for 3.4)
- Checkpoint 3.5 Allow the user
to configure the user agent not to execute scripts or applets. In this
configuration, provide an option to alert the user when scripts or applets are
available. (Techniques
for 3.5)
- Checkpoint 4.1 Allow the
user to configure and control the reference size of rendered text with an
option to override author-specified and user agent default sizes of rendered
text. Make available the range of system font sizes.
(Techniques for 4.1)
- Checkpoint 4.2 Allow the
user to configure the font family of all rendered text, with an option to
override author-specified, and user agent default, font families. Allow the
user to select from among the range of system font families.
(Techniques for 4.2)
- Checkpoint 4.3 Allow the
user to configure the foreground and background color of all text, with an
option to override foreground and background colors specified by the author or
user agent defaults. Allow the user to select from among the range of system
colors.
(Techniques for 4.3)
- Checkpoint 4.4 Allow the user
to slow the presentation rate of audio, video and animations that are not
recognized as style. For a visual track, provide at least one setting between
40% and 60% of the original speed. For a prerecorded audio track including
audio-only presentations, provide at least one setting between 75% and 80% of
the original speed. 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. Below 80%, the user
agent is not required to render the audio track. (Techniques
for 4.4)
- Checkpoint 4.5 Allow the
user to stop, pause, resume, fast advance, and fast reverse audio, video, and
animations that last three or more seconds at their default playback rate and
that are not recognized as style.
(Techniques for 4.5)
- Checkpoint 4.6 For
graphical viewports, allow the user to position text transcripts, collated text
transcripts, and captions in the viewport. Allow the user to choose from among
the same range of positions available to the author (e.g., the range of
positions allowed by the markup or style language).
(Techniques for 4.6)
- Checkpoint 4.9 Allow
the user to configure and control the global audio volume. The user must be
able to choose zero volume (i.e., silent).
(Techniques for 4.9)
- Checkpoint
4.10 Allow the user to control independently the volumes of distinct
audio sources synchronized to play simultaneously.
(Techniques for 4.10)
- Checkpoint 4.11 Allow
the user to configure and control synthesized speech playback rate according to
the full range offered by the speech synthesizer.
(Techniques for 4.11)
- Checkpoint 4.12 Allow
the user to control synthesized speech volume independent of other sources of
audio.
(Techniques for 4.12)
- Checkpoint
6.1 Implement the accessibility features of all implemented
specifications (markup languages, style sheet languages, metadata languages,
graphics formats, etc.). The accessibility features of a specification are
those identified as such and those that satisfy all of the
requirements of the "Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 1.0"
[WCAG10].
(Techniques for 6.1)
- Checkpoint 8.1 Make available to
the user the author-specified purpose of each table and the author-specified
relationships among the table cells and headers. (Techniques
for 8.1)
For User Interface (Priority 1)
- 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 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. (Techniques for
1.5)
- Checkpoint 4.14 For user
agents that support style sheets, allow the user to select from (and apply)
available author and user style sheets or to ignore them.
(Techniques for 4.14)
- Checkpoint
4.15 Allow the user to configure how the selection is highlighted
(e.g., foreground and background color, voice pitch, etc.). For graphical
viewports, offer at least three rendering options, including colors and fonts.
Allow the user to select from among the range of system colors and fonts.
(Techniques for 4.15)
- Checkpoint
4.16 Allow the user to configure how the content focus is highlighted
(e.g., foreground and background color, voice pitch, etc.). For graphical
viewports, offer at least three rendering options, including colors and fonts,
and allow the user to select from among the range of system colors and fonts.
The default focus highlight mechanism must be different from the default
selection highlight mechanism.
(Techniques for 4.16)
- Checkpoint 7.1 Allow the user to
navigate among all viewports (including frames). (Techniques
for 7.1)
- Checkpoint 7.2 Associate
a point of regard with each state in a viewport's browsing history and when the
user returns to a state in the history, restore the associated point of regard.
