5. Conformance§

As well as sections marked as non-normative, all authoring guidelines, diagrams, examples, and notes in this specification are non-normative. Everything else in this specification is normative.

This section lists requirements for conformance to WCAG 2.1. It also gives information about how to make conformance claims, which are optional. Finally, it describes what it means to be accessibility supported, since only accessibility-supported ways of using technologies can be relied upon for conformance. Understanding Conformance includes further explanation of the accessibility-supported concept.

6. Glossary§

abbreviation

shortened form of a word, phrase, or name where the abbreviation has not become part of the language

This includes initialisms and acronyms where:

1. initialisms are shortened forms of a name or phrase made from the initial letters of words or syllables contained in that name or phrase

   Not defined in all languages.

   SNCF is a French initialism that contains the initial letters of the Société Nationale des Chemins de Fer, the French national railroad.

   ESP is an initialism for extrasensory perception.

2. acronyms are abbreviated forms made from the initial letters or parts of other words (in a name or phrase) which may be pronounced as a word

   NOAA is an acronym made from the initial letters of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration in the United States.

Some companies have adopted what used to be an initialism as their company name. In these cases, the new name of the company is the letters (for example, Ecma) and the word is no longer considered an abbreviation.

accessibility supported

supported by users' assistive technologies as well as the accessibility features in browsers and other user agents

To qualify as an accessibility-supported use of a Web content technology (or feature of a technology), both 1 and 2 must be satisfied for a Web content technology (or feature):

1. The way that the Web content technology is used must be supported by users' assistive technology (AT). This means that the way that the technology is used has been tested for interoperability with users' assistive technology in the human language(s) of the content,

   AND

2. The Web content technology must have accessibility-supported user agents that are available to users. This means that at least one of the following four statements is true:

   1. The technology is supported natively in widely-distributed user agents that are also accessibility supported (such as HTML and CSS);

      OR

   2. The technology is supported in a widely-distributed plug-in that is also accessibility supported;

      OR

   3. The content is available in a closed environment, such as a university or corporate network, where the user agent required by the technology and used by the organization is also accessibility supported;

      OR

   4. The user agent(s) that support the technology are accessibility supported and are available for download or purchase in a way that:

      • does not cost a person with a disability any more than a person without a disability and
      • is as easy to find and obtain for a person with a disability as it is for a person without disabilities.

The WCAG Working group and the W3C do not specify which or how much support by assistive technologies there must be for a particular use of a Web technology in order for it to be classified as accessibility supported. (See Level of Assistive Technology Support Needed for "Accessibility Support".)

Web technologies can be used in ways that are not accessibility supported as long as they are not relied upon and the page as a whole meets the conformance requirements, including Conformance Criterion 4 and Conformance Criterion 5, are met.

When a Web Technology is used in a way that is "accessibility supported," it does not imply that the entire technology or all uses of the technology are supported. Most technologies, including HTML, lack support for at least one feature or use. Pages conform to WCAG only if the uses of the technology that are accessibility supported can be relied upon to meet WCAG requirements.

When citing Web content technologies that have multiple versions, the version(s) supported should be specified.

One way for authors to locate uses of a technology that are accessibility supported would be to consult compilations of uses that are documented to be accessibility supported. (See Understanding Accessibility-Supported Web Technology Uses.) Authors, companies, technology vendors, or others may document accessibility-supported ways of using Web content technologies. However, all ways of using technologies in the documentation would need to meet the definition of accessibility-supported Web content technologies above.

additional pointer sensor information

[Proposed]

pointer information beyond position, such as pointer pressure (for instance on pressure-sensitive touch screens), pointer tilt or/and pointer twist (for instance on advanced pen/stylus digitizers)

See Pointer Events Level 2 [pointerevents2].

alternative for time-based media

document including correctly sequenced text descriptions of time-based visual and auditory information and providing a means for achieving the outcomes of any time-based interaction

A screenplay used to create the synchronized media content would meet this definition only if it was corrected to accurately represent the final synchronized media after editing.

ambiguous to users in general

the purpose cannot be determined from the link and all information of the Web page presented to the user simultaneously with the link (i.e., readers without disabilities would not know what a link would do until they activated it)

The word guava in the following sentence "One of the notable exports is guava" is a link. The link could lead to a definition of guava, a chart listing the quantity of guava exported or a photograph of people harvesting guava. Until the link is activated, all readers are unsure and the person with a disability is not at any disadvantage.

