SC3-1-2-text

This test belongs to 3.1.2 Language of Parts.

Status

Previous versions

Description

This test checks that changes in human language are marked up correctly in the web content.

Background

• H58: Using language attributes to identify changes in the human language
• eGovMon test for SC3.1.2
• BCP 47: Tags for the Identification of Languages
• HTML 4.01 Inheritance of language codes

Assumptions

• The comparison of language-code does not look for exact matches. Technique H57 states: "Use of the primary code is important for this technique." which means that region subtags can be ignored in the comparison, i.e. "en-GB" is the same as "en".
• This test applies only to visible text, i.e. the text of alt or title-attributes is not checked. alt-attributes are covered by 1.1.1 Non-text Content.
• Single words in another language do not have to be marked as language changes.
• This test assumes that the language of the web content has been specified in the lang attribute of the element (see also SC3-1-2-lang). The xml:lang attribute is not taken into account because tests have shown, that xml:lang is ignored by screenreaders.

Test properties

Test procedure

Selector

Select consecutive run of text to which a single language attribute applies.
L1 = language of the selected text as determined by HTML 4.01 Inheritance of language codes.

Note: This test is applied to natural language text. The test is not applicable to content of <script>-elements, attribute values, and text contained in HTML comments.

Step 1

Use a language identification algorithm to determine L2 = the language actually used in the selected text.

If L2 can not be determined by the algorithm.
Continue with Step 2.

If L2 is equal to L1, return

Else return

Step 2

Present the selected text to the user.
Question: Is L1 the only language used in this text?

Note that language codes should be presented in human readable form, e.g. using the description from the language subtag registry.

Help text: If the text contains a phrase or sentence in another language, please answer "no". If there are only single words in another language and the rest of the text is in L1, please answer "yes".

If yes, return

Else return