Understanding:Success Criterion 3.1.3: Unusual Words

Success Criterion 3.1.3 Unusual Words (Level AAA): A mechanism is available for identifying specific definitions of words or phrases used in an unusual or restricted way, including idioms and jargon.

Intent

Certain disabilities make it difficult to understand nonliteral word usage and specialized words or usage. Certain disabilities make it difficult to understand figurative language or specialized usage. Providing such mechanisms is vital for these audiences. Specialized information intended for non-specialist readers is encouraged to satisfy this Success Criterion, even when claiming only Single-A or Double-A conformance.

Benefits

This Success Criterion may help people with cognitive, language and learning disabilities who:

  • have difficulty decoding words
  • have difficulty understanding words and phrases
  • have difficulty using context to aid understanding

It would also help people with visual disabilities who:

  • lose context when zoomed-in with a screen magnifier

Examples

  • Text that includes a definition for a word used in an unusual way.

    Organize the list or "cascade" of dictionaries and other resources so that the definition search will find the intended definitions instead of displaying definitions from other sources in the "cascade." (The "cascade" lists the dictionaries and other reference materials in the order most likely to bring up the right definition. This controls the order to follow when searching for definitions.)

  • Including definitions in the glossary.

    WCAG 2.0 uses the word "text" in a specific way. Thus, when the word "text" is used within WCAG 2.0 it is linked to the definition of "text" provided in a glossary within the same Web page.

  • The specific definition of a word is provided at the bottom of the page.

    The internal link from the word to the corresponding definition is also provided within the page.

Related Resources

Resources are for information purposes only, no endorsement implied.

Note

The inclusion of a product or vendor name in the list below does not constitute an endorsement by the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines Working Group or the Web Accessibility Initiative of the World Wide Web Consortium. This list is provided simply for convenience and to give users an idea of what resources may be available

Techniques

Each numbered item in this section represents a technique or combination of techniques that the WCAG Working Group deems sufficient for meeting this Success Criterion. However, it is not necessary to use these particular techniques. For information on using other techniques, see Understanding Techniques for WCAG Success Criteria, particularly the "Other Techniques" section.

Sufficient Techniques

Select the situation below that matches your content. Each situation includes techniques or combinations of techniques that are known and documented to be sufficient for that situation.

Situation A: If the word or phrase has a unique meaning within the Web page:

  1. G101: Providing the definition of a word or phrase used in an unusual or restricted way for the first occurrence of the word or phrase in a Web page using one of the following techniques:

  2. G101: Providing the definition of a word or phrase used in an unusual or restricted way for each occurrence of the word or phrase in a Web page using one of the following techniques:

Situation B: If the word or phrase means different things within the same Web page:

  1. G101: Providing the definition of a word or phrase used in an unusual or restricted way for each occurrence of the word or phrase in a Web page using one of the following techniques:

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