(Techniques for 7.2)
- Checkpoint 7.3 Allow the user to
navigate all active elements. If the author has not specified a navigation
order, allow at least forward sequential navigation of elements, in document
order.
(Techniques for 7.3)
- Checkpoint
8.6 Implement selection, content focus, and user interface focus
mechanisms. Implement them according to system conventions (per checkpoint 5.8).
(Techniques for 8.6)
- Checkpoint
8.7 Provide a mechanism for highlighting the current viewport,
selection, and content focus.
(Techniques for 8.7)
- Checkpoint 9.1 Provide
information to the user about current user preferences for input configurations
(e.g., keyboard or voice bindings).
(Techniques for 9.1)
- Checkpoint 9.2 Ensure
that default input configurations do not interfere with operating system
accessibility conventions.
(Techniques for 9.2)
For Communication (Priority 1)
- Checkpoint 1.1 Ensure
that the user may operate the user agent fully with keyboard input alone,
pointing device input alone, and voice input alone.
(Techniques for 1.1)
- Checkpoint 1.2 Implement
the standard accessibility APIs of the operating system and supported
programming languages. Where these APIs do not enable the user agent to satisfy
the requirements of this document, use the standard input and output APIs of
the operating system and supported programming languages.
(Techniques for 1.2)
- Checkpoint 1.3 Implement the
operating system's standard APIs for the keyboard. (Techniques
for 1.3)
- Checkpoint 5.1 Provide
programmatic read access to HTML and XML
content by conforming to the following modules of the W3C Document Object Model
DOM Level 2 Core Specification
[DOM2CORE] and exporting the
interfaces they define: (1) the Core module for HTML; (2) the Core and XML
modules for XML. (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 following
modules of the W3C Document Object Model DOM Level 2 Core Specification
[DOM2CORE] and exporting the interfaces they define: (1) the Core
module for HTML; (2) the Core and XML modules for XML. (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 defined for a specific operating system; and
conventions for programming languages, plug-ins, virtual machine environments,
etc.)
(Techniques for 5.4)
- Checkpoint 5.5 Using standard APIs,
provide programmatic alert of changes to content and user interface controls
(including selection, content focus, and user interface focus). (Techniques for
5.5)
For Accessible Documentation (Priority 1)
Priority 2 checkpoints
For Content Accessibility (Priority 2)
- Checkpoint 2.6 For non-text
content that has no recognized text equivalent, allow configuration to generate
repair text. If the non-text content is included by URI reference, base the
repair text on the URI reference and content type of the Web resource.
Otherwise, base the repair text on the name of the element that includes the
non-text content. (Techniques for
2.6)
- Checkpoint
3.6 Allow configuration so that an author-specified "client-side
redirect" (i.e., one initiated by the user agent, not the server) does not
change content except on explicit user request. Allow the user to access the
new content manually (e.g., by following a link).
(Techniques for 3.6)
- Checkpoint 3.7 Allow
configuration so that author-specified content refreshes do not change content
except on explicit user request. Allow the user to request the new content
manually (e.g., by activating a button or following a link). Alert the user,
according to the schedule specified by the author, whenever fresh content is
available (to be obtained on explicit user request).
(Techniques for 3.7)
- Checkpoint 3.8 Allow the user to
configure the user agent not to render images. (Techniques
for 3.8)
- Checkpoint 4.7 Allow the
user to slow the presentation rate of audio, video and animations not covered
by checkpoint 4.4. The same
speed percentage requirements of checkpoint 4.4 apply.
(Techniques for 4.7)
- Checkpoint 4.8 Allow
the user to stop, pause, resume, fast advance, and fast reverse audio, video,
and animations not covered by checkpoint 4.5.
(Techniques for 4.8)
- Checkpoint 4.13 Allow
the user to configure synthesized voice gender, pitch, pitch range, stress,
richness, speech dictionary, and handling of spelling, punctuation, and number
processing according to the full range of values offered by the speech
synthesizer.