ASCII art

picture created by a spatial arrangement of characters or glyphs (typically from the 95 printable characters defined by ASCII).

assistive technology (as used in this document)

hardware and/or software that acts as a user agent, or along with a mainstream user agent, to provide functionality to meet the requirements of users with disabilities that go beyond those offered by mainstream user agents

functionality provided by assistive technology includes alternative presentations (e.g., as synthesized speech or magnified content), alternative input methods (e.g., voice), additional navigation or orientation mechanisms, and content transformations (e.g., to make tables more accessible).

Assistive technologies often communicate data and messages with mainstream user agents by using and monitoring APIs.

The distinction between mainstream user agents and assistive technologies is not absolute. Many mainstream user agents provide some features to assist individuals with disabilities. The basic difference is that mainstream user agents target broad and diverse audiences that usually include people with and without disabilities. Assistive technologies target narrowly defined populations of users with specific disabilities. The assistance provided by an assistive technology is more specific and appropriate to the needs of its target users. The mainstream user agent may provide important functionality to assistive technologies like retrieving Web content from program objects or parsing markup into identifiable bundles.

Assistive technologies that are important in the context of this document include the following:

• screen magnifiers, and other visual reading assistants, which are used by people with visual, perceptual and physical print disabilities to change text font, size, spacing, color, synchronization with speech, etc. in order to improve the visual readability of rendered text and images;
• screen readers, which are used by people who are blind to read textual information through synthesized speech or braille;
• text-to-speech software, which is used by some people with cognitive, language, and learning disabilities to convert text into synthetic speech;
• speech recognition software, which may be used by people who have some physical disabilities;
• alternative keyboards, which are used by people with certain physical disabilities to simulate the keyboard (including alternate keyboards that use head pointers, single switches, sip/puff and other special input devices.);
• alternative pointing devices, which are used by people with certain physical disabilities to simulate mouse pointing and button activations.

audio

the technology of sound reproduction

Audio can be created synthetically (including speech synthesis), recorded from real world sounds, or both.

audio description

narration added to the soundtrack to describe important visual details that cannot be understood from the main soundtrack alone

Audio description of video provides information about actions, characters, scene changes, on-screen text, and other visual content.

In standard audio description, narration is added during existing pauses in dialogue. (See also extended audio description.)

Where all of the video information is already provided in existing audio, no additional audio description is necessary.

Also called "video description" and "descriptive narration."

audio-only

a time-based presentation that contains only audio (no video and no interaction)

author settable properties

[Proposed]

type of distraction, type of help, type of transaction and type of reminder, instructions and status of an element

blinking

switch back and forth between two visual states in a way that is meant to draw attention

See also flash. It is possible for something to be large enough and blink brightly enough at the right frequency to be also classified as a flash.

blocks of text

more than one sentence of text

CAPTCHA

initialism for "Completely Automated Public Turing test to tell Computers and Humans Apart"

CAPTCHA tests often involve asking the user to type in text that is displayed in an obscured image or audio file.

A Turing test is any system of tests designed to differentiate a human from a computer. It is named after famed computer scientist Alan Turing. The term was coined by researchers at Carnegie Mellon University. [CAPTCHA]

captions

synchronized visual and/or text alternative for both speech and non-speech audio information needed to understand the media content

Captions are similar to dialogue-only subtitles except captions convey not only the content of spoken dialogue, but also equivalents for non-dialogue audio information needed to understand the program content, including sound effects, music, laughter, speaker identification and location.

Closed Captions are equivalents that can be turned on and off with some players.

Open Captions are any captions that cannot be turned off. For example, if the captions are visual equivalent images of text embedded in video.

Captions should not obscure or obstruct relevant information in the video.

In some countries, captions are called subtitles.

Audio descriptions can be, but do not need to be, captioned since they are descriptions of information that is already presented visually.

cardinal direction

[Proposed]

points of the Compass (North, South, East and West)

change of content

[Proposed]

changes made to a web page after it has been delivered to the user agent, whether or not initiated by the user

changes of context

major changes in the content of the Web page that, if made without user awareness, can disorient users who are not able to view the entire page simultaneously

Changes in context include changes of:

1. user agent;
2. viewport;
3. focus;
4. content that changes the meaning of the Web page.

A change of content is not always a change of context. Changes in content, such as an expanding outline, dynamic menu, or a tab control do not necessarily change the context, unless they also change one of the above (e.g., focus).

