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This document examines the impact of each checkpoint listed in the User Agent Accessibility Guidelines. Each checkpoint indicates the disabilities and technologies most affected.
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 has been created as support material for the User Agent Guidelines 1.0 Candidate Recommendation. This document is not meant to become a W3C Recommendation.
This is a W3C Working Draft for review by W3C Members and other interested parties. 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 or the User Agent Guidelines Working Group.
Please send comments about this document to the public mailing list w3c-wai-ua@w3.org (public archives).
This document has been produced as part of the Web Accessibility Initiative. The goals of the User Agent Working Group are described in the charter. A list of the Working Group participants is available.
A list of current W3C Recommendations and other technical documents can be found at http://www.w3.org/TR.
Each checkpoint links to its definition in the User Agent Accessibility Guidelines. A list presentation of this table is also available.
Checkpoint | Disabilities | Input Technologies | Output Technologies |
---|---|---|---|
Checkpoint 1.1: Ensure that every functionality available through the user interface is also available through every input device API supported by the user agent. Excluded from this requirement are functionalities that are part of the input device API itself (e.g., text input for the keyboard API, pointer motion for the pointer API, etc.) | all | all | none |
Checkpoint 1.2: Use the standard input and output device APIs of the operating system. | all | all | all |
Checkpoint 1.3: Ensure that the user can interact with all active elements in a device-independent manner. | all | all | all |
Checkpoint 1.4: Ensure that every functionality available through the user interface is also available through the standard keyboard API. | blind, physical, low vision | keyboard, voice | none |
Checkpoint 1.5: Ensure every non-text message (e.g., prompt, alert, etc.) available through the user interface also has a text equivalent in the user interface. | all | none | all |
Checkpoint 2.1: Ensure that the user has access to all content, including equivalent alternatives for content. | all, blind, low vision, deaf, hard of hearing, cognitive/learning, seizure disorder | all | all |
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). | all | all | all |
Checkpoint 2.3: When the author has not supplied a text equivalent for content as required by the markup language, make available other author-supplied information about the content (e.g., object type, file name, etc.). | blind, low vision | none | speech, small/magnified screen |
Checkpoint 2.4: When a text equivalent for content is explicitly empty (i.e., an empty string), render nothing. | blind, low vision, cognitive/learning | none | all |
Checkpoint 2.5: If more than one equivalent alternative is available for content, allow the user to choose from among the alternatives. This includes the choice of viewing no alternatives. | blind, low vision, deaf, hard of hearing, cognitive/learning | none | visual, small/magnified screen, speech |
Checkpoint 2.6: 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-supplied synchronization cues during rendering. | blind, low vision, deaf, hard of hearing, cognitive/learning | none | visual, small/magnified screen, speech, braille |
Checkpoint 2.7: For author-identified but unsupported natural languages, allow the user to request notification of language changes in content. | all, blind | none | audio, speech |
Checkpoint 3.1: Allow the user to turn on and off rendering of background images. | blind, low vision, cognitive/learning | none | visual, small/magnified screen, speech |
Checkpoint 3.2: Allow the user to turn on and off rendering of background audio. | all | none | audio |
Checkpoint 3.3: Allow the user to turn on and off rendering of video. | all, blind, low vision, cognitive/learning | none | visual, small/magnified screen, speech |
Checkpoint 3.4: Allow the user to turn on and off rendering of audio. | all, deaf, hard of hearing, cognitive/learning | none | audio |
Checkpoint 3.5: Allow the user to turn on and off animated or blinking text. | blind, low vision, cognitive/learning, seizure disorder | none | visual, braille, small/magnified screen |
Checkpoint 3.6: Allow the user to turn on and off animations and blinking images. | blind, low vision, cognitive/learning, seizure disorder | none | visual, braille, speech, small/magnified screen |
Checkpoint 3.7: Allow the user to turn on and off support for scripts and applets. | all | all | all |
Checkpoint 3.8: For automatic content changes specified by the author (e.g., redirection and content refresh), allow the user to slow the rate of change. | blind, low vision, cognitive/learning, seizure disorder | none | all |
