# Presentation: 826439

## Web and Software Subcommittee Report

- Andi Snow-Weaver
- May 22, 2007

## Recommendations for Software 

- 1194.21

## 1194.21(a)

- Current: When software is designed to run on a system that has a keyboard, product functions shall be executable from a keyboard where the function itself or the result of performing a function can be discerned textually.
- Proposed: All functionality of the user interface is operable through a keyboard interface without requiring specific timings for individual keystrokes, except where the underlying function requires input that depends on the path of the user's movement and not just the endpoints.
- Note: This exception relates to the underlying function, not the input technique. For example, if using handwriting to enter text, the input technique (handwriting) requires path dependent input but the underlying function (text input) does not.
- Note: This does not forbid and should not discourage providing mouse input or other input methods in addition to keyboard operation.

## 1194.21(b)

- Current: Applications shall not disrupt or disable activated features of other products that are identified as accessibility features, where those features are developed and documented according to industry standards. Applications also shall not disrupt or disable activated features of any operating system that are identified as accessibility features where the application programming interface for those accessibility features has been documented by the manufacturer of the operating system and is available to the product developer.
- Proposed: *Still under debate within the subcommittee*

## 1194.21 (c) 

- Current: A well-defined on-screen indication of the current focus shall be provided that moves among interactive interface elements as the input focus changes. The focus shall be programmatically exposed so that assistive technology can track focus and focus changes.
- Proposed: Software shall provide a visual indication of which user interface object currently has the keyboard focus. If the object is a text entry field, a visual indication of the text insertion point shall be provided, and is sufficient.
*Programmatic exposure of the keyboard focus is covered under new wording for 21(d).*

## 1194.21 (d) 

- Current: Sufficient information about a user interface element including the identity, operation and state of the element shall be available to assistive technology. When an image represents a program element, the information conveyed by the image must also be available in text.
- Proposed: Software that provides user interface objects shall either use the accessibility services provided by platform software or other services to cooperate with assistive technologies when such services allow the software to meet the accessibility provisions of this standard. Using such services, software shall:
- provide assistive technology with object information including but not limited to:
- role, state(s), boundary, name, and description
- any table row & column, and row & column headers (if the object is in a table)
- current value and any minimum or maximum (if the object represents one of a range of values)
- relationship this object has as a label for another, or being labelled by another
- parent or containing element, and any children objects
- text contents, text attributes, and the boundary of text rendered to the screen
- provide assistive technology with a list of actions that can be executed on an object and allow assistive technology to programmatically execute any of those actions;
- allow assistive technology to track and modify focus, text insertion point, and selection attributes of user interface objects;
- provide assistive technology with notification of events relevant to user interactions, including but not limited to changes in the object's state(s), value, name, description, or boundary

## 1194.21 (e) 

- Current: When bitmap images are used to identify controls, status indicators, or other programmatic elements, the meaning assigned to those images shall be consistent throughout an application's performance.
- Proposed: *No change. Critical for assistive technologies.*

## 1194.21 (f) 

- Current: Textual information shall be provided through operating system functions for displaying text. The minimum information that shall be made available is text content, text input caret location, and text attributes.
- Proposed: *Delete this provision as it is covered by the proposed re-wording of 21(d)*

## 1194.21(g)

- Current: Applications shall not override user selected contrast and color selections and other individual display attributes.
- Proposed: *Still under debate within the subcommittee*

## 1194.21(h)

- Current: When animation is displayed, the information shall be displayable in at least one non-animated presentation mode at the option of the user.
- Proposed: When an informational animation is displayed that will last for more than three seconds, software shall give the user a means to pause and restart the animation. When a decorative animation is displayed that will last for more than three seconds, software shall give the user a means to stop the animation.

## 1194.21(i)

- Current: Color coding shall not be used as the only means of conveying information, indicating an action, prompting a response, or distinguishing a visual element.
- Proposed: *No change.*

## 1194.21(j)

- Current: When a product permits a user to adjust color and contrast settings, a variety of color selections capable of producing a range of contrast levels shall be provided.
- Proposed: When a product permits a user to adjust color and contrast settings, at least one color selection capable of producing a minimum luminosity contrast ratio of n:1 shall be provided. Default combinations of foreground and background colors (hue and luminance) should produce a minimum luminosity contrast ratio of n:1
*Subcommittee has to revisit and harmonize with Web provision*

## 1194.21(k)

- Current: Software shall not use flashing or blinking text, objects, or other elements having a flash or blink frequency greater than 2 Hz and lower than 55 Hz.
- Proposed: Software shall not use flashing or blinking text, objects, or other elements that flash more than three times in any one second period, or the flash is below the general flash and red flash thresholds.