Opening a new window, moving focus to a different component, going to a new page (including anything that would look to a user as if they had moved to a new page) or significantly re-arranging the content of a page are examples of changes of context.

common input error

[Proposed]

errors that have been documented in the understanding of the Success Criteria section or have supportive techniques or that have been reported or documented more then one time and there is a known way to identify them

Editor's Note

This definition should be reworded in a way that doesn't depend on non-normative resources.

complex information

[Proposed]

something with at least 3 parts where at least 2 of those parts interact with each other in multiple ways

concrete wording

[Proposed]

uses literal language, is specific and describes things you experience through your senses: smoke, mist, a shout

conformance

satisfying all the requirements of a given standard, guideline or specification

conforming alternate version

version that

1. conforms at the designated level, and
2. provides all of the same information and functionality in the same human language, and
3. is as up to date as the non-conforming content, and

4. for which at least one of the following is true:

   1. the conforming version can be reached from the non-conforming page via an accessibility-supported mechanism, or
   2. the non-conforming version can only be reached from the conforming version, or
   3. the non-conforming version can only be reached from a conforming page that also provides a mechanism to reach the conforming version

In this definition, "can only be reached" means that there is some mechanism, such as a conditional redirect, that prevents a user from "reaching" (loading) the non-conforming page unless the user had just come from the conforming version.

The alternate version does not need to be matched page for page with the original (e.g., the conforming alternate version may consist of multiple pages).

If multiple language versions are available, then conforming alternate versions are required for each language offered.

Alternate versions may be provided to accommodate different technology environments or user groups. Each version should be as conformant as possible. One version would need to be fully conformant in order to meet conformance requirement 1.

The conforming alternative version does not need to reside within the scope of conformance, or even on the same Web site, as long as it is as freely available as the non-conforming version.

Alternate versions should not be confused with supplementary content, which support the original page and enhance comprehension.

Setting user preferences within the content to produce a conforming version is an acceptable mechanism for reaching another version as long as the method used to set the preferences is accessibility supported.

See Understanding Conforming Alternate Versions

content (Web content)

information and sensory experience to be communicated to the user by means of a user agent, including code or markup that defines the content's structure, presentation, and interactions

context-sensitive help

help text that provides information related to the function currently being performed

Clear labels can act as context-sensitive help.

contextual information

[Proposed]

semantics and tags that give meaning to the content such as context of elements; concept and role; relevance and information for simplification; position in a process

contrast ratio

(L1 + 0.05) / (L2 + 0.05), where

• L1 is the relative luminance of the lighter of the colors, and
• L2 is the relative luminance of the darker of the colors.

Contrast ratios can range from 1 to 21 (commonly written 1:1 to 21:1).

Because authors do not have control over user settings as to how text is rendered (for example font smoothing or anti-aliasing), the contrast ratio for text can be evaluated with anti-aliasing turned off.

For the purpose of Success Criteria 1.4.3 and 1.4.6, contrast is measured with respect to the specified background over which the text is rendered in normal usage. If no background color is specified, then white is assumed.

Background color is the specified color of content over which the text is to be rendered in normal usage. It is a failure if no background color is specified when the text color is specified, because the user's default background color is unknown and cannot be evaluated for sufficient contrast. For the same reason, it is a failure if no text color is specified when a background color is specified.

When there is a border around the letter, the border can add contrast and would be used in calculating the contrast between the letter and its background. A narrow border around the letter would be used as the letter. A wide border around the letter that fills in the inner details of the letters acts as a halo and would be considered background.

WCAG conformance should be evaluated for color pairs specified in the content that an author would expect to appear adjacent in typical presentation. Authors need not consider unusual presentations, such as color changes made by the user agent, except where caused by authors' code.

correct reading sequence

any sequence where words and paragraphs are presented in an order that does not change the meaning of the content

critical features

[Proposed]

features that are required to complete the main role or tasks of the user interface

critical service

[Proposed]

service that is needed to prevent significant harm, risk or loss such as: significant financial loss, illness, injury or deterioration in a patient's condition or effective loss of rights or freedoms

device sensor

[Proposed]

additional input values such as tilt, orientation, proximity

CSS pixel

[Proposed]

visual angle of about 0.0213 degrees

A CSS pixel is the canonical unit of measure for all lengths and measurements in CSS. This unit is density-independent, and distinct from actual hardware pixels present in a display. User agents and operating systems should ensure that a CSS pixel is set as closely as possible to the CSS Values and Units Module Level 3 reference pixel [css3-values], which takes into account the physical dimensions of the display and the assumed viewing distance (factors which cannot be determined by content authors).

