Accessible Name
The accessible name is the programmatically determined name of a user interface element that is included in the accessibility tree.
The accessible name is calculated using the accessible name and description computation.
For native markup languages, such as HTML and SVG, additional information on how to calculate the accessible name can be found in HTML Accessibility API Mappings 1.0, Accessible Name and Description Computation (working draft) and SVG Accessibility API Mappings, Name and Description (working draft).
For more details, see examples of accessible name.
Note: As per the accessible name and description computation, each element always has an accessible name. When no accessible name is provided, the element will nonetheless be assigned an empty ("") one.
Note: As per the accessible name and description computation, accessible names are flat string trimmed of leading and trailing whitespace. Notably, it is not possible for a non-empty accessible name to be composed only of whitespace since these must be trimmed.
Accessibility Support
- Because the accessible name and description computation is not clear about which whitespace are considered, browsers behave differently when trimming and flattening the accessible name. For example, some browsers completely trim non-breaking spaces while some keep them in the accessible name.
- There exists a popular browser which does not perform the same trimming and flattening depending whether the accessible name comes from content, an
aria-label attribute, or an alt attribute.
- There exists a popular browser which assign no accessible name (
null) when none is provided, instead of assigned an empty accessible name ("").
- The accessible name and description computation suggest that if an
aria-labelledby attribute refers to an existing but empty element, the computation should stop and return an empty name without defaulting to the next steps. Several user agents and assistive technologies chose to use the next step in the computation in this case.
Used in rules
The field name of the form control is appropriate if it is listed in the autocomplete fields table from the HTML 5.2 specification as applying to the specified control group. https://html.spec.whatwg.org/#inappropriate-for-the-control.
Used in rules
Attribute value
The attribute value of a content attribute set on an HTML element is the value that the attribute gets after being parsed and computed according to specifications. It may differ from the value that is actually written in the HTML code due to trimming whitespace or non-digits characters, default values, or case-insensitivity.
Some notable case of attribute value, among others:
- For enumerated attributes, the attribute value is either the state of the attribute, or the keyword that maps to it; even for the default states. Thus
<input type="image" /> has an attribute value of either Image Button (the state) or image (the keyword mapping to it), both formulations having the same meaning; similarly, “an input element with a type attribute value of Text” can be either <input type="text" />, <input /> (missing value default), or <input type="invalid" /> (invalid value default).
- For boolean attributes, the attribute value is
true when the attribute is present and false otherwise. Thus <button disabled>, <button disabled="disabled"> and <button disabled=""> all have a disabled attribute value of true.
- For attributes whose value is used in a case-insensitive context, the attribute value is the lowercase version of the value written in the HTML code.
- For attributes that accept numbers, the attribute value is the result of parsing the value written in the HTML code according to the rules for parsing this kind of number.
- For attributes that accept sets of tokens, whether space separated or comma separated, the attribute value is the set of tokens obtained after parsing the set and, depending on the case, converting its items to lowercase (if the set is used in a case-insensitive context).
- For
aria-* attributes, the attribute value is computed as indicated in the WAI-ARIA specification and the HTML Accessibility API Mappings.
This list is not exhaustive, and only serves as an illustration for some of the most common cases.
The attribute value of an IDL attribute is the value returned on getting it. Note that when an IDL attribute reflects a content attribute, they have the same attribute value.
Used in rules
Audio output
This test aspect includes all auditory data output from the web page into an audio channel.
Used in rules
Background Colors Of Text
The colors of all pixels, excluding the foreground colors pixels, in the bounding box around a visible character in a text node.
Used in rules
Blocked event
A blocked event makes no changes to the content of the web page.
Used in rules
Block of content
A block of content in an HTML web page is a set of nodes from that page for which all the following are true:
- content: there is at least one node which is perceivable content in the block; and
- continuity: if two nodes are in the block, then any node between them (in tree order) is also in the block; and
- downward closure: if a node is in the block, then all its descendants are also in the block; and
- parent closure: if all children of a node are in the block, then this node is also in the block.
Assumptions
This definition assumes that the rendering order of nodes on a page does not greatly differ from the DOM tree order. Otherwise, blocks of content as defined here may be different from what is visually perceived as “content in a close relationship”.
