checklist

This page considers checkpoints for web content.

It covers -

• introduction
• priority 1 points
• priority 2 points
• priority 3 points

     introduction

Jakob Nielsen has persuasively called for a pragmatic approach to online accessibility, accommodating aspirations to universal access with a recognition of different audiences, skills and priorities.

This page does not provide a definitive set of rules or points for validation. Instead, we've included it on the site to encourage thought.

The following list is derived from the Checklist of Checkpoints for Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 1.0 developed by the World Wide Web Consortium's Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI), highlighted earlier in this guide.

It is grouped by priority, with priority one being most important.

     Priority 1

• provide a text equivalent for every non-text element (eg via alt-text) - images/graphics (inc spacers), animations, applets, frames, scripts, audio and video. Include redundant text links for each active region of a server-side image map and use client-side image maps instead of server-side image maps, except where the regions cannot be defined with an available geometric shape.
• ensure that all information conveyed with colour is also available without colour, eg from context or markup.
• clearly identify changes in the natural language of a document's text and any text equivalents (eg captions).
• organise documents so they may be read without style sheets.
• use the clearest language appropriate for a site's content.
• identify row and column headers in data tables and use markup to associate data cells and header cells in tables that have two or more logical levels of row or column headers.
• title each frame to facilitate identification and navigation.
• ensure that equivalents for dynamic content are updated when the dynamic content changes.
• 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.

     Priority 2

• ensure that foreground and background colour combinations provide sufficient contrast when viewed by a user with "colour deficits" or on a black & white screen
• use markup rather than images to convey information, when an appropriate markup language exists
• create documents that validate to published formal grammars.
• use style sheets to control layout and presentation
• use relative rather than absolute units in markup language attribute values and style sheet property values
• use header elements to convey document structure and use them according to specification
• mark up quotations and lists (avoid quotation markup for formatting effects such as indentation)
• do not cause pop-ups or other windows to appear and do not change the current window without informing the user
• chunk large blocks of information into more manageable groups where natural and appropriate
• clearly identify the target of each link
• provide metadata to add semantic information to pages and sites.
• provide information about the general layout of a site (eg a site map or table of contents).
• use navigation mechanisms in a consistent manner.
• do not use tables for layout unless the table makes sense when linearised. If a table is used for layout, do not use any structural markup for the purpose of visual formatting.

     Priority 3

• specify the expansion of each abbreviation or acronym in a document where it first occurs.
• identify the primary natural language of a document.
• create a logical tab order through links, form controls, and objects.
• provide keyboard shortcuts to important links (including those in client-side image maps), form controls, and groups of form controls.
• include non-link, printable characters (surrounded by spaces) between adjacent links
• provide navigation bars to highlight and give access to the navigation mechanism
• provide information so that users may receive documents according to their preferences (eg language, content type, etc)
• group related links and identify the group (for user agents)
• where search functions are provided, enable different types of searches for different skill levels and preferences
• place distinguishing information at the beginning of headings, paragraphs and lists
• provide information about document collections (ie documents comprising multiple pages)
• supplement text with graphic or auditory presentations where they will facilitate comprehension of the page
• create a style of presentation that is consistent across pages.
  
  

     next page  (document accessibility)