easily available (or easily available mode or setting)

[Proposed]

one or more of the following are true:

• can be set one time with as wide a scope as possible (such as using the standards of the operating system, from ISO 9241-112 [[ISO_9241-112]] or GPII [GPII] when available)
• has the option to save or change the setting, where available interoperably, but also for the scope of the set of web pages
• is reachable from each screen where it may be needed, and the path and the control conforms to all of this document

emergency

a sudden, unexpected situation or occurrence that requires immediate action to preserve health, safety, or property

essential

[Proposed]

if removed, would fundamentally change the information or functionality of the content, and information and functionality cannot be achieved in another way that would conform

Examples of a particular presentation of content being essential to the information being conveyed:

• banking site where a check deposit has to be in a certain orientation
• piano app in landscape mode

extended audio description

audio description that is added to an audiovisual presentation by pausing the video so that there is time to add additional description

This technique is only used when the sense of the video would be lost without the additional audio description and the pauses between dialogue/narration are too short.

flash

a pair of opposing changes in relative luminance that can cause seizures in some people if it is large enough and in the right frequency range

See general flash and red flash thresholds for information about types of flash that are not allowed.

See also blinking.

functionality

processes and outcomes achievable through user action

general flash and red flash thresholds

a flash or rapidly changing image sequence is below the threshold (i.e., content passes) if any of the following are true:

1. there are no more than three general flashes and / or no more than three red flashes within any one-second period; or
2. the combined area of flashes occurring concurrently occupies no more than a total of .006 steradians within any 10 degree visual field on the screen (25% of any 10 degree visual field on the screen) at typical viewing distance

where:

• A general flash is defined as a pair of opposing changes in relative luminance of 10% or more of the maximum relative luminance where the relative luminance of the darker image is below 0.80; and where "a pair of opposing changes" is an increase followed by a decrease, or a decrease followed by an increase, and
• A red flash is defined as any pair of opposing transitions involving a saturated red.

Exception: Flashing that is a fine, balanced, pattern such as white noise or an alternating checkerboard pattern with "squares" smaller than 0.1 degree (of visual field at typical viewing distance) on a side does not violate the thresholds.

For general software or Web content, using a 341 x 256 pixel rectangle anywhere on the displayed screen area when the content is viewed at 1024 x 768 pixels will provide a good estimate of a 10 degree visual field for standard screen sizes and viewing distances (e.g., 15-17 inch screen at 22-26 inches). (Higher resolutions displays showing the same rendering of the content yield smaller and safer images so it is lower resolutions that are used to define the thresholds.)

A transition is the change in relative luminance (or relative luminance/color for red flashing) between adjacent peaks and valleys in a plot of relative luminance (or relative luminance/color for red flashing) measurement against time. A flash consists of two opposing transitions.

The current working definition in the field for "pair of opposing transitions involving a saturated red" is where, for either or both states involved in each transition, R/(R+ G + B) >= 0.8, and the change in the value of (R-G-B)x320 is > 20 (negative values of (R-G-B)x320 are set to zero) for both transitions. R, G, B values range from 0-1 as specified in “relative luminance” definition. [HARDING-BINNIE]

Tools are available that will carry out analysis from video screen capture. However, no tool is necessary to evaluate for this condition if flashing is less than or equal to 3 flashes in any one second. Content automatically passes (see #1 and #2 above).

graphical object

[Proposed]

graphic or section of a graphic that represents a distinct object or sub-component with semantic meaning

A graphical object may be a component of a larger structured graphic such as a chart or map. There is a related concept in the WAI-ARIA graphics module graphic-object role [graphics-aria-1.0] for graphics with a document structure but this applies to bitmap and vector graphics, or distinct visual elements within them.

help

[Proposed]

a mechanism provided to give a user access to help content, a support page or a support function

human language

language that is spoken, written or signed (through visual or tactile means) to communicate with humans

See also sign language.

identified context

[Proposed]

context and a context specific word frequency list (and glossary) has been identified in an accessibility statement or other known technique

A word frequency list has to be generated from at least 1000 sources from the same context.

idiom

phrase whose meaning cannot be deduced from the meaning of the individual words and the specific words cannot be changed without losing the meaning

idioms cannot be translated directly, word for word, without losing their (cultural or language-dependent) meaning.

In English, "spilling the beans" means "revealing a secret." However, "knocking over the beans" or "spilling the vegetables" does not mean the same thing.