Used in rules
Block of repeated content
A block of content B, inside an HTML web page P, is a block of repeated content if both the following are true:
Background
This definition only considers pages at “distance 1” from the current page. The instrument leading there is usually a link, sometimes a button. In addition, P’ can be any page and is not restricted, for example, to pages of the same website.
The blocks of repeated content are not uniquely defined. For example <div><span id="repeated-1"></span><span id="repeated-2"></span><span id="not-repeated"></span></div> can be considered to have two blocks of repeated content (each of the first two span) or one (both the first two span together).
Used in rules
Bounding Box around Text
The smallest rectangle that encloses all the visible pixels of a character (including anti-aliased pixels), plus one pixel on every edge (top, right, bottom, left), aligned on the horizontal and vertical axis.
Used in rules
Changes in content
A event originated change in the content of a web page occurs when, by comparing the web page before and 1 minute after the event firing, at least one of the following occurs:
Assumptions:
- This definition assumes that there are no changes in the content of the web page caused by another event. If this is not the case, changes may be attributed to the wrong event.
- This definition assumes that the changes happen within a 1 minute time span after the event firing and therefore the comparison between the page before and after the event firing can be made at any time after that time span elapses. If there are changes after this time span, this definition may not detect them. The arbitrary 1 minute time span, selected so that testing this rule would not be impractical, is not included in WCAG.
Used in rules
Clearly labeled location
Secondary information and alternative controls of functionality are often not displayed together with primary information or functionality. For example, an option to change a web page to dark mode may be placed on an options page instead of being available on every page and page state of a website. Another example is a maps application, where, instead of using GPS, an option is available in a dropdown menu to set the current location of the device. Such content should be placed in a clearly labeled location.
The location of a target is said to be clearly labeled when the target can be found by activating “identifiable” instruments which either lead the user to find the target, or to another page or page state from which this action can be repeated until the target is found.
Whether or not the content is “clearly labeled” depends on the starting point of the search. If page A has a link which clearly “identifies” some piece of content, then the location of the content is clearly labeled. Page B, which can be in the same website, may not have such a link or may have a link with a link text that does not “identify” target content or which can be interpreted to “identify” more than one target, and so the location of the content starting from page B is not clearly labeled.
For the purpose of this definition, an instrument is identifiable if any text or other content with a text alternative, allows any user to identify an element with a semantic role that inherits from widget.
A web page changes state when the document’s body changes without a change in the document’s URL.
Used in rules
Correct autocomplete field
Any field name listed in the autocomplete fields table from the HTML 5.2 specification:
https://html.spec.whatwg.org/#autofill-field
Used in rules
Default Page Language
The default language of a web page is the most common language of its top-level browsing context document, if it is unique. If this document has either no or several most common languages, then it has no default language.
For more details, see examples of default language.
Used in rules
Disabled Element
An element is disabled when it has been rendered inoperable in one or more of the following ways:
-
The element matches the :disabled pseudo-class. For HTML elements this means that the element is actually disabled.
-
The element has a shadow-including ancestor whose aria-disabled attribute value is “true”.
Assumptions
This definition assumes that when the aria-disabled attribute is specified on an element, this element has also been disabled for users that do not rely on assistive technology. For example, this can be done by disabling pointer events using the pointer-events property and by disabling keyboard interactions using the tabindex attribute. If this is not the case, the definition will produce incorrect results.
Used in rules
Embedded Image
An element presents an embedded image when any of the following is true:
Used in rules
Equivalent resource
Non-identical resources can still be equivalent resources by equally complying to the expectation formed by the user when navigating to them, thus serving an equivalent purpose. This would usually involve that the advertised key content is the same.
Web pages and documents (e.g. PDFs, office formats etc.) may be equivalent resources, even if the resources:
- are located on different URLs, including different domains
- present different navigation options, e.g. through bread crumbs or local sub menus
- contain different amounts of information and/or differently worded information
- use different layouts.
If all resources cover the user’s expectations equally well, the resources are considered to be equivalent.
Note: The user’s expectations for the resource can be formed by different things, e.g. the name of the link leading to the resource, with or without the context around the link. This depends on the accessibility requirement that is tested.
Note: If the same content is presented in different formats or languages, the format or language itself is often part of the purpose of the content, e.g. an article as both HTML and PDF, an image in different sizes, or an article in two different languages. If getting the same content in different formats or languages is the purpose of having separate links, the resources are not equivalent.
