Guideline 4: Guide the author to produce accessible content:
Techniques:
- Provide a preview
mode that displays alternative content. Although this may quickly give
authors a clear understanding of some problems, they should be warned
that there are many other less predictable ways in which a page may be
presented (aurally, text-only, text with pictures separately, on a small
screen, on a large screen, etc.). Other helpful document views include: a
"no style sheets" view and a "no images" view. [T0092]
- When non-text content changes, alternative equivalent information
associated with that content needs to be kept up to date. Prompt the
author to ensure that equivalent still covers the functionality of the
non-text content. [T????] @@new@@
- Prompt the
author to provide equivalent alternative information (e.g., captions,
auditory descriptions, and collated text transcripts for video). Because
this ATAG checkpoint has a relative priority, it is the priority of the
relevant WCAG checkpoints that determines the level of conformance of the
tool to the ATAG checkpoint [T0093] :
@@all of this may need more detail?@@
- Types of alternative information (applicable WCAG checkpoints
will subdivide the list later)
- Short Text Labels (for alternate
text, titles, etc.): These types of alternative
equivalents require only short text strings from the author, so
the prompts for them may be best located as text boxes within
property dialogs, etc. An important consideration is that the
function of the object (decorative, button, spacer, etc.) will be
important to the instructions given to the author on what to
write. The object function may be prompted for or discovered by
automated heuristics. [T????] @@new@@
- Long Text Descriptions (for
Longdesc, etc.:These types of alternative equivalents
require more screen area to author and are only required when the
object is not already sufficiently described. The author may
first be prompted as to whether the inserted object is adequately
described (a "no images" view may help them decide). If the short
description is inadequate, the author should be prompted for the
location of a preexisting description. Failing that, the author
will need a description writing utility (that would include a
preview of the object and description writing pointers). Since
description writing can be time-consuming, it is preferable for
the tool to have some ability to store and reuse the description
(see Techniques for ATAG
checkpoint 4.4) as an incentive for the author. [T????] @@new@@
- Image Map Text
Labels: Image maps require multiple text labels (one for
each area) as well as redundant text links. Since the same labels
may be used for the area labels and the text links, the tool
might prompt the author to add all the labels and text links for
all the areas at the same time (rather than a separate prompt for
each area). To aid the author, the tool might search the document
for links that point to the same URI, then use the link text as
place-holder text in the labeling prompt. [T0102, T0104]
- Transcripts of Audio or
Video: The author should be prompted for the location of
a preexisting transcript of the audio or video. Failing this, one
will have to be created. Although transcript writing is a complex
process for long media files, tools might include simple
transcription writing suites (with built-in media players) for
short media files. [T????]@@new@@
- Captions for Video:The
author should be prompted for the location of a captioned version
of the video. The creation of captions can be a time consuming
process but public domain tools do exist for relatively simple
captions (e.g., Magpie).
[T????]@@new@@
- Described Video: The
author should be prompted for the location of a described version
of the video. The recording of traditional video descriptions
(that are encoded into the video file where silent periods occur
in the original soundtrack) is a complex process that may be
beyond the average author. However, technologies are becoming
available that allow the audio description files to be stored
separately, to be played only if requested by the user. [T????]
@@new@@
- Signed Translation of Audio or
Video: The author should be prompted for the location of
a version of the audio or video with signed translation. The
creation of signed translation video files is assumed to be
beyond the average author but new technologies are being
developed for automated sign language animation to be generated
from text. [T????] @@new@@
- Ideogram
Rubies (for Japanese, Chinese, and other appropriate
languages): When unusual ideograms are inserted, prompt
the author for text that can be used as a ruby. This
can be done in the same way as short text labels. [T0095]
- Element
Role: The roles that elements play (e.g., tables for
layout or data; frames for navigation bars, headers, etc.) are
important for a number of WCAG10 checkpoints. To determine the
role of a particular element instance, the tool might query the
author. The answer received should be saved by some means to
prevent having to ask the question again. Alternatively, some
tools might use automated heuristics to determine which role the
table is playing. [T????]@@new@@
- Still
Images of Video: The author should be prompted for the
location of a still image. If this fails, the tool might allow
the user to take a snapshot from the video to use as the still.