In Japanese, the phrase "さじを投げる" literally translates into "he throws a spoon," but it means that there is nothing he can do and finally he gives up.

In Dutch, "Hij ging met de kippen op stok" literally translates into "He went to roost with the chickens," but it means that he went to bed early.

image of text

text that has been rendered in a non-text form (e.g., an image) in order to achieve a particular visual effect

This does not include text that is part of a picture that contains significant other visual content.

A person's name on a nametag in a photograph.

immediate surrounding color

[Proposed]

the color(s) adjacent to the entire length of the outer perimeter of the element

important information

[Proposed]

information the user may need to complete any action or task including an offline task, or related to safety, risks, privacy, health or opportunities

informational content

[Proposed]

content whose primary purpose is to provide information rather than navigational or functional elements such as links, buttons or menus

informative

for information purposes and not required for conformance

input error

information provided by the user that is not accepted

This includes:

1. Information that is required by the Web page but omitted by the user
2. Information that is provided by the user but that falls outside the required data format or values

jargon

words used in a particular way by people in a particular field

The word StickyKeys is jargon from the field of assistive technology/accessibility.

keyboard interface

interface used by software to obtain keystroke input

A keyboard interface allows users to provide keystroke input to programs even if the native technology does not contain a keyboard.

A touchscreen PDA has a keyboard interface built into its operating system as well as a connector for external keyboards. Applications on the PDA can use the interface to obtain keyboard input either from an external keyboard or from other applications that provide simulated keyboard output, such as handwriting interpreters or speech-to-text applications with "keyboard emulation" functionality.

Operation of the application (or parts of the application) through a keyboard-operated mouse emulator, such as MouseKeys, does not qualify as operation through a keyboard interface because operation of the program is through its pointing device interface, not through its keyboard interface.

label

text or other component with a text alternative that is presented to a user to identify a component within Web content

A label is presented to all users whereas the name may be hidden and only exposed by assistive technology. In many (but not all) cases the name and the label are the same.

The term label is not limited to the label element in HTML.

large scale (text)

with at least 18 point or 14 point bold or font size that would yield equivalent size for Chinese, Japanese and Korean (CJK) fonts

Fonts with extraordinarily thin strokes or unusual features and characteristics that reduce the familiarity of their letter forms are harder to read, especially at lower contrast levels.

Font size is the size when the content is delivered. It does not include resizing that may be done by a user.

The actual size of the character that a user sees is dependent both on the author-defined size and the user's display or user-agent settings. For many mainstream body text fonts, 14 and 18 point is roughly equivalent to 1.2 and 1.5 em or to 120% or 150% of the default size for body text (assuming that the body font is 100%), but authors would need to check this for the particular fonts in use. When fonts are defined in relative units, the actual point size is calculated by the user agent for display. The point size should be obtained from the user agent, or calculated based on font metrics as the user agent does, when evaluating this success criterion. Users who have low vision would be responsible for choosing appropriate settings.

When using text without specifying the font size, the smallest font size used on major browsers for unspecified text would be a reasonable size to assume for the font. If a level 1 heading is rendered in 14pt bold or higher on major browsers, then it would be reasonable to assume it is large text. Relative scaling can be calculated from the default sizes in a similar fashion.

The 18 and 14 point sizes for roman texts are taken from the minimum size for large print (14pt) and the larger standard font size (18pt). For other fonts such as CJK languages, the "equivalent" sizes would be the minimum large print size used for those languages and the next larger standard large print size.

legal commitments

transactions where the person incurs a legally binding obligation or benefit

A marriage license, a stock trade (financial and legal), a will, a loan, adoption, signing up for the army, a contract of any type, etc.

link purpose

nature of the result obtained by activating a hyperlink

live

information captured from a real-world event and transmitted to the receiver with no more than a broadcast delay

A broadcast delay is a short (usually automated) delay, for example used in order to give the broadcaster time to cue or censor the audio (or video) feed, but not sufficient to allow significant editing.

If information is completely computer generated, it is not live.

long document

[Proposed]

300 words or more

lower secondary education level

the two or three year period of education that begins after completion of six years of school and ends nine years after the beginning of primary education

This definition is based on the International Standard Classification of Education [UNESCO].

mechanism

process or technique for achieving a result

The mechanism may be explicitly provided in the content, or may be relied upon to be provided by either the platform or by user agents, including assistive technologies.