Used in rules
Essential text presentation
The presentation of text is considered essential in one of more of the following scenarios:
- The text and its presentation is part of a brand; or
- The text is part of a digitized image of a physical object; or
- The text is part of a free-form digital illustration; or
- The text is part of an image with other graphical objects, where its relationship is informative; or
- Changing part of the presentation would alter the meaning of content on the page.
Examples of text for which the presentation is essential include:
- Logos, product names, or slogans
- Image of a hand-written letter, picture of a street sign, or a scanned contract
- A digital signature, or a note written using a stylus,
- A bar chart, diagram, or maps with place names
- An image showing a font, or showing the difference between font-weights
Note: WCAG includes a generic definition of “essential”.
Used in rules
Explicit Semantic Role
The explicit semantic role of an element is determined by its role attribute (if any).
The role attribute takes a list of tokens. The explicit semantic role is the first valid role in this list. The valid roles are all non-abstract roles from WAI-ARIA Specifications. If the element has no role attribute, or if it has one with no valid role, then this element has no explicit semantic role.
Other roles may be added as they become available. Not all roles will be supported in all assistive technologies. Testers are encouraged to adjust which roles are allowed according to the accessibility support base line. For the purposes of executing examples in all rules, it should be assumed that all roles are supported by assistive technologies so that none of the roles fail due to lack of accessibility support.
Accessibility Support
Some browsers and assistive technologies treat the tokens of the role attribute as case-sensitive. Unless lowercase letters are used for the value of the role attribute, not all user agents will be able to interpret the tokens correctly. ARIA in HTML also specifies that authors must use lowercase letters for the role and aria-* attributes.
Used in rules
Filename
A filename is a text string that identifies an electronically stored file. In a URL it is located at the end of the path, after the last slash and before any query strings. For example the src attribute specifies a URL path of src="/foo/bar.jpg?baz " which contains the filename bar.jpg.
Used in rules
Focusable
An element is focusable if one or both of the following are true:
Exception: Elements that lose focus and do not regain focus during a period of up to 1 second after gaining focus, without the user interacting with the page the element is on, are not considered focusable.
Notes:
- The 1 second time span is an arbitrary limit which is not included in WCAG. Given that scripts can manage the focus state of elements, testing the focusability of an element consistently would be impractical without a time limit.
- The tabindex value of an element is the value of the tabindex attribute parsed using the rules for parsing integers. For the tabindex value to be different from null, it needs to be parsed without errors.
Used in rules
Focused
An element is said to be focused when the element matches the :focus pseudo-class uninterruptedly for a period of 1 second after a user stopped interacting with the page.
The 1 second time span is an arbitrary limit which is not included in WCAG. Given the possibility of the focus state of elements being managed through scripts, testing the focused state of an element consistently would be impractical without a time limit.
Used in rules
Foreground Colors Of Text
The colors of all the pixels of a visible character in a text node that change color when the CSS color property is changed. This includes anti-aliased pixels.
Note: Anti-aliasing is a technique in which the foreground color and background color are blended to create smooth edges.
Used in rules
Any text, or non-text content, or an element that has presentation indicating that an error was identified which appears to be related to some user input into, or the lack of user input into some element. These could be different types of errors, for example:
- missing input, for example a required form field that was left empty
- incorrect input, such as an invalid password
- input not in an expected format, expected range, or of an allowed value
- timing error, such as session timeouts or expiration of an allowed action
- authentication or authorization errors
Note: An error indicator can be a separate element in the page, but it can also be part of a form control. For example a red outline on a form control is often used to indicate an error. Not all red outlines are indicators of an error though. This depends on the presentation of the form control in relation to other elements on the page.
Used in rules
Highest Possible Contrast
The highest value of the contrast ratios between two sets of colors (A and B). That is, the highest contrast ratio between either the darkest color in A and the brightest color in B, or the brightest color in A and the darkest color in B.
Used in rules
Horizontally Clipped by Overflow
A node is Horizontally Clipped by Overflow if it has an ancestor in the flat tree with a computed overflow-x of hidden or clip, where changing the overflow-x of all such ancestors to visible would cause more of the node to become visible.
Example of Horizontally Clipped by Overflow
This img element has an ancestor div element with an overflow-x of hidden. The width of the img is greater than that of the ancestor div, and so is clipped by the overflow-x property of the div.