[T????]@@new@@
- Form field
place-holders: When tools prompt the author for this
text, they might suggest nearby text strings (which may be
implicit labels). [T????]@@new@@
- Site
information: Tools might prompt the author to provide a
link or content describing the structure of the site, and its
accessibility features as part of a list of general
considerations displayed after an accessibility check, etc. [T0115]
- Document Collections
Information: Tools might ask authors to specify the role
of pages linked from a navigation bar. Where common names are
used (search, home, map) as links, tools might ask the author to
confirm these functions for use in linking. [T0116, T0117]
- Non-Text Supplements to
Text: Since prompting the author about every instance of
text is intolerable, this requirement might be included in a list
of general considerations displayed after an accessibility check,
etc. [T????]@@new@@
- Table Summaries: Tools
might include a summary text field in a table creation wizard.
See techniques for long
descriptions.[T????] @@new@@
- Alternate Page or Site:The
author should be prompted for the location of the alternative
content. If there is no alternative content, the tool might
support the author by providing a copy of the content with the
problematic formatting removed. [T????] @@new@@
Reference:
- For more information on different methods for prompting, see Appendix A.
ATAG
Checkpoint 4.2: Help the author create structured content and separate
information from its presentation. [Relative Priority]@@THIS CHECKPOINT NEEDS WORK@@
Techniques:
- Allow the author to transform presentation markup that
is misused to convey structure into structural markup, and to
transform presentation markup used for style into style
sheets.[T????]
- Allow the author
to define transformations for imported documents that have presentation,
rather than structural, markup. [T0209]
@@from ATAG1 4.5@@
- Remember that
accessibility information, including attributes or properties of the
elements being transformed, must be preserved - see checkpoint
1.2. [T0210] @@from ATAG1 4.5@@
- Some examples of
transformations include [T????]: @@from ATAG1
4.5@@
- T0211 Implementing XSLT in the
tool.
- T0212 HTML: table-based layout into
CSS.
- T0213 HTML:
BR
to the
P
element.
- T0214 HTML: (deprecated)
FONT
into heuristically or author-determined
structure.
- T0215 Word processor styles to Web
styles.
- T0216 HTML: deprecated
presentational markup into CSS.
- T0217 XHTML:
span
into
ruby
.
- T0218 MathML: presentational markup
to semantic markup.
- Implement XSLT
[XSLT] together with a user-interface for expressing transformations (see
Techniques for ATAG
checkpoint 2.1). [T0219] @@from ATAG1 4.5@@
- Allow the
author to create style rules based on the formatting properties of an
element, and then apply the rule to other elements in the document, to
assist conversion of documents to the use of style sheets. [T0220] @@from
ATAG1 4.5@@
- Include
pre-written transformations to rationalize multiple tables
- Transform (deprecated) presentation HTML into style sheets. [T0221] @@from
ATAG1 4.5@@
- Support author's of DTD's or Schemas to specify explicit structure. For
example, encourage nesting where appropriate. [T0118]
- Provide an outline view that lets the author clearly see the structure
of the document independently of the specified presentation. [T????]
- Help the
author create structured content and separate information from its
presentation as required by the following WCAG10 checkpoints. (Note: An
asterix (*) denotes those WCAG checkpoints that involve the inclusion of
equivalent alternative information which, although related to the
separation of information from presentation, is already covered by Techniques for ATAG checkpoint 4.1)
[T0119]:
- @@WCAG checkpoints will subdivide the
list@@
- Prompt the author to ensure a color independent indicator. [T0121]
- Provide a monochrome preview for the author to test themselves.