(Techniques for 4.13)
- Checkpoint 6.2 Use and
conform to W3C Recommendations when they are available and appropriate for a
task.
(Techniques for 6.2)
- Checkpoint 8.2 Render
recently visited links in a distinct style and allow the user to configure this
style. For graphical viewports, offer at least three rendering options,
including colors and fonts. Allow the user to select from among the range of
system colors and fonts.
(Techniques for 8.2)
- Checkpoint 8.3 Render in a
distinct style those links that have been marked up to indicate that following
them will involve a fee and allow the user to configure this style. For
graphical viewports, offer at least three rendering options, including colors
and fonts. Allow the user to select from among the range of system colors and
fonts.
(Techniques for 8.3)
- Checkpoint 8.4 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,
etc.). For discussion about what constitutes the set of important structural
elements, please refer to
checkpoint 7.6.
(Techniques for 8.4)
For User Interface (Priority 2)
- Checkpoint 4.17 Allow
the user to configure whether the current focus moves automatically to a
viewport that opens without an explicit request from the user.
(Techniques for 4.17)
- Checkpoint 4.18 Ensure
that when a viewport's selection or content focus changes, it is in the
viewport after the change.
(Techniques for 4.18)
- Checkpoint 4.19 Allow the user
to configure the user agent to only open viewports on explicit user request. In
this configuration, instead of opening a viewport automatically, alert the user
and allow the user to open it manually. Allow the user to close viewports. (Techniques
for 4.19)
- Checkpoint 4.20 For graphical
user interfaces, allow the user to configure the user agent so that the
viewport with the current focus remains "on top" of all other viewports. In
this configuration, when a viewport opens without explicit user request, alert
the user. (Techniques
for 4.20)
- Checkpoint 5.8 Follow operating
system conventions that benefit accessibility. In particular, follow
conventions for user interface design, keyboard configuration, product
installation, and documentation. (Techniques
for 5.8)
- Checkpoint 7.4 Allow the user
to choose to navigate only active elements. If the author has not specified a
navigation order, allow at least forward and reverse sequential navigation of
active elements, in document order. (Techniques
for 7.4)
- Checkpoint 7.5 Allow the user to
search for a string of characters from the document character set in text
content that has been rendered. The search must encompass all text within the
viewport, both inside and outside the point of regard. Allow the user to start
a search forward in document order from any selected or focused location in
content. When there is a match, allow the user to search for the next instance
of the text from the location of the match. When there is a match, move the
point of regard so that the matched text is in the viewport. Alert the user
when there is no match. Provide a case-insensitive search option for text in
scripts (i.e., writing systems) where case is significant. (Techniques for
7.5)
- Checkpoint 7.6 Allow the user to
navigate efficiently to and among important structural elements identified by
the author. Allow forward and backward sequential navigation to important
structural elements. (Techniques
for 7.6)
- Checkpoint 8.8 Provide a
mechanism for highlighting and identifying active elements. (Techniques
for 8.8)
- Checkpoint 8.9 Allow
configuration so the user is prompted to confirm any form submission not caused
by explicit user request to activate a form submit control. (Techniques
for 8.9)
- Checkpoint
9.3 Provide information to the user about current author-specified
input configurations (e.g., keyboard bindings specified in HTML documents with
the "accesskey" attribute).
(Techniques for 9.3)
- Checkpoint 9.4 Allow the user
to change the default input configuration as follows: Allow the user to
override any binding that is part of the user agent default input configuration
(checkpoint 9.8). The
user agent is not required to allow the user to override standard bindings for
the operating system (e.g., for access to help). For any binding in the default
keyboard configuration, allow the user to override it with a binding of a
single key alone or with modifier keys. (Techniques
for 9.4)
- Checkpoint 9.5 Allow the user
to assign a single-key binding to at least a majority of the functionalities
available in the default keyboard configuration (refer to checkpoint 9.8). (Techniques
for 9.5)
- Checkpoint 9.6 Follow
operating system conventions to indicate the input configuration.