<div style="width: 100px; overflow-x: hidden;">
<img src="/test-assets/shared/w3c-logo.png" width="150" alt="Partial W3C Logo" />
</div>
Used in rules
Implicit Semantic Role
The implicit semantic role of an element is a pre-defined value given by the host language which depends on the element and its ancestors.
Implicit roles for HTML and SVG, are documented in the HTML accessibility API mappings (working draft) and the SVG accessibility API mappings (working draft).
Accessibility Support
- Images with an empty
alt attribute (alt="") should have an implicit role of presentation, according to the HTML Accessibility API Mapping (work in progress). However, there are several popular browsers that do not treat images with empty alt attribute as having a role of presentation. Instead, they add the img element to the accessibility tree with a role of either img or graphic.
Used in rules
Included in the accessibility tree
Elements included in the accessibility tree of platform specific accessibility APIs are exposed to assistive technologies. This allows users of assistive technology to access the elements in a way that meets the requirements of the individual user.
The general rules for when elements are included in the accessibility tree are defined in the core accessibility API mappings. For native markup languages, such as HTML and SVG, additional rules for when elements are included in the accessibility tree can be found in the HTML accessibility API mappings (working draft) and the SVG accessibility API mappings (working draft).
For more details, see examples of included in the accessibility tree.
Programmatically hidden elements are removed from the accessibility tree. However, some browsers will leave focusable elements with an aria-hidden attribute set to true in the accessibility tree. Because they are hidden, these elements are considered not included in the accessibility tree. This may cause confusion for users of assistive technologies because they may still be able to interact with these focusable elements using sequential keyboard navigation, even though the element should not be included in the accessibility tree.
Used in rules
Inert
An HTML or SVG element is inert if:
Used in rules
Inheriting Semantic Role
An element with an inheriting semantic role of X is any element with a non-abstract semantic role that inherits from X, or is the same as X.
Example: An “inheriting semantic link” is any element that either has the semantic role of link or a semantic role that inherits from the link role, such as doc-biblioref.
Used in rules
Insignificant
Content that is neither purely decorative, nor required for understanding the purpose of certain pieces of information or functionality. Insignificant content is often used to provide context.
Example: A picture of New York’s Time Square may include taxis, a famous pizza restaurant, and theater advertisements, etc. None of these are purely decorative. They provide clues as to where the picture was taken. But neither are any of these required to understand the picture as a whole. Even if the picture itself is significant, the taxis in the picture are not.
Used in rules
Instrument to achieve an objective
An HTML element that when activated allows an end-user to achieve an objective.
Note: Any rule that uses this definition must provide an unambiguous description of the objective the instrument is used to achieve.
Background About Instrument
This definition is a more restrictive version of WCAG’s definition of mechanism, notably restricting it to the current document. WCAG has a note that “The mechanism needs to meet all success criteria for the conformance level claimed.” This includes all the level A criteria such as Success Criterion 2.1.1 Keyboard (the mechanism must be keyboard accessible) or Success Criterion 4.1.2 Name, Role, Value (the mechanism must be exposed to assistive technologies and have an accessible name). This definition, and the rules using it, leaves these extra requirements out. This avoids reporting the same component twice for the same reason (e.g., missing an accessible name) under two different rules and Success Criteria, and helps pinpoint the error related to each Success Criterion. Instruments should nonetheless be fully accessible at the correct conformance level (depending on the rule using them).
Used in rules
Just before a node
A node N is just before a node of perceivable content P if one of the following is true:
Several nodes may be just before a given node, especially if there are several non-perceivable content nodes next to each other.
Used in rules
Large Scale Text
A text node is large scale text if at least one of the following is true:
Background
In the domain of languages such as Chinese, Japanese, and Korean (CJK languages), encompassing the Unicode character range from 4E00 to 9FFF (CJK Unified Ideographs), it becomes crucial to acknowledge the intricate nuances in their typographic requirements. Despite sharing a common Unicode spectrum, each CJK language and its corresponding country may exhibit distinct typographic preferences and standards.
Particularly noteworthy is the lack of uniformity in defining text sizes as either large or small within the following ranges:
Whether CJK characters in these ranges should be considered as “large scale” depends on the language of the text, as well as the country for which the text is designed and whose requirements must be followed. Given that these pieces of information are not readily available, the ACT rules adhere to the large text definition outlined above. This definition is applicable across all languages under the rationale of “no false positives.”