[T0122]
- When a foreground or background color is defined, prompt for a
contrasting background or foreground color. [T????] @@From
F2F@@
- Prompt the author to identify the structural role of content
that has been emphasized through styling. [T0125]
- Provide a view which allows the author to edit the layout and
styling effects independently of the text content. [T0126]
- Recognize formatting patterns and convert them to style rules.
[T0127]
- Prompt the author to identify headings and subheadings. [T0129]
- Provide an "outline" or "structure" view which allows the
author to easily grasp the heading structure, and edit it. [T0130]
- Recognize formatting conventions such as a number of
consecutive paragraphs beginning with a bullet character (this
may be a "bullet" or another punctuation character like asterisk
or dash "-") being used to identify a list. [T0131]
- Include lists (marked as lists) in a collapsible structure
view. [T0132]
- Where material appears within quote marks ask the author if
this is a quotation. [T0133]
- Use a dictionary lookup system to recognize changes of
language, or use of abbreviations and acronym. [T0134 ]
- Recognize collections of uppercase letters as likely
abbreviations (in languages that have case) and prompt the author
for an expansion, to be provided in markup (e.g., in HTML, with
abbr
or acronym
). [T0135]
- Prompt the author (and allow them to specify a default
suggestion) for the language of a document. [T0136]
- Prompt the author to provide header information for tabular
data. [T0137] @@PJ indicated he would work on
this@@
- Ask the author to group columns, rows, or blocks of cells that
are related. [T0138] @@PJ indicated he would work on
this@@
- Prompt the author to identify tables as used for layout or
data. [T0139]
- For layout tables, provide a linearized version, and offer it
as a link from the table or as a replacement. [T0140]
- Incorporate tablin, a
tool that linearizes and transforms tables. [T0141]
- Provide a "draft" view which does not apply styling. [T0144]
- Prompt for alternative content for applets and programmatic
objects. [T0145]
- Prompt for server-side alternatives for essential client-side
scripts (those used for content and navigation) and applets. [T0146]
- During applet development, prompt the author to include
device-independent means of activation. [T0147]
- Include a "no scripts" view. [T????] @@proposed at F2F@@
- Where regions are not easily defined, ask the author to provide
information that can be used to generate a form-based input
method and explains how the coordinates input will be used. For
example, for a geographic map the input might be used to look up
latitude and longitude of a point and then give information about
that point. [T0154]
- Provide a link to skip over objects (since some browsers cause
objects to permanently capture the tab focus). [T????] @@proposed at F2F@@
- Where there are only a few links that change in each page of a
collection, ask the author if they should receive focus first. If
so, then appropriately update the tabindex order. [T0157]
- Ask authors to specify an accesskey for links that appear
common to a number of pages. [T0158]
- Prompt the author for a longdesc for each frame in a frameset.
[T0164]
- Prompt the author to add a noframes section to the frameset.
Encourage the author to include sufficient links to navigate the
site, and relevant information. For example, where a frameset
defines a navigation frame and a welcome page, include the
content of each of these frames in the noframes. [T0165]
- When frames used for a mosaic of images, allow inclusion of
markup files (with images embedded) rather than images directly.
[T????] @@proposed at F2F@@
- Where there are more than 10 choices in a list
(
select
, checkbox
or radio
boxes) ask the author to identify subgroups. [T0166]
- Ask authors to mark explicitly the labels for form inputs
(
input
and textarea
elements). [T0167]
- Metadata: Ask authors for information about a
page or site. If its function is known (see also WCAG checkpoint
13.9) add this information as metadata. [T????] @@new@@
- Ask authors if lists of links are a group and should be a map.
[T0168]
- Provide readability ratings for text. [T0169]
- Provide a thesaurus function. [T0170]
- Provide a grammar-checking function. [T0171]
- The following WCAG checkpoints are not considered relevant to this
checkpoint (since they do not refer to the creation of structured content
or the separation of information from its presentation):
Reference:
- The WAI Evaluation and Repair group [WAI-ER] is developing a
document that discusses detailed techniques for testing the accessibility
of content according to the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines, and
methods of repairing it. A draft of that document is available [AUTO-TOOL].