Checkpoint 3.9: Allow the user to turn on and off rendering of images. | blind, low vision, cognitive/learning | none | visual, small/magnified screen, speech |
Checkpoint 4.1: Allow the user to configure the size of text. | all, low vision | none | visual, small/magnified screen, speech |
Checkpoint 4.2: Allow the user to configure font family. | all, low vision | none | visual, small/magnified screen |
Checkpoint 4.3: Allow the user to configure foreground color. | color blindness, low vision, cognitive/learning | none | visual, small/magnified screen |
Checkpoint 4.4: Allow the user to configure background color. | color blindness, low vision, cognitive/learning | none | visual, small/magnified screen |
Checkpoint 4.5: Allow the user to slow the presentation rate of audio, video, and animations. | all, blind, low vision, cognitive/learning, seizure disorder | none | audio, visual, small/magnified screen |
Checkpoint 4.6: Allow the user to start, stop, pause, advance, and rewind audio, video, and animations. | all | none | visual, small/magnified screen |
Checkpoint 4.7: Allow the user to configure the position of text transcripts, collated text transcripts, and captions on graphical displays. | deaf, hard of hearing, cognitive/learning, low vision | none | visual, small/magnified screen |
Checkpoint 4.8: Allow the user to configure the audio volume. | all, hard of hearing | none | audio |
Checkpoint 4.9: Allow the user to configure synthesized speech playback rate. | all, blind, cognitive/learning, hard of hearing | none | speech |
Checkpoint 4.10: Allow the user to configure synthesized speech volume. | all, hard of hearing | none | speech |
Checkpoint 4.11: Allow the user to configure synthesized speech pitch, gender, and other articulation characteristics. | blind, low vision | none | speech |
Checkpoint 4.12: Allow the user to select from available author and user style sheets or to ignore them. | all | none | all |
Checkpoint 4.13: Allow the user to configure how the selection is highlighted (e.g., foreground and background color). | color blindness, low vision, cognitive/learning | none | visual, small/magnified screen, speech |
Checkpoint 4.14: Allow the user to configure how the content focus is highlighted (e.g., foreground and background color). | color blindness, low vision, cognitive/learning | none | visual, small/magnified screen, speech |
Checkpoint 4.15: Allow the user to configure how the focus changes. | all, blind, low vision, cognitive/learning | none | visual, small/magnified screen, speech |
Checkpoint 4.16: Allow the user to configure viewports, prompts, and windows opened on user agent initiation. | all, blind, low vision, cognitive/learning | none | visual, small/magnified screen, speech |
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. | all | all | all |
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. | all | all | all |
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). | all | all | all |
Checkpoint 5.4: 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. | all | all | all |
Checkpoint 5.5: 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.) | all | all | all |
Checkpoint 5.6: Implement selection, content focus, and user interface focus mechanisms. | all | all, all | |
Checkpoint 5.7: Provide programmatic notification of changes to content and user interface controls (including selection, content focus, and user interface focus). | all | all | all |
Checkpoint 5.8: Ensure that programmatic exchanges proceed in a timely manner. | all | all | all |
Checkpoint 5.9: Follow operating system conventions and accessibility settings. In particular, follow conventions for user interface design, default keyboard configuration, product installation, and documentation. | all | all | all |
Checkpoint 6.1: Implement the accessibility features of supported specifications (markup languages, style sheet languages, metadata languages, graphics formats, etc.). | all | all | all |
Checkpoint 6.2: Conform to W3C Recommendations when they are appropriate for a task. | all | all | all |
Checkpoint 7.1: Allow the user to navigate viewports (including frames). | all | all | all |
Checkpoint 7.2: For user agents that offer a browsing history mechanism, when the user returns to a previous viewport, restore the point of regard in the viewport. | blind, low vision, physical | all | none |
Checkpoint 7.3: Allow the user to navigate all active elements. | all | all | all |
Checkpoint 7.4: Allow the user to choose to navigate only active elements. | all | all | all |
Checkpoint 7.5: Allow the user to search for rendered text content, including rendered text equivalents. | all, blind, low vision, cognitive/learning | none | all, speech, small/magnified screen, braille |
Checkpoint 7.6: Allow the user to navigate according to structure. | blind, low vision, physical, cognitive/learning | keyboard, voice | visual, speech, braille, small/magnified screen |