Used in rules
Marked as decorative
An element is marked as decorative if one or more of the following conditions is true:
- it has an explicit role of
none or presentation; or
- it is an
img element with an alt attribute whose value is the empty string (alt=""), and with no explicit role.
Elements are marked as decorative as a way to convey the intention of the author that they are pure decoration. It is different from the element actually being pure decoration as authors may make mistakes. It is different from the element being effectively ignored by assistive technologies as rules such as presentational roles conflict resolution may overwrite this intention.
Elements can also be ignored by assistive technologies if they are programmatically hidden. This is different from marking the element as decorative and does not convey the same intention. Notably, being programmatically hidden may change as users interact with the page (showing and hiding elements) while being marked as decorative should stay the same through all states of the page.
Used in rules
Matching characters
A sequence of characters is considered to match another if, after removing leading and trailing whitespace characters and replacing remaining occurrences of one or more whitespace characters with a single space, the two sequences of characters are equal character-by-character, ignoring any differences in letter casing.
Used in rules
Most Common Language of an Element
The most common language of an element is determined by counting the number of words in the text inheriting its programmatic language from this element that are part of any of the languages in the language subtag registry. The same word can be part of multiple languages. In case of ties, the element has several most common languages. If there are no words in the text inheriting its programmatic language from the element, then it has no most common language.
For more details, see examples of most common language.
Used in rules
Namespaced Element
An element with a specific namespaceURI value from HTML namespaces. For example an “SVG element” is any element with the “SVG namespace”, which is http://www.w3.org/2000/svg.
Namespaced elements are not limited to elements described in a specification. They also include custom elements. Elements such as a and title have a different namespace depending on where they are used. For example a title in an HTML page usually has the HTML namespace. When used in an svg element, a title element has the SVG namespace instead.
Used in rules
Non-repeated content after repeated content
A node is non-repeated content after repeated content if all the following are true:
Used in rules
A non-streaming media element is an HTML Media Element for which the duration property is not 0.
Used in rules
Outcome
A conclusion that comes from evaluating an ACT Rule on a test subject or one of its constituent test target. An outcome can be one of the five following types:
- Inapplicable: No part of the test subject matches the applicability
- Passed: A test target meets all expectations
- Failed: A test target does not meet all expectations
- cantTell: Whether the rule is applicable, or not all expectations were met could not be fully determined by the tester.
- Untested: The tester has not attempted to evaluate the test subject.
Note: A rule has one passed or failed outcome for every test target. When a tester evaluates a test target it can also be reported as cantTell if the rule cannot be tested in its entirety. For example, when applicability was automated, but the expectations have to be evaluated manually.
When there are no test targets the rule has one inapplicable outcome. If the tester is unable to determine whether there are test targets there will be one cantTell outcome. And when no evaluation has occurred the test target has one untested outcome. This means that each test subject always has one or more outcomes.
Outcomes used in ACT Rules can be expressed using the outcome property of the EARL10-Schema.
Used in rules
Owned by
An element A is owned by element B if element A is a child of element B in the accessibility tree.
Being a child in the accessibility tree is different from being a child in the DOM tree. Some DOM nodes have no corresponding node in the accessibility tree (for example, because they are marked with role="presentation"). A child in the accessibility tree can thus correspond to a descendant in the DOM tree. Additionally, the use of aria-owns attribute can change the tree structure to something which is not a subtree of the DOM tree.
This definition is different from the definition of “owned element” in WAI-ARIA. Because browsers have different accessibility trees, which element owns which other elements can vary between browsers. Until there is a standard accessibility tree, testing with multiple accessibility trees may be necessary.
Used in rules
Perceivable content
A node is perceivable content if all the following are true:
Perceivable content corresponds to nodes that contain information and are perceived by some categories of users.
Assumptions
This definition assumes that elements with a semantic role of none or presentation are pure decoration and that elements which are pure decoration either are not included in the accessibility tree or have a semantic role of none or presentation. Note that if this is not the case, then Success Criterion 1.3.1: Info and Relationship is likely not satisfied.
Used in rules
A play button is an instrument that when activated plays a media resource.