The mechanism needs to meet all success criteria for the conformance level claimed.

media alternative for text

media that presents no more information than is already presented in text (directly or via text alternatives)

A media alternative for text is provided for those who benefit from alternate representations of text. Media alternatives for text may be audio-only, video-only (including sign-language video), or audio-video.

name

text by which software can identify a component within Web content to the user

The name may be hidden and only exposed by assistive technology, whereas a label is presented to all users. In many (but not all) cases, the label and the name are the same.

This is unrelated to the name attribute in HTML.

navigated sequentially

navigated in the order defined for advancing focus (from one element to the next) using a keyboard interface

non-literal language

[Proposed]

language that goes beyond the dictionary meaning of the word or phrase

Non-literal language uses words or expressions with a meaning that is different from the literal interpretation. Figurative language includes, but is not limited to: metaphor, sarcasm, simile, personification, hyperbole, symbolism, idioms, and cliché. For example:

• "I've told you a million times to clean your room!"
• "The sun is like a yellow ball of fire in the sky."
• "You are what you eat."
• "Busy as a bee."

Editor's Note

This definition was included in support of concrete wording, but the term there is "literal language", the opposite of this definition, so link to here not added.

non-numerical value

[Proposed]

a value that does not rely on understanding numerical concepts and is not expressed in numbers

Editor's Note

This definition was included in support of Provide Support, but the term there is "numerical information", the opposite of this definition, so link to here not added.

non-text content

any content that is not a sequence of characters that can be programmatically determined or where the sequence is not expressing something in human language

This includes ASCII Art (which is a pattern of characters), emoticons, leetspeak (which uses character substitution), and images representing text

normative

required for conformance

One may conform in a variety of well-defined ways to this document.

on a full-screen window

on the most common sized desktop/laptop display with the viewport maximized

Since people generally keep their computers for several years, it is best not to rely on the latest desktop/laptop display resolutions but to consider the common desktop/laptop display resolutions over the course of several years when making this evaluation.

orientation

[Proposed]

portrait or landscape mode of the display

See the CSS Device Adaptation Module Level 1, the "orientation" descriptor [css-device-adapt-1].

paused

stopped by user request and not resumed until requested by user

personalization

[Proposed]

user interface that is driven by the individual user's preferences

platform assistive technology that remaps touch gestures

[Proposed]

software that is integrated into the operating system, ships with the product, and/or is updated or installed via system updates

This software changes the characteristics of the touch interface when turned on. For example, a system screen reader may remap a right swipe gesture to move focus from item to item instead of it's default behaviour when the assistive technology is not on.

pointer input

[Proposed]

input device that can target a specific coordinate (or set of coordinates) on a screen, such as a mouse, pen, or touch contact

See also Pointer Events Level 2 pointer definition [pointerevents2].

prerecorded

information that is not live

presentation

rendering of the content in a form to be perceived by users

primary education level

six year time period that begins between the ages of five and seven, possibly without any previous education

This definition is based on the International Standard Classification of Education [UNESCO].

process

series of user actions where each action is required in order to complete an activity

Successful use of a series of Web pages on a shopping site requires users to view alternative products, prices and offers, select products, submit an order, provide shipping information and provide payment information.

An account registration page requires successful completion of a Turing test before the registration form can be accessed.

programmatically determined (programmatically determinable)

determined by software from author-supplied data provided in a way that different user agents, including assistive technologies, can extract and present this information to users in different modalities

Determined in a markup language from elements and attributes that are accessed directly by commonly available assistive technology.

Determined from technology-specific data structures in a non-markup language and exposed to assistive technology via an accessibility API that is supported by commonly available assistive technology.

programmatically determined link context

additional information that can be programmatically determined from relationships with a link, combined with the link text, and presented to users in different modalities

In HTML, information that is programmatically determinable from a link in English includes text that is in the same paragraph, list, or table cell as the link or in a table header cell that is associated with the table cell that contains the link.

Since screen readers interpret punctuation, they can also provide the context from the current sentence, when the focus is on a link in that sentence.

programmatic notification

[Proposed]

notification by software from data provided in a user-agent-supported manner

User agents can extract and present this notification to users in different modalities, such as screen readers, without further action by the user.

programmatically set

set by software using methods that are supported by user agents, including assistive technologies

pure decoration

serving only an aesthetic purpose, providing no information, and having no functionality

Text is only purely decorative if the words can be rearranged or substituted without changing their purpose.

The cover page of a dictionary has random words in very light text in the background.

real-time event

event that a) occurs at the same time as the viewing and b) is not completely generated by the content

A Webcast of a live performance (occurs at the same time as the viewing and is not prerecorded).

