From WCAG 2.0 to MWBP 1.0: Making content that meets Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.0 also meet Mobile Web Best Practices 1.0
W3C Editor's Draft 24 June 2008
Introduction
Incomplete draft: This document is an editor's copy that has no official standing and is incomplete. Particularly, the section WCAG 2.0 and MWBP Together is only an outline; WCAG 1.0 to MWBP is only partly filled out. It is subject to major changes and is therefore not intended for implementation. It is provided for review and feedback only. Please send feedback to public-bpwg-comments@w3.org (archive).
This page is part of a multi-page document. Please refer to the “How to Use This Document” section for more information.
It describes how some WCAG success criteria (SC) can help with achieving compliance with the Mobile Web Best Practices 1.0 (MWBP). For content that already complies with WCAG, it outlines what may need to be done to comply with all of MWBP.
As described in this section, many SCs have the added benefit of partial or complete compliance with certain BPs. However, the best practices may describe a different aspect of the same concept. It should not be assumed that following any SC will ensure compliance with the MWBP. To ensure compliance it is important to always consult the Mobile Web Best Practices 1.0 document.
Summary of work required to make content that meets WCAG 2.0 also meet MWBP
Compliance with the WCAG 2.0 helps go some way towards achieving compliance with some BPs. This section provides a summary of these BPs. For those BPs not listed, there is no synergy between the recommendations.
Nothing: content already complies with these BPs. Refer to the description of each success criterion for an explanation of how and in what way it meets the BP.
- AUTO_REFRESH, covered by 3.2.2 On Input
- COLOR_CONTRAST, covered by success criterion 1.4.3 Contrast (Minimum) and 1.4.6 Contrast (Enhanced)
- CONTROL_LABELLING, covered by success criterion 1.3.1 Info and Relationships
- LINK_TARGET_ID, covered by 2.4.9 Link Purpose (Link Only).
- MEASURES, covered by 1.4.4 Resize text
- NON-TEXT_ALTERNATIVES, covered by success criterion 1.1.1 Non-text Content”
- PAGE_TITLE, covered by 2.4.2 Page Titled
- POP_UPS, covered by 3.2.2 On Input
- STRUCTURE, covered by success criterion 1.3.1 Info and Relationships and 2.4.10 Section Headings, and partially by 1.4.1 Use of Color.
- STYLE_SHEETS_SUPPORT, covered by success criterion 1.3.1 Info and Relationships
- STYLE_SHEETS_USE, covered by success criterion 1.3.1 Info and Relationships
- TAB_ORDER, covered by 2.4.3 Focus Order
- USE_OF_COLOR, covered by success criterion 1.4.1 Use of Color
Something: more effort of some kind or a check, to comply with these BPs. Refer to the description of each success criterion for an explanation of how and in what way it partially or possibly meets the BP.
Everything: start from scratch to comply with these BPs. Use the links to read the description of each BP in the MWBP document and how to comply with it.
[Not evaluated yet]. When reviewing the document the following list should be ignored. During document editing, it contains CPs, SCs or BPs not yet evaluated. It is progressively reduced as items are studied and moved to the “something”, “nothing” and “everything” lists. It will not appear in the finished document.
Addressing MWBP 1.0 Best Practices
This section deals with each of the best practices which WCAG 2.0 helps with meeting.
[ACCESS_KEYS] Assign access keys to links in navigational menus and frequently accessed functionality
Back to Best Practices list.
[AUTO_REFRESH] Do not create periodically auto-refreshing pages, unless you have informed the user and provided a means of stopping it
Back to Best Practices list.
[AVOID_FREE_TEXT] Avoid free text entry where possible.
Back to Best Practices list.
[BACKGROUND_IMAGE_READABILITY] When using background images make sure that content remains readable on the device
Back to Best Practices list.
[BALANCE] Take into account the trade-off between having too many links on a page and asking the user to follow too many links to reach what they are looking for
Back to Best Practices list.
[CENTRAL_MEANING] Ensure that material that is central to the meaning of the page precedes material that is not.
Back to Best Practices list.
[CLARITY] Use clear and simple language
Back to Best Practices list.