Used in rules
Known Primary Language Tag
A language tag has a known primary language tag if its primary language subtag exists in the language subtag registry with a Type field whose field-body value is language.
A “language tag” is here to be understood as in the first paragraph of the RFC 5646 language tag syntax, i.e. a sequence of subtags separated by hyphens, where a subtag is any sequence of alphanumerical characters. Language tag that are not valid according to the stricter RFC 5646 syntax (and ABNF grammar) definition can still have a known primary language tag. User agents and assistive technologies are more lenient in what they accept. This definition is consistent with the behavior of the :lang() pseudo-selector as defined by Selectors Level 3.
As an example, de-hello would be an accepted way to indicate German in current user agents and assistive technologies, despite not being valid according to RFC 5646 grammar. It has a known primary language tag (namely, de).
As a consequence of this definition, however, grandfathered tags do not have a known primary language tag.
Subtags, notably the primary language subtag, are case insensitive. Comparison with the language subtag registry must be done in a case insensitive way.
Used in rules
Printable characters
A printable character is a character that occupies a printing position on a display.
These characters correspond to the following Unicode categories:
- Letter: ‘LC’, ‘Ll’, ‘Lm’, ‘Lo’, ‘Lt’, ‘Lu’
- Number: ‘Nd’, ‘Nl’, ‘No’
- Mark: ‘Mc’, ‘Me’, ‘Mn’
- Punctuation: ‘Pc’, ‘Pd’, ‘Pe’, ‘Pf’, ‘Pi’, ‘Po’, ‘Ps’
- Symbol: ‘Sc’, ‘Sk’, ‘Sm’, ‘So’
- Space: ‘Zs’
Used in rules
Programmatic Label
Element L is a programmatic label of target element T if either:
- T is a labeled control of L; or
- L is referenced by ID in the
aria-labelledby attribute of T.
For more details, see examples of programmatic label.
Note: a given element may have more than one programmatic label.
Used in rules
Programmatically Determined Link Context
The programmatically determined context of a link (or programmatically determined link context) is the set of all elements that are included in the accessibility tree, and have one or more of the following relationships to the link:
This definition is based on (but not equivalent to) the WCAG definition of programmatically determined link context.
This definition assumes that the HTML document with the link is a document using HTML according to the specification.
Used in rules
Programmatically Hidden
An HTML element is programmatically hidden if either it has a computed CSS property visibility whose value is not visible; or at least one of the following is true for any of its inclusive ancestors in the flat tree:
- has a computed CSS property
display of none; or
- has an
aria-hidden attribute set to true
Note: Contrary to the other conditions, the visibility CSS property may be reverted by descendants.
Note: The HTML standard suggests setting the CSS display property to none for elements with the hidden attribute. While not required by HTML, all modern browsers follow this suggestion. Because of this the hidden attribute is not used in this definition. In browsers that use this suggestion, overriding the CSS display property can reveal elements with the hidden attribute.
Used in rules
Rendered Image Resource
A rendered image resource in a web page is any resource with visible pixels that has been specified in the list of image sources of an embedded image.
Used in rules
Same key events
Two keyboard events are same key events if they have the same value for all the following attributes:
keycodelocationrepeatisComposing
Used in rules
Same resource
Two or more resources can be the same resource even though the URLs for them are different. This can be due to URL parsing, server settings, redirects and DNS aliasing.
If the parsed URLs for two resources are identical, the resources are the same resource.
Depending on the server, URLs can either be case-sensitive or case-insensitive, meaning that <a href="page1.html"> and <a href="Page1.html"> lead to either the same or two different pages.
Fully parsed URLs can be different, but still lead to the same resource after making the HTTP request, due to redirects and DNS aliasing. For example, these URLs are all fully normalized: http://example.com/, http://www.example.com/, https://www.example.com/. The server can however be configured to serve the same site for http and https, and the same site for example.com and www.example.com. This is common, but not guaranteed.
Some types of redirects are also caused by user agents, e.g. ensuring that http://example.com/ and http://example.com resolve to the same resource.
On the other hand, identical relative URLs do not necessarily resolve to the same resource, even if they are in the same web page (HTML). This happen because external content can be included through iframe and URLs in or out of it will resolve relatively to different base URLs.
