Understanding Accessibility

Guideline 12. Provide context and orientation information.

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

How do I do it?

add a longdesc attribute to the frame tags.

html

<FRAMESET cols="10%, 90%" title="Dreamweaver Summer Classes">
<FRAME src="nav.htm" title="Navigation bar" longdesc="framesetdescription.htm#nav">
<FRAME src="doc.htm" title="Documents">
</FRAMESET>

Xhtml

<FRAMESET cols="10%, 90%" title="Dreamweaver Summer Classes">
<FRAME src="nav.htm" title="Navigation bar" longdesc="framesetdescription.htm#nav" />
<FRAME src="doc.htm" title="Documents" />
</FRAMESET>

Link this to a page which describes the frames function. For example, the nav description for the Dreamweaver Summer Classes site above might be: this frame provides links to the major sections of the site: General Content, Availability, Sign Up, and Contact Information.

How do I check that it meets the WCAG criteria?

Individuals using screen readers may not know which frame to choose to view if the title details are minimal or unclear. If the ‘title’ attribute does not provide clear unambiguous information relating to the content and purpose of the frame, a long description is required. Where frame titles are not clear, pages without an associated ‘longdesc’ attribute will be deemed to have failed the check.

Related Links:

guideline 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 - 6 - 7 - 8 - 9 - 10 - 11 - 12 - 13 - 14