[COLOR_CONTRAST] Ensure that foreground and background color combinations provide sufficient contrast
Back to Best Practices list.
[CONTROL_LABELLING] Label all form controls appropriately and explicitly associate labels with form controls
Back to Best Practices list.
[CONTROL_POSITION] Position labels so they lay out properly in relation to the form controls they refer to
Back to Best Practices list.
Back to Best Practices list.
[ERROR_MESSAGES] Provide informative error messages and a means of navigating away from an error message back to useful information
Back to Best Practices list.
[FONTS] Do not rely on support of font related styling
Back to Best Practices list.
[IMAGE_MAPS] Do not use image maps unless you know the device supports them effectively
It is not the intent of the BP to discourage the use of image maps.
Back to Best Practices list.
[LINK_TARGET_ID] Clearly identify the target of each link
- 2.4.4 Link Purpose (In Context) may go some way to meeting this BP, but as the SC provides for indicating the link purpose in the context which is not contemplated by the BP, and in the title attribute or table cell header which are unlikely to be supported adequately by a mobile browser. As a result, content that conforms to this SC may not meet the BP. Also, the BP explicitly mentions file format (if not known to be supported by device), language, file size.
- 2.4.9 Link Purpose (Link Only) ensures compliance with this BP. Note that the BP explicitly mentions file format (if not known to be supported by device), language, file size.
Back to Best Practices list.
[MEASURES] Do not use pixel measures and do not use absolute units in markup language attribute values and style sheet property values
- 1.4.4 Resize text may possibly help comply with this BP as some of the WCAG Techniques use named font sizes, em units or percentages.
Back to Best Practices list.
[MINIMIZE_KEYSTROKES] Keep the number of keystrokes to a minimum
Back to Best Practices list.
[NAVBAR] Provide only minimal navigation at the top of the page
Back to Best Practices list.
[NAVIGATION] Provide consistent navigation mechanisms
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[NO_FRAMES] Do not use frames
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[NON-TEXT_ALTERNATIVES] Provide a text equivalent for every non-text element
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[OBJECTS_OR_SCRIPT] Do not rely on embedded objects or script
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[PAGE_SIZE_USABLE] Divide pages into usable but limited size portions
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[PAGE_TITLE] Provide a short but descriptive page title
- 2.4.2 Page Titled ensures compliance with this BP. Tip: The title may be truncated in the mobile device as described in the BP. It may be useful to put the most important, differentiating information first, also helping screen reader users. Refer also to Long page title in “Summary of Experience of Content Features by Users” section.
Back to Best Practices list.
[POP_UPS] Do not cause pop-ups or other windows to appear and do not change the current window without informing the user
Back to Best Practices list.
[REDIRECTION] Do not use markup to redirect pages automatically. Instead, configure the server to perform redirects by means of HTTP 3xx codes
Back to Best Practices list.
[STRUCTURE] Use features of the markup language to indicate logical document structure
Back to Best Practices list.
[STYLE_SHEETS_SUPPORT] Organize documents so that if necessary they may be read without style sheets
Back to Best Practices list.
[STYLE_SHEETS_USE] Use style sheets to control layout and presentation, unless the device is known not to support them
Back to Best Practices list.
[TAB_ORDER] Create a logical order through links, form controls and objects
Back to Best Practices list.
[TABLES_ALTERNATIVES] Where possible, use an alternative to tabular presentation
Back to Best Practices list.
[TABLES_LAYOUT] Do not use tables for layout
Back to Best Practices list.
[TABLES_NESTED] Do not use nested tables
Back to Best Practices list.
[TABLES_SUPPORT] Do not use tables unless the device is known to support them
Back to Best Practices list.
[USE_OF_COLOR] Ensure that information conveyed with color is also available without color.
Back to Best Practices list.
[VALID_MARKUP] Create documents that validate to published formal grammars
- 4.1.1 Parsing may go some way to complying with this SC with some of the sufficient techniques.
Back to Best Practices list.
BPs with no coverage
This list is provided as a completeness check during editing and will be removed in the final document, as discussed by EOWG.