Understanding Accessibility

Manual Checks

As webXact cannot automatically check all of the checkpoints, a manual check is required for the checkpoints below. The links below lead to a method of doing each manual check.

Guideline 1

Manual check for 1.1 - Provide a text equivalent for every non-text element

Manual check for 1.4 - For multimedia movies or animation, synchronize captions or auditory descriptions of the visual track with the presentation

Guideline 2

Manual check for 2.1 - Ensure that all information conveyed with colour is also available without colour, for example from context or markup

Manual check for 2.2 - Ensure that foreground and background colour combinations provide sufficient contrast when viewed by someone having colour deficits or when viewed on a black and white screen.

Guideline 3

Manual check for 3.1 - When an appropriate markup language exists, use markup rather than images to convey information

Manual check for 3.2 - Create documents that validate to published formal grammars

Manual check for 3.3 - Use style sheets to control layout and presentation

Manual check for 3.5 - Use header elements to convey document structure and use them according to specification

Manual check for 3.6 - Mark up lists and list items properly

Manual check for 3.7 - Mark up quotations. Do not use quotation markup for formatting effects such as indentation

Guideline 4

Manual check for 4.1 - Clearly identify changes in the natural language of a document's text and any text equivalents (e.g., captions)

Manual check for 4.2 - Specify the expansion of each abbreviation or acronym in a document where it first occurs

Guideline 5

Manual check for 5.1 - For data tables, identify row and column headers

Manual check for 5.2 - For data tables that have two or more logical levels of row or column headers, use markup to associate data cells and header cells

Manual check for 5.3 - Do not use tables for layout unless the table makes sense when linearized. Otherwise, if the table does not make sense, provide an alternative equivalent (which may be a linearized version

Manual check for 5.4 - If a table is used for layout, do not use any structural markup for the purpose of visual formatting

Manual check for 5.5 - Provide summaries for tables

Manual check for 5.6 - Provide abbreviations for header labels.

Guideline 6

Manual check for 6.1 - Organize documents so they may be read without style sheets. For example, when an HTML document is rendered without associated style sheets, it must still be possible to read the document

Manual check for 6.3 - Ensure that pages are usable when scripts, applets, or other programmatic objects are turned off or not supported. If this is not possible, provide equivalent information on an alternative accessible page

Manual check for 6.4 - For scripts and applets, ensure that event handlers are input device-independent

Guideline 7

Manual check for 7.1 - Until user agents allow users to control flickering, avoid causing the screen to flicker

Manual check for 7.2 - Until user agents allow users to control blinking, avoid causing content to blink (i.e., change presentation at a regular rate, such as turning on and off)

Guideline 8

Manual check for 8.1 - Make programmatic elements such as scripts and applets directly accessible or compatible with assistive technologies

Guideline 9

Manual check for 9.2 - Ensure that any element that has its own interface can be operated in a device-independent manner

Manual check for 9.4 - Create a logical tab order through links, form controls, and objects

Manual check for 9.5 - Provide keyboard shortcuts to important links (including those in client-side image maps), form controls, and groups of form controls

Guideline 10

Manual check for 10.1 - Until user agents allow users to turn off spawned windows, do not cause pop-ups or other windows to appear and do not change the current window without informing the user

Manual check for 10.2 - Until user agents support explicit associations between labels and form controls, for all form controls with implicitly associated labels, ensure that the label is properly positioned

Manual check for 10.3 - Until user agents (including assistive technologies) render side-by-side text correctly, provide a linear text alternative (on the current page or some other) for all tables that lay out text in parallel, word-wrapped columns

Guideline 11

Manual check for 11.1 - Use W3C technologies when they are available and appropriate for a task and use the latest versions when supported

Manual check for 11.2 - Avoid deprecated features of W3C technologies

Manual check for 11.3 - Provide information so that users may receive documents according to their preferences

Manual check for 11.4 - If, after best efforts, you cannot create an accessible page, provide a link to an alternative page that uses W3C technologies, is accessible, has equivalent information (or functionality), and is updated as often as the inaccessible (original) page

Guideline 12

Manual check for 12.2 - Describe the purpose of frames and how frames relate to each other if it is not obvious by frame titles alone

Manual check for 12.3 - Associate labels explicitly with their controls

Guideline 13

Manual check for 13.2 - Provide metadata to add semantic information to pages and sites

Manual check for 13.3 - Provide information about the general layout of a site (e.g., a site map or table of contents)

Manual check for 13.4 - Use navigation mechanisms in a consistent manner

Manual check for 13.5 - Provide navigation bars to highlight and give access to the navigation mechanism.

Manual check for 13.6 - Group related links, identify the group (for user agents), and, until user agents do so, provide a way to bypass the group

Manual check for 13.7 - If search functions are provided, enable different types of searches for different skill levels and preferences

Manual check for 13.8 - Place distinguishing information at the beginning of headings, paragraphs, lists, etc.

Manual check for 13.9 - Provide information about document collections (i.e., documents comprising multiple pages.)

Guideline 14

Manual check for 14.1 - Use the clearest and simplest language appropriate for a site's content

Manual check for 14.2 - Supplement text with graphic or auditory presentations where they will facilitate comprehension of the page

Manual check for 14.3 - Create a style of presentation that is consistent across pages.