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Understanding Test Rules for WCAG Success Criteria

Accessibility Conformance Testing (ACT) Rules provide guidance for developers of automated testing tools and manual testing methodologies, to help ensure consistent interpretation of WCAG Success Criteria.

W3C's List of ACT Rules for WCAG 2 is updated periodically. They are developed according to the Accessibility Conformance Testing (ACT) Rules Format 1.0 standard.

Understanding Conformance provides related information, including on understanding accessibility support.

ACT Rules are Informative

ACT Rules are informative — that means they are not required for determining conformance. The basis for determining conformance to WCAG is the success criteria from the WCAG standard — not the ACT Rules.

While W3C's List of ACT Rules for WCAG 2 are reviewed by the W3C Accessibility Guidelines Working Group (AGWG), they are not vetted to the same degree as the W3C Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) standard (called W3C Recommendation). The WCAG standard is the normative reference on determining conformance.

ACT Rules are Partial Checks

ACT Rules typically check specific aspects of WCAG success criteria. For example, that a table cell has a header rather than the entire WCAG 2.2 success criterion 1.3.1 "Info and Relationships", which applies to many more information structures on a web page. In fact, this example rule would not even check the validity of the table header, only if the header exists for a given table cell.

ACT Rules are also technology-specific. For example, the aforementioned table header example would be specific to HTML, possibly enriched with WAI-ARIA roles and properties, but not to other formats with tables. WCAG 2.2 success criteria are designed to be technology-agnostic and applicable to all web technologies.

ACT Rules Check for Failures

ACT Rules are designed to check failures in satisfying WCAG success criteria. That is, when content fails ACT Rules, it means that the content does not satisfy the corresponding success criteria. However, when content passes ACT Rules, it means that no corresponding failures were detected — it does not necessarily mean that the content satisfies all aspects of the corresponding success criteria.

The reason for this is because WCAG success criteria typically cover several aspects and technologies, while ACT Rules only check specific aspects. Checking that content satisfies all aspects of WCAG success criteria typically requires further verification by human testers.

Note

WCAG 2 Conformance Requirement 1 allows for "conforming alternate versions". That means that content may still conform to WCAG 2, even when content fails ACT Rules, thus does not satisfy the corresponding success criteria.

Structure of ACT Rules

ACT Rules conform to the Accessibility Conformance Testing (ACT) Rules Format 1.0 standard. They include the following parts:

  • Descriptive Title – title for the ACT Rule, which should describe the rule
  • Rule Identifier – identifier for the ACT Rule; the W3C rules use alphanumeric strings
  • Rule Type – there are two basic types of ACT Rules, depending on what is being tested:
    • Atomic Rule – test one specific situation, which may be part of a composite rule
    • Composite Rule – combine outcome from multiple atomic rules to one outcome
  • Accessibility Requirements Mapping – maps the ACT Rule to particular accessibility requirements; in this suite of rules we use Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2 Success Criteria
  • Rule Input – describes the scope of input into ACT Rules, which is one of the following:
    • Input Aspects – input into atomic rules, such as DOM Tree and CSS Styling etc.
    • Input Rules – input into the composite rules, which are the atomic rules in scope
  • Applicability – description of the specific parts of the content, for which the rule applies
  • Expectations – description of the expected characteristics of the applicable rule content
  • Assumptions – assumptions made, such as specific interpretations of the requirements
  • Accessibility Support – known limitations regarding browsers and assistive technology
  • Test Cases – sample code demonstrating passed, failed, and inapplicable rule conditions
  • Change Log – history of changes for the ACT Rules, to support backward compatibility
  • Glossary – list of key terms defined by the ACT Rule or used by the specific ACT Rule
  • Issues List (Optional) – list of known issues or bugs for the particular ACT Rule, if any
  • Background (Optional) – relevant background, such as additional documentation, if any
  • Acknowledgements (Optional) – such as rule writers, reviewers, and other contributors
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