Sample(s):
ATAG Checkpoint
4.3: Do not automatically generate equivalent alternatives or reuse
previously authored alternatives without author confirmation, except when the
function is known with certainty. [Priority 1]
Techniques:
- If the author has
not specified an alternative equivalent, default to leaving out the
relevant attribute, rather than including the attribute with no value or
with automatically-generated content. Leaving out the attribute will
increase the probability that the problem will be detected by checking
algorithms (see Techniques for ATAG checkpoint 5.1). [T0176]
- If human-authored
equivalent alternatives may be available for an object (for example,
through Techniques for
ATAG checkpoint 4.4 and/or Techniques
for ATAG checkpoint 3.4), it is appropriate for the tool to offer
these to the author as defaults. [T0177]
- The function of
objects is considered to be known with certainty when they are used
throughout a Web site in a standard way (e.g., graphical navigation
bars). In this case, the objects should have standard alternative
information. Where an object has already been used in a document, the
tool should offer the alternative information that was supplied for the
first or most recent use as a default. If the user changes the
alternative content, they might be asked whether all instances of the
object should have their alternative content updated with the new value.
[T0178, T0179]
ATAG Checkpoint
4.4: Provide functionality for managing, editing, and reusing alternative
equivalents for multimedia objects. [Priority 3]
Note: This checkpoint is priority 3 and is, therefore,
not required to be implemented in order for a tool to conform to ATAG 1.0 at
the single-A and double-AA levels. However, implementing this checkpoint has
the potential to simplify the satisfaction of several higher priority
checkpoints (ATAG checkpoint 4.1, ATAG checkpoint 4.2, and ATAG checkpoint
4.3) and improve the usability of the tool.
Techniques:
- Maintain a
registry that associates object identity information with alternative
information (this could be done with the Resource Description Framework
(RDF) [RDF10]). Whenever an object
is used and an equivalent alternative is collected (see Techniques
for ATAG checkpoint 4.1) add the object (or identifying information)
and the alternative information to the database. In the case of a text equivalent, the alternate
information may be stored in the document source. For more substantial
information (such as video captions or audio descriptions), the
information may be stored externally and linked from the document source.
Allow different alternative information to be associated with a single
object. [T0180]
- Stored alternative
information can be presented to the author as default text in the
appropriate field, whenever one of the associated files is inserted into
the author's document. This satisfies ATAG checkpoint 4.3 because the equivalent
alternatives are not automatically generated and they are only reused
with author confirmation. [T0181]
- When no stored
association is found, the field should be left empty (i.e., no purely
rule-generated alternative information should be used).
Note: The term "default" implies that the alternative
information is offered for the author's approval. The term does not imply
that the default alternative information is automatically placed without
the author's approval. Such automatic placement may only occur when in
situations where the function of the object is known with certainty, per
ATAG checkpoint 4.3. Such a situation might arise in
the case of a "navigation bar builder" that places a navigation bar at
the bottom of every page on a site. In this case, it would be appropriate
to use the same "alt"-text automatically for every instance of a
particular image (with the same target) on every page. [T0182]
- The stored
alternative information required for ATAG checkpoint 3.4 might be part of the management
system, allowing the alternative equivalents to be retrieved whenever the
prepackaged objects are inserted. [T0183]
- Tools might allow authors to make keyword searches of a description
database (to simplify the task of finding relevant images, sound files,
etc.). A paper describing a method to
create searchable databases for video and audio files is available
(refer to [SEARCHABLE]). [T0184]
Guideline 5: Provide ways of checking for and correcting inaccessible
content:
Note: Accessibility problems should be detected
automatically where possible. Where this is not possible, the tool may need
to prompt the author to make decisions
or to manually check for certain types of problems. @@How exactly should we handle the AERT?@@.