Checkpoint 7.7: Allow the user to configure structured navigation. | blind, low vision, physical, cognitive/learning | all | all |
Checkpoint 8.1: Make available to the user the author-specified purpose of each table and the relationships among the table cells and headers. | all, blind, low vision, cognitive/learning | none | all |
Checkpoint 8.2: Indicate to the user whether a link has been visited. | all, blind, low vision, cognitive/learning | none | all |
Checkpoint 8.3: Indicate to the user whether a link has been marked up to indicate that following it will involve a fee. | all, blind, low vision, cognitive/learning | none | all |
Checkpoint 8.4: To help the user decide whether to follow a link, make available link information supplied by the author and computed by the user agent. | all, blind, low vision, cognitive/learning | none | all |
Checkpoint 8.5: Provide a mechanism for highlighting and identifying (through a standard interface where available) the current viewport, selection, and content focus. | all | none | all |
Checkpoint 8.6: Make available to the user an "outline" view of content, built from structural elements (e.g., frames, headers, lists, forms, tables, etc.). | all, blind, low vision, cognitive/learning | none | all |
Checkpoint 8.7: Provide a mechanism for highlighting and identifying active elements (through a standard interface where available). | blind, low vision, physical | none | all |
Checkpoint 8.8: Allow the user to configure the outline view. | all, blind, low vision, cognitive/learning | none | all |
Checkpoint 8.9: Allow the user to configure what information about links to present. | blind, low vision, cognitive/learning | none | all |
Checkpoint 9.1: Ensure that when the selection or content focus changes, it is in a viewport after the change. | all | none | visual, small/magnified screen |
Checkpoint 9.2: Prompt the user to confirm any form submission triggered indirectly, that is by any means other than the user activating an explicit form submit control. | blind, low vision, physical | all | all |
Checkpoint 9.3: Allow the user to configure notification preferences for common types of content and viewport changes. | blind, low vision | none | all |
Checkpoint 9.4: When loading content (e.g., document, image, audio, video, etc.) indicate what portion of the content has loaded and whether loading has stalled. | blind, low vision | none | visual, small/magnified screen, all |
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.). | blind, low vision | none | visual, small/magnified screen, all |
Checkpoint 10.1: Provide information to the user about current user preferences for input configurations (e.g., keyboard or voice bindings). | all, blind, low vision, physical | keyboard, voice | all |
Checkpoint 10.2: Avoid default input configurations that interfere with operating system accessibility conventions. | all | keyboard, voice | none |
Checkpoint 10.3: Provide information to the user about current author-specified input configurations (e.g., keyboard bindings specified in content such as by "accesskey" in HTML). | all, blind, low vision, physical | keyboard, voice | all |
Checkpoint 10.4: Allow the user to change the input configuration. | blind, low vision, physical | keyboard, voice | none |
Checkpoint 10.5: Allow the user to configure the user agent so that the user's preferred one-step operations may be activated with a single input command (keystroke, voice command, etc.). | blind, low vision, physical | keyboard, voice | none |
Checkpoint 10.6: Follow operating system conventions to indicate the input configuration. | all | keyboard, voice | none |
Checkpoint 10.7: For the configuration requirements of this document, allow the user to save user preferences a profile. | all | all | all |
Checkpoint 10.8: Ensure that frequently used functionalities are easily activated in the default input configuration. | all, blind, low vision, physical | keyboard, voice | none |
Checkpoint 10.9: Allow the user to configure the arrangement of graphical user agent user interface controls. | physical, low vision, blind | none | visual, small/magnified screen |
Checkpoint 11.1: Provide a version of the product documentation that conforms to the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 1.0 [[WCAG10]]. | all | all | all |
Checkpoint 11.2: Document all user agent features that promote accessibility. | all | all | all |
Checkpoint 11.3: Document the default input configuration (e.g., default keyboard bindings). | physical, blind, low vision, cognitive/learning | keyboard, voice | none |
Checkpoint 11.4: In a dedicated section of the documentation, describe all features of the user agent that promote accessibility. | all | none | all |
Checkpoint 11.5: Document changes between software releases. | all | none | all |
Each checkpoint links to its definition in the User Agent Accessibility Guidelines. A tabular presentation of this list is also available.