(Techniques for 9.6)
- Checkpoint 9.7 For the
configuration requirements of this document, allow the user to save user
preferences in at least one user profile. Allow users to select from among
available profiles or no profile (i.e., the user agent default settings). (Techniques for
9.7)
- Checkpoint 9.8 Ensure
that the default input configuration includes bindings for the following
functionalities required by other checkpoints in this document: move focus to
next active element; move focus to previous active element; activate focused
link; search for text; search again for same text; next history state
(forward); previous history state (back); increase size of rendered text;
decrease size of rendered text; increase global volume; decrease global volume;
(each of) stop, pause, resume, fast advance, and fast reverse selected audio,
video, and animation. If the user agent supports the following functionalities,
the default input configuration must also include bindings for them: enter URI
for new resource; add to favorites (i.e., bookmarked resources); view
favorites; stop loading resource; reload resource; refresh rendering; forward
one viewport; back one viewport; next line; previous line.
(Techniques for 9.8)
For Communication (Priority 2)
For Accessible Documentation (Priority 2)
Priority 3 checkpoints
For Content Accessibility (Priority 3)
- Checkpoint 2.7 Allow configuration so
that when the author has specified an empty text equivalent for non-text
content, the user agent generates no repair text or generates repair text as
required by checkpoint 2.6. (Techniques for
2.7)
- Checkpoint 2.8 Allow
the user to configure the user agent not to render content in unsupported
natural languages. Indicate to the user in context that author-supplied content
has not been rendered.
(Techniques for 2.8)
- Checkpoint 8.5 To help the user
decide whether to traverse a link, make available the following information
about it: link content, link title, whether the link is internal to the local
resource, whether the user has traversed the link recently, whether traversing
it may involve a fee, and information about the type, size, and natural
language of linked Web resources. The user agent is not required to compute or
make available information that requires retrieval of linked Web resources. (Techniques for
8.5)
For User Interface (Priority 3)
- Checkpoint 7.7 Allow the
user to configure and control the set of important elements required by checkpoint 7.6 and checkpoint 8.4. Allow the
user to include and exclude element types in the set of elements.
(Techniques for 7.7)
- Checkpoint 8.10 Indicate the
relative position of the viewport in 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.). (Techniques
for 8.10)
- Checkpoint 9.9 For
graphical user interfaces, allow the user to configure the position of controls
on tool bars of the user agent user interface, to select or remove controls for
the user interface from a predefined set, and to restore the default user
interface.
(Techniques for 9.9)
For Communication (Priority 3)
- Checkpoint 5.7 For user agents
that implement Cascading Style Sheets (CSS), provide
programmatic access to those style sheets by conforming to the CSS module of
the W3C Document Object Model (DOM) Level 2 Style Specification
[DOM2STYLE] 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.
- [DOM2CORE]
-
"Document Object Model (DOM) Level 2 Core Specification", A. Le
Hors, P. Le Hégaret, L. Wood, G. Nicol, J. Robie, M. Champion, S. Byrne,
eds., 13 November 2000. This W3C Recommendation is
http://www.w3.org/TR/2000/REC-DOM-Level-2-Core-20001113
- [DOM2STYLE]
-
"Document Object Model (DOM) Level 2 Style Specification", V.
Apparao, P. Le Hégaret, C. Wilson, eds., 13 November 2000. This W3C
Recommendation is
http://www.w3.org/TR/2000/REC-DOM-Level-2-Style-20001113.
- [UAAG10]
- "User Agent Accessibility
Guidelines 1.0", J. Gunderson, I. Jacobs, eds. The latest draft of
the guidelines is available at http://www.w3.org/WAI/UA/UAAG10/.
- [WCAG10]
- "Web
Content Accessibility Guidelines 1.0", W. Chisholm, G. Vanderheiden,
and I. Jacobs, eds., 5 May 1999. This W3C Recommendation is
http://www.w3.org/TR/1999/WAI-WEBCONTENT-19990505.