Techniques:
- See AERT
document for evaluation and repair algorithms. [T0186]
- Highlight
problems detected when documents are opened, when an editing or insertion
action is completed, or while an author is editing. Using CSS classes to
indicate accessibility problems will enable the author to easily
configure the presentation of errors. [T0187]
- Alert authors
to accessibility problems when saving. [T0188]
- Accessibility
problems can be highlighted using strategies similar to spell checking
within a word processor. Accessibility alerts within the document can be
linked to context sensitive help. (See the Techniques for ATAG checkpoint 6.1) [T0189]
- Where the
tools cannot test for accessibility errors, provide the author with the
necessary information, wizards, etc. to check for themselves. [T0190]
- Include alerts
for WCAG
Priority 1 checkpoints in the default configuration. [T0191]
- Provide an
editing view that shows equivalent alternatives in the main content view
to make it clear that they are necessary. This will make it obvious when
they are missing. [T0192]
- Allow authors
to choose different alert levels based on the priority of authoring
accessibility recommendations. [T0193]
- If intrusive
warnings are used, provide a means for the author to quickly set the
warning to non-obtrusive to avoid frustration. [T0194]
Reference:
- There are online tools whose output can be integrated with the user
interface. Other tools are available for incorporation in existing
software, either as licensed products or in some cases as "open source"
solutions. The WAI Evaluation and Repair group maintains information
about available tools [WAI-ER]. [T0195]
- The Web Accessibility Initiative's Protocols and Formats group have a
draft set of notes about creating accessible markup languages [XMLGL]. [T0196]
Techniques:
- At a minimum,
provide context-sensitive help with the accessibility checking required
by ATAG Checkpoint 5.1. [T0197]
- Where there
are site-wide errors, to make correction more efficient, allow the author
to make site-wide changes or corrections. For example, this may be
appropriate for a common error in markup, but may not be appropriate in
providing a text equivalent that is appropriate for one use of an image
but completely inappropriate for the other uses of the image on the same
site (or even the same page). [T0198]
- Assist authors
in ways that are consistent with the look and feel of the authoring tool
(See Techniques for ATAG
Checkpoint 7.2). [T0199]
- Allow authors
to control both the nature and timing of the correction process. [T0200]
- Provide a
mechanism for authors to navigate sequentially among uncorrected
accessibility errors. [T0201]
ATAG Checkpoint
5.3 : Provide the author with a summary of the document's accessibility
status. [Priority 3]
Techniques:
- Provide a list of
all accessibility errors found in a Web page. [T0207]
- Provide a summary
of accessibility problems remaining by type and/or by number. [T0208]
Guideline 6: Promote accessibility in help and documentation:
ATAG Checkpoint
6.1 : Document all features that promote the production of accessible
content. [Priority 1]
Techniques:
- Ensure that
the help system can answer the following: "What features of the tool
encourage the production of accessible content?" and "How are these
features used?". [T0231]
- Link from help
text to relevant automated correction utilities. [T0232]
- Link
accessibility problem identifiers (i.e., icons, outlining or other
emphasis within the user interface) to help files. [T0233]
ATAG
Checkpoint 6.2: Document the process of using the tool to produce
accessible content. [Relative Priority]
Techniques:
- Document the sequence of steps that the author should take, using the
tool, in order to increase the liklihood of producing accessible content.
This should take account of any idiosyncrasies of the tool. [t????] @@new technique@@
- This
documentation could be located in a dedicated section. [T????] @@new technique based on old checkpoint
6.3@@
- The dedicated
section could be prefaced by an introduction that explains the importance
of accessibility for a wide range of users, from those with disabilities
to those with alternative viewers. [T0248]
Contents | Tier 1 |
Tier 2 | Tier 3 | Tier 4 |
Appendix A: Prompting | Glossary | References