An on-line auction with people bidding (occurs at the same time as the viewing).

Live humans interacting in a virtual world using avatars (is not completely generated by the content and occurs at the same time as the viewing).

relationships

meaningful associations between distinct pieces of content

relative luminance

the relative brightness of any point in a colorspace, normalized to 0 for darkest black and 1 for lightest white

For the sRGB colorspace, the relative luminance of a color is defined as L = 0.2126 * R + 0.7152 * G + 0.0722 * B where R, G and B are defined as:

• if RsRGB <= 0.03928 then R = RsRGB/12.92 else R = ((RsRGB+0.055)/1.055) ^ 2.4
• if GsRGB <= 0.03928 then G = GsRGB/12.92 else G = ((GsRGB+0.055)/1.055) ^ 2.4
• if BsRGB <= 0.03928 then B = BsRGB/12.92 else B = ((BsRGB+0.055)/1.055) ^ 2.4

and RsRGB, GsRGB, and BsRGB are defined as:

• RsRGB = R8bit/255
• GsRGB = G8bit/255
• BsRGB = B8bit/255

The "^" character is the exponentiation operator. (Formula taken from [sRGB] and [IEC-4WD]).

Almost all systems used today to view Web content assume sRGB encoding. Unless it is known that another color space will be used to process and display the content, authors should evaluate using sRGB colorspace. If using other color spaces, see Understanding Success Criterion 1.4.3.

If dithering occurs after delivery, then the source color value is used. For colors that are dithered at the source, the average values of the colors that are dithered should be used (average R, average G, and average B).

Tools are available that automatically do the calculations when testing contrast and flash.

A MathML version of the relative luminance definition is available.

relative pronoun

[Proposed]

any of the words "who", "whom", "that", "which", "whose", "where", "when" and "why"

reliable and achievable (known to be)

[Proposed]

Editor's Note

The definition for this term is under revision to remove reference to user testing.

relied upon (technologies that are)

the content would not conform if that technology is turned off or is not supported

role

text or number by which software can identify the function of a component within Web content

A number that indicates whether an image functions as a hyperlink, command button, or check box.

same functionality

same result when used

A submit "search" button on one Web page and a "find" button on another Web page may both have a field to enter a term and list topics in the Web site related to the term submitted. In this case, they would have the same functionality but would not be labeled consistently.

same relative order

same position relative to other items

Items are considered to be in the same relative order even if other items are inserted or removed from the original order. For example, expanding navigation menus may insert an additional level of detail or a secondary navigation section may be inserted into the reading order.

satisfies a success criterion

the success criterion does not evaluate to 'false' when applied to the page

section

A self-contained portion of written content that deals with one or more related topics or thoughts

A section may consist of one or more paragraphs and include graphics, tables, lists and sub-sections.

set of Web pages

collection of Web pages that share a common purpose and that are created by the same author, group or organization

Different language versions would be considered different sets of Web pages.

Example: A publication is split across multiple Web pages, where each page contains one chapter or other significant section of the work. The publication is logically a single contiguous unit, and contains navigation features that enable access to the full set of pages.

Example: A publication is split across multiple Web pages, where each page contains one chapter or other significant section of the work. The publication is logically a single contiguous unit, and contains navigation features that enable access to the full set of pages.

sign language

a language using combinations of movements of the hands and arms, facial expressions, or body positions to convey meaning

sign language interpretation

translation of one language, generally a spoken language, into a sign language

True sign languages are independent languages that are unrelated to the spoken language(s) of the same country or region.

significant animation

[Proposed]

animation which continues for more than 3 seconds, or is synchronized with a user action (e.g. parallax scrolling effects), and affects more than 1/3 of the viewport.

single-character shortcut

[Proposed]

functionality added to the content which triggers a control using only one character on the keyboard without focus being on that control

specific sensory experience

a sensory experience that is not purely decorative and does not primarily convey important information or perform a function

Examples include a performance of a flute solo, works of visual art etc.

standardized technique

[Proposed]

part of a W3C standard, the standard of the native platform, or a WCAG technique (please note: other success criterion have better definitions for this term)

structure

1. The way the parts of a Web page are organized in relation to each other; and
2. The way a collection of Web pages is organized

supplemental content

additional content that illustrates or clarifies the primary content

An audio version of a Web page.

An illustration of a complex process.

