List of Checkpoints for User Agent Accessibility Guidelines 1.0

Abstract

This document is an appendix to the W3C "User Agent Accessibility Guidelines 1.0". It provides a list of all checkpoints from the User Agent Accessibility Guidelines 1.0, organized by concept, as a checklist for user agent developers. Please refer to the Guidelines document for introductory information, information about related documents, a glossary of terms, and more.

This list may be used to review a tool or set of tools for accessibility. For each checkpoint, indicate whether the checkpoint has been satisfied, has not been satisfied, or is not applicable.

A tabular version of the list of checkpoints is also available (e.g., for printing).

Status of this document

This section describes the status of this document at the time of its publication. Other documents may supersede this document. The latest status of this document series is maintained at the W3C.

This document is an appendix to a Working Draft. It is a draft document and may be updated, replaced or obsoleted by other documents at any time. It is inappropriate to use W3C Working Drafts as reference material or to cite them as other than "work in progress". This is work in progress and does not imply endorsement by, or the consensus of, either W3C or Members of the WAI User Agent (UA) Working Group.

Please send comments about this document to the public mailing list: w3c-wai-ua@w3.org.

This document has been produced as part of the Web Accessibility Initiative. The goal of the WAI User Agent Guidelines Working Group is discussed in the Working Group charter.

A list of current W3C Recommendations and other technical documents can be found at http://www.w3.org/TR.

Priorities

Each checkpoint in this document is assigned a priority that indicates its importance for users.

[Priority 1]

This checkpoint must be satisfied by user agents as a native feature, otherwise one or more groups of users with disabilities will find it impossible to access information. Satisfying this checkpoint is a basic requirement for some individuals to be able to use the Web.

[Priority 2]

This checkpoint should be satisfied by user agents as a native feature, otherwise one or more groups of users will find it difficult to access information. Satisfying this checkpoint will remove significant barriers to accessing Web documents.

[Priority 3]

This checkpoint may be satisfied by user agents as a native feature to make it easier for one or more groups of users to access information. Satisfying this checkpoint will improve access to the Web for some individuals.

Priority 1 checkpoints

In General (Priority 1)

• 2.1 Ensure that the user has access to all content, including alternative representations of content.
• 2.3 Render content according to natural language identification.
• 5.4 Implement selection and focus mechanisms and make the selection and focus available to users and through APIs.
• 7.4 Allow the user to navigate all active elements.
• 11.1 Provide a version of the product documentation that conforms to the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines.
• 11.2 Document all user agent features that promote accessibility.
• 11.3 Document the default input configuration (e.g., default keyboard bindings).

User Interface (Priority 1)

• 1.4 Ensure that every functionality offered through the user interface is available through the standard keyboard API.
• 3.5 Allow the user to turn on and off animated or blinking text.
• 3.6 Allow the user to turn on and off animations and blinking images.
• 4.1 Allow the user to control font family.
• 4.2 Allow the user to control the size of text.
• 4.3 Allow the user to control foreground color.
• 4.4 Allow the user to control background color.
• 4.5 Allow the user to control selection highlighting (e.g., foreground and background color).
• 4.6 Allow the user to control focus highlighting (e.g., foreground and background color).
• 4.14 Allow the user to control synthesized speech playback rate.
• 4.15 Allow the user to control synthesized speech volume.
• 4.17 Allow the user to select from available author, user, and user agent default style sheets.
• 7.1 Allow the user to navigate viewports (including frames).
• 7.2 For user agents that offer a browsing history mechanism, when the user returns to a previous view, restore the point of regard in the viewport.
• 8.1 Provide a mechanism for highlighting and identifying (through a standard interface where available) the current viewport, selection, and focus.
• 10.1 Provide information about the current user-specified input configuration (e.g., keyboard or voice bindings specified through the user agent's user interface).

Device Independence (Priority 1)

• 1.1 Ensure that every functionality offered through the user interface is available through every input device API used by the user agent. User agents are not required to reimplement low-level functionalities (e.g., for character input or pointer motion) that are inherently bound to a particular API and most naturally accomplished with that API.
• 1.3 Ensure that the user can interact with all active elements in a device-independent manner.
• 1.5 Ensure that all messages to the user (e.g., informational messages, warnings, errors, etc.) are available through all output device APIs used by the user agent. Do not bypass the standard output APIs when rendering information (e.g., for reasons of speed, efficiency, etc.).

For Tables (Priority 1)

• 7.3 Allow the user to navigate just among cells of a table (notably left and right within a row and up and down within a column).
• 8.2 Convey the author-specified purpose of each table and the relationships among the table cells and headers.

For Images, Animations, and Image Maps (Priority 1)

• 3.1 Allow the user to turn on and off rendering of background images.
• 3.2 Allow the user to turn on and off rendering of background audio.