Used in rules
A scrollable element is an element with a horizontal scroll distance or a vertical scroll distance greater than 0.
note: Elements such as iframe which can render a nested browsing context are not scrollable elements. The scrollbars on some iframe elements come from the content inside the nested browsing context.
Used in rules
Semantic Role
The semantic role of an element is determined by the first of these cases that applies:
- Conflict If the element is marked as decorative, but the element is included in the accessibility tree; or would be included in the accessibility tree when it is not programmatically hidden, then its semantic role is its implicit role.
- Explicit If the element has an explicit role, then its semantic role is its explicit role.
- Implicit The semantic role of the element is its implicit role.
This definition can be used in expressions such as “semantic button” meaning any element with a semantic role of button.
Accessibility Support for Definition of Semantic Role
- There exist popular web browsers and assistive technologies which do not correctly implement Presentational Roles Conflict Resolution. These technologies will not include in the accessibility tree elements that should be, according to Specifications. Thus, some elements that should have their semantic role fixed by case Conflict above are instead falling into case Explicit and are hidden for users of assistive technologies.
- A similar conflict exists for focusable elements with a
aria-hidden="true" attribute. The WAI ARIA specification does not explain how to solve it. Some browsers give precedence to the element being focusable (and expose it in the accessibility tree) while some give precedence to the aria-hidden attribute (and hide the element).
Used in rules
Set of clearly labeled instruments
A set of clearly labeled instruments is a set of instruments, where each instrument is in the same web page as the test target or can be found in a clearly labeled location from that web page.
Used in rules
Standard keyboard navigation
Standard keyboard navigation entails using one or more of the following:
- Tab key
- Shift+Tab
- Arrow keys
- Esc key
- Enter key
- Space key
Expected behavior of standard keyboard navigation keys:
- Tab key: Skipping forward between focusable elements
- Shift+Tab: Skipping backwards between focusable elements
- Arrow keys: Navigate input elements, e.g. up/down drop down, between radio buttons etc.
- Esc key: Close or cancel, e.g close a modal
- Enter key: Select or activate the element in focus (same as clicking with mouse)
- Space key: Select input elements, e.g. drop downs, radio buttons etc.
Used in rules
Text Inheriting its Programmatic Language from an Element
The text inheriting its programmatic language from an element E is composed of all the following texts:
An element F is an element inheriting its programmatic language from an element E if at least one of the following conditions is true (recursively):
- F is E itself (an element always inherits its programmatic language from itself); or
- F does not have a non-empty
lang attribute, and is the child in the flat tree of an element inheriting its programmatic language from E; or
- F is a fully active document element, has no non-empty
lang attribute, and its browsing context container is an element inheriting its programmatic language from E.
Used in rules
User interaction
A user interaction is any action that causes the user agent to fire one of the following DOM events:
- auxclick
- click
- compostionend
- compositionstart
- compositionupdate
- dblclick
- keydown
- keyup
- mousedown
- mouseenter
- mouseleave
- mousemove
- mouseout
- mouseover
- mouseup
- select
- wheel
This list comprises the User Interface event that are generated by the user agent as a result of user interaction.
Used in rules
Vertically Clipped by Overflow
A node is Vertically Clipped by Overflow if it has an ancestor in the flat tree with a computed overflow-y of hidden or clip, where changing the overflow-y of all such ancestors to visible would cause more of the node to become visible.
Example of Vertically Clipped by Overflow
This img element has an ancestor div element with an overflow-y of hidden. The height of the img is greater than that of the ancestor div, and so is clipped by the overflow-y property of the div.
<div style="height: 100px; overflow-y: hidden;">
<img src="/test-assets/shared/w3c-logo.png" height="150" alt="Partial W3C Logo" />
</div>
Used in rules
viewport size
The viewport size is the width and height at which a page is rendered. The viewport size is equal to the innerWidth and innerHeight of the window of the top-level browsing context.
Note: The viewport size is not to be confused with the “resolution” of the operating system. Often a browser will be a single window in the operating system, with a width and height different from the resolution of the operating system. Often browsers also include additional user interface components, such as a URL bar, tab bar, and a bookmarks bar. None of these are included in the viewport size. In full screen mode the viewport size might be the same as the resolution of the operating system.
Note: The viewport size includes, if rendered, all scrollbars.