A paragraph summarizing the major outcomes and recommendations made in a research study.

synchronized media

audio or video synchronized with another format for presenting information and/or with time-based interactive components, unless the media is a media alternative for text that is clearly labeled as such

target

[Proposed]

region of a display that will accept a touch action

If a portion of a touch target is overlapped by another touch target such that it cannot receive touch actions, then that portion is not considered a touch target for purposes of touch target measurements.

technology (Web content)

mechanism for encoding instructions to be rendered, played or executed by user agents

As used in these guidelines "Web Technology" and the word "technology" (when used alone) both refer to Web Content Technologies.

Web content technologies may include markup languages, data formats, or programming languages that authors may use alone or in combination to create end-user experiences that range from static Web pages to synchronized media presentations to dynamic Web applications.

Some common examples of Web content technologies include HTML, CSS, SVG, PNG, PDF, Flash, and JavaScript.

text

sequence of characters that can be programmatically determined, where the sequence is expressing something in human language

text alternative

Text that is programmatically associated with non-text content or referred to from text that is programmatically associated with non-text content. Programmatically associated text is text whose location can be programmatically determined from the non-text content.

An image of a chart is described in text in the paragraph after the chart. The short text alternative for the chart indicates that a description follows.

Refer to Understanding Text Alternatives for more information.

understandable language

[Proposed]

conforms to all understandable-language success criteria

up-event

The activation of a component when the trigger stimulus is released. On different platforms the "up-event" may be called different things, such as "touchend" or "mouseup". Example: For touchscreen interaction, the event is triggered when a finger is lifted from the touchscreen at the end of a tap.

used in an unusual or restricted way

words used in such a way that requires users to know exactly which definition to apply in order to understand the content correctly

The term "gig" means something different if it occurs in a discussion of music concerts than it does in article about computer hard drive space, but the appropriate definition can be determined from context. By contrast, the word "text" is used in a very specific way in WCAG 2.1, so a definition is supplied in the glossary.

user agent

any software that retrieves and presents Web content for users

Web browsers, media players, plug-ins, and other programs — including assistive technologies — that help in retrieving, rendering, and interacting with Web content.

user-controllable

data that is intended to be accessed by users

This does not refer to such things as Internet logs and search engine monitoring data.

Name and address fields for a user's account.

user interface component

a part of the content that is perceived by users as a single control for a distinct function

Multiple user interface components may be implemented as a single programmatic element. Components here is not tied to programming techniques, but rather to what the user perceives as separate controls.

User interface components include form elements and links as well as components generated by scripts.

What is meant by "component" or "user interface component" here is also sometimes called "user interface element".

An applet has a "control" that can be used to move through content by line or page or random access. Since each of these would need to have a name and be settable independently, they would each be a "user interface component."

video

the technology of moving or sequenced pictures or images

Video can be made up of animated or photographic images, or both.

video-only

a time-based presentation that contains only video (no audio and no interaction)

viewport

object in which the user agent presents content

The user agent presents content through one or more viewports. Viewports include windows, frames, loudspeakers, and virtual magnifying glasses. A viewport may contain another viewport (e.g., nested frames). Interface components created by the user agent such as prompts, menus, and alerts are not viewports.

This definition is based on User Agent Accessibility Guidelines 1.0 Glossary.

visually customized

the font, size, color, and background can be set

Web page

a non-embedded resource obtained from a single URI using HTTP plus any other resources that are used in the rendering or intended to be rendered together with it by a user agent

Although any "other resources" would be rendered together with the primary resource, they would not necessarily be rendered simultaneously with each other.

For the purposes of conformance with these guidelines, a resource must be "non-embedded" within the scope of conformance to be considered a Web page.

A Web resource including all embedded images and media.

A Web mail program built using Asynchronous JavaScript and XML (AJAX). The program lives entirely at http://example.com/mail, but includes an inbox, a contacts area and a calendar. Links or buttons are provided that cause the inbox, contacts, or calendar to display, but do not change the URI of the page as a whole.

A customizable portal site, where users can choose content to display from a set of different content modules.

When you enter "http://shopping.example.com/" in your browser, you enter a movie-like interactive shopping environment where you visually move around in a store dragging products off of the shelves around you and into a visual shopping cart in front of you. Clicking on a product causes it to be demonstrated with a specification sheet floating alongside. This might be a single-page Web site or just one page within a Web site.

word frequency

[Proposed]

lists of a language's words grouped by frequency of occurrence within some given text corpus

Word lists should also give the meaning of the usage.