For Synchronized Multimedia (Priority 1)

• 2.2 If more than one alternative equivalent is available for content, allow the user to choose from among the alternatives. This includes the choice of viewing no alternatives.
• 2.4 Provide time-independent access to time-dependent active elements or allow the user to control the timing of changes.
• 2.5 Allow the user to specify that continuous equivalent tracks (e.g., closed captions, auditory descriptions, video of sign language, etc.) be rendered at the same time as audio and video tracks.
• 2.6 If a technology allows for more than one audio track, allow the user to choose from among tracks.
• 3.3 Allow the user to turn on and off rendering of video.
• 3.4 When the user agent renders audio natively, allow the user to turn on and off rendering of audio.
• 4.8 Allow the user to control video frame rates.
• 4.9 Allow the user to control the position of audio closed captions.
• 4.11 Allow the user to control audio playback rate.

For Events, Applets, and Scripts (Priority 1)

• 3.7 Allow the user to turn on and off support for scripts and applets.
• 9.1 Provide information about user agent-initiated content and viewport changes directly to the user and through APIs.

For Standards and Conventions (Priority 1)

• 1.2 Use the standard input and output device APIs of the operating system.
• 5.1 Provide accessible APIs to other technologies.
• 5.2 Use accessibility resources and conventions of the operating system and supported programming languages, including those for plug-ins and virtual machine environments.
• 5.3 Provide programmatic read and write access to user agent functionalities and user interface controls.
• 5.5 Provide programmatic notification of changes to content and user interface controls (including selection and focus).
• 5.6 Conform to W3C Document Object Model specifications and export interfaces defined by those specifications.
• 6.1 Implement the accessibility features of supported specifications (markup languages, style sheet languages, metadata languages, graphics formats, etc.).

Priority 2 checkpoints

In General (Priority 2)

• 2.7 When no text equivalent has been specified, indicate what type of object is present.
• 7.5 Allow the user to navigate just among all active elements.
• 7.6 Allow the user to search for rendered text content, including alternative text content.
• 7.7 Allow the user to navigate according to structure.
• 10.4 Use operating system conventions to indicate the input configuration.
• 11.4 In a dedicated section, document all features of the user agent that promote accessibility.

User Interface (Priority 2)

• 4.16 Allow the user to control synthesized speech pitch, gender, and other articulation characteristics.
• 4.18 Allow the user to control user agent-initiated spawned viewports.
• 8.3 Provide an outline of a resource view built from its structural elements (e.g., frames, headers, lists, forms, tables, etc.)
• 9.2 Ensure that when the selection or focus changes, it is in the viewport after the change.
• 10.2 Provide information about the current author-specified input configuration (e.g., keyboard bindings specified in content such as by "accesskey" in [[HTML40]]).
• 10.3 Allow the user to change and control the input configuration. Users should be able to activate a functionality with a single-stroke (e.g., single-key, single voice command, etc.).
• 10.5 Avoid default input configurations that interfere with operating system conventions.
• 10.6 Allow the user to configure the user agent in named profiles that may be shared (by other users or software).

For Links (Priority 2)

• 8.4 Indicate whether a focused link has been marked up to indicate that following it will involve a fee.
• 8.5 Provide information to help the user decide whether to follow a focused link.

For Forms (Priority 2)

• 9.3 Prompt the user to confirm any form submission triggered indirectly, that is by any means other than the user activating an explicit form submit control.

For Images, Animations, and Image Maps (Priority 2)

• 4.7 Allow the user to control animation rate.

For Synchronized Multimedia (Priority 2)

• 4.10 Allow the user to start, stop, pause, and rewind video.
• 4.12 When the user agent renders audio natively, allow the user to control the audio volume.
• 4.13 Allow the user to start, stop, pause, and rewind audio.

For Standards and Conventions (Priority 2)

• 5.7 Provide programmatic exchange of information in a timely manner.
• 5.8 Follow operating system conventions and accessibility settings. In particular, follow conventions for user interface design, default keyboard configuration, product installation, and documentation.
• 6.2 Conform to W3C specifications when they are appropriate for a task.

Priority 3 checkpoints

In General (Priority 3)

• 2.8 When alternative text has been specified explicitly as empty (i.e., an empty string), render nothing.
• 2.9 For identified but unsupported natural languages, notify the user of language changes when configured to do so.
• 7.8 Allow the user to configure structured navigation.
• 8.8 Provide a mechanism for highlighting and identifying (through a standard interface where available) active elements.
• 9.5 When loading content (e.g., document, video clip, audio clip, etc.) indicate what portion of the content has loaded and whether loading has stalled.
• 9.6 Indicate the relative position of the viewport in content (e.g., the percentage of an audio or video clip that has been played, the percentage of a Web page that has been viewed, etc.).

User Interface (Priority 3)

• 3.9 Allow the user to turn on and off author-specified forwards that occur after a time delay and without user intervention.
• 3.10 Allow the user to turn on and off automatic content refresh.
• 8.6 Allow the user to configure the outline view.
• 8.9 Maintain consistent user agent behavior and default configurations between software releases. Consistency is less important than accessibility and adoption of operating system conventions.
• 10.7 Provide default input configurations for frequently performed operations.
• 10.8 Allow the user to configure the graphical arrangement of user interface controls.

For Links (Priority 3)

• 8.7 Allow the user to configure what information about links to present.

For Images, Animations, and Image Maps (Priority 3)

• 3.8 Allow the user to turn on and off rendering of images.

For Events, Applets, and Scripts (Priority 3)

• 9.4 Allow the user to configure notification preferences for common types of content and viewport changes.