Used in rules
Visible Text Content
The visible text content of an element is a set of all visible text nodes that are descendants in the flat tree of this element
Used in rules
Visible
Content perceivable through sight.
Content is considered visible if making it fully transparent would result in a difference in the pixels rendered for any part of the document that is currently within the viewport or can be brought into the viewport via scrolling.
Content is defined in WCAG.
For more details, see examples of visible.
Used in rules
Visual Context
The visual context of a node is everything that is visually or logically located near it when the document containing it is rendered. Only visible information may be part of the visual context.
The logical distance is the distance in the structure of the document: either the tree distance within the DOM tree, or the semantic relation. For example, headings are logically near the content that follows (until the next heading of the same or higher level) even though they might be far away visually or in the DOM tree.
The visual context may include, but is not limited to, headings, text in the same sentence or paragraph.
Note: As a rule of thumb, visual context should be close enough to be displayed on the device at the same time as the element it relates to. Because device sizes vary wildly and content can further be zoomed and moved around, this is however not a strong requirement.
Note: Visual context that is located before (in reading order) the element it relates to is often more useful than visual context located after. Indeed, it is easier for users to use context that they have already read than context that is yet to be read.
Used in rules
Visual Reference Words
Any word in a text node that is included in the translated version of the following lists, where the language of the translation is the programmatically determinable language of the text node. Some words can be translated in multiple ways or have plural forms. In such cases each translation or form must be included. Some words can be spelled in multiple ways (For example: sometimes the word is capitalized and sometimes it isn’t). In such cases each spelling must be included.
Note: This list is not exhaustive. As soon as more visual reference words are found they can be added to this list.
Visual location:
- Above
- Below
- Beneath
- Beside
- Bottom
- Diagonal
- Down
- Left
- Near
- Nearby
- Parallel
- Right
- Top
- Under
- Underneath
- Up
Shape:
- Box
- Circle
- Circular
- Crescent
- Cross
- Diamond
- Disc
- Ellipse
- Heart
- Hexagon
- Hexagonal
- Kite
- Oval
- Parallelogram
- Pentagon
- Pentagonal
- Polygon
- Polygonal
- Rectangle
- Rectangular
- Round
- Square
- Squared
- Star
- Trapezoid
- Trapezoidal
- Triangle
- Triangular
- Wave
Size:
- Big
- Large
- Little
- Narrow
- Small
- Tiny
- Wide
Orientation:
- Angled
- Askew
- Atilt
- Crooked
- Listing
- Lopsided
- off-kilter
- Pitched
- Rotated
- Sideways
- Skewed
- Slanted
- Slanting
- Straight
- Tilt
- Tilted
- Tipped
Color
- Any single word color name in the X11 standard, omitting duplicates:
- Almond
- Aqua
- Aquamarine
- Azure
- Beige
- Bisque
- Black
- Blue
- Brown
- Burlywood
- Chartreuse
- Chiffon
- Chocolate
- Coral
- Cornsilk
- Cream
- Crimson
- Cyan
- Firebrick
- Fuchsia
- Gold
- Goldenrod
- Gray
- Green
- Honeydew
- Indigo
- Ivory
- Khaki
- Lace
- Lavender
- Lemon
- Lime
- Linen
- Magenta
- Maroon
- Mint
- Moccasin
- Olive
- Orange
- Orchid
- Pink
- Purple
- Red
- Rose
- Salmon
- Turquoise
- Violet
- White
- Yellow
Used in rules
WAI-ARIA specifications
The WAI ARIA Specifications group both the WAI ARIA W3C Recommendation and ARIA modules, namely:
Note: depending on the type of content being evaluated, part of the specifications might be irrelevant and should be ignored.
Used in rules
Web page (HTML)
An HTML web page is the set of all fully active documents which share the same top-level browsing context.
Note: Nesting of browsing context mostly happens with iframe and object. Thus a web page will most of the time be a “top-level” document and all its iframe and object (recursively).
Note: Web pages as defined by WCAG are not restricted to the HTML technology but can also include, e.g., PDF or DOCX documents.
Note: Although web pages as defined here are sets of documents (and do not contain other kind of nodes), one can abusively write that any node is “in a web page” if it is a shadow-including descendant of a document that is part of that web page.
Used in rules
Whitespace
Whitespace are characters that have the Unicode “White_Space” property in the Unicode properties list.
This includes:
Used in rules