## 1194.21(l)

- Current: When electronic forms are used, the form shall allow people using assistive technology to access the information, field elements, and functionality required for completion and submission of the form, including all directions and cues.
- Proposed: *No change.*

## Authoring Tools

*Subcommittee is still debating the idea of including some provisions targeting authoring tools to facilitate the creation of accessible content.*

## Recommendations for Web

- 1194.22

## 1194.22(a)

- Current: A text equivalent for every non-text element shall be provided (e.g., via "alt", "longdesc", or in element content).
- Proposed: Except for the situations listed below, a text alternative that presents equivalent information shall be provided for all non-text content.
- Controls-Input: If non-text content is a control or accepts user input, then it has a name that describes its purpose. (See also <new provision on user interface components>)
- Media-Test-Sensory: If non-text content is multimedia , live audio-only or live video-only content, a test or exercise that must be presented in non-text format, or primarily intended to create a specific sensory experience , then text alternatives at least identify the non-text content with a descriptive text label. (For multimedia, see also 1194.22 (b))
- CAPTCHA*: If the purpose of non-text content is to confirm that content is being accessed by a person rather than a computer, then a descriptive text label describing its purpose is provided and different forms are provided to accommodate different disabilities.
- Decoration-Formatting-Invisible: If non-text content is pure decoration, or used only for visual formatting, or if it is not presented to users, then it is implemented such that it can be ignored by assistive technology.

## 1194.22(b)

- Current: Equivalent alternatives for any multimedia presentation shall be synchronized with the presentation.
- Proposed: *Pick up wording from A/V subcommittee or refer to it.*

## 1194.22(c)

- Current: Web pages shall be designed so that all information conveyed with color is also available without color, for example from context or markup.
- Proposed: *No change.*

## 1194.22(d)

- Current: Documents shall be organized so they are readable without requiring an associated style sheet.
- Proposed: *Delete this provision. Style sheets are well-supported. New provision recommended on reading order.*

## 1194.22(e)

- Current: Redundant text links shall be provided for each active region of a server-side image map.
- Proposed: *Delete this provision. Text links are one way to make server side image maps accessible but there are other ways. New provision recommended on keyboard operability.*

## 1194.22(f)

- Current: Client-side image maps shall be provided instead of server-side image maps except where the regions cannot be defined with an available geometric shape.
- Proposed: *Delete this provision. Since there is no area than cannot be defined with an available geographic shape, this provision essentially prohibits the use of server side image maps. But they can be accessible as long as keyboard alternatives are provided.*

## 1194.22(g)

- Current: Row and column headers shall be identified for data tables.
- Proposed: *Delete this provision as it is technology specific. Recommending new provision from WCAG 2.0 on information and relationships with row and column headers called out as a specific example.*

## 1194.22(h)

- Current: Markup shall be used to associate data cells and header cells for data tables that have two or more logical levels of row or column headers.
- Proposed: *Delete this provision as it is technology-specific. Recommending new provision from WCAG 2.0 on information and relationships with specific example derived from the current provision.*

## 1194.22(i)

- Current: Frames shall be titled with text that facilitates frame identification and navigation.
- Proposed: *Delete this provision as it is technology-specific. Frame titles to be included as an example for the new provision on role, state, and name.*

## 1194.22(j)

- Current: Pages shall be designed to avoid causing the screen to flicker with a frequency greater than 2 Hz and lower than 55 Hz.
- Proposed: Content does not contain anything that flashes more than three times in any one second period, or the flash is below the general flash and red flash thresholds.

## 1194.22(k)

- Current: A text-only page, with equivalent information or functionality, shall be provided to make a web site comply with the provisions of this part, when compliance cannot be accomplished in any other way. The content of the text-only page shall be updated whenever the primary page changes.
- Proposed: *Still under debate in the subcommittee*

## 1194.22(l)

- Current: When pages utilize scripting languages to display content, or to create interface elements, the information provided by the script shall be identified with functional text that can be read by assistive technology.
- Proposed: *No change.*

## 1194.22(m)

- Current: When a web page requires that an applet, plug-in or other application be present on the client system to interpret page content, the page must provide a link to a plug-in or applet that complies with §1194.21(a) through (l).
- Proposed: *Delete this provision. For harmonization with WCAG 2.0, 1194.22 should cover requirements for all types of Web content, including applets, without having to reference back to 1194.21. Several new provisions are proposed below to ensure that none of the 1194.21 provisions are lost.*

## 1194.22(n)

- Current: When electronic forms are designed to be completed on-line, the form shall allow people using assistive technology to access the information, field elements, and functionality required for completion and submission of the form, including all directions and cues.
- Proposed: *Delete this provision. This provision is no longer needed. Forms are covered under 3 new proposed provisions that are more testable. *
*information and relationships *
*focus cursor *
*user interface components *

## 1194.22(o)

- Current: A method shall be provided that permits users to skip repetitive navigation links.
- Proposed: A mechanism shall be available to bypass blocks of content that are repeated on multiple Web pages.

## 1194.22(p)

- Current: When a timed response is required, the user shall be alerted and given sufficient time to indicate more time is required.
- Proposed: For each time limit that is set by the content, at least one of the following is true:
- Deactivate: the user shall be allowed to deactivate the time limit; or
- Adjust: the user shall be allowed to adjust the time limit over a wide range that is at least ten times the length of the default setting; or
- Extend: the user shall be warned before time expires and given at least 20 seconds to extend the time limit with a simple action (for example, "hit any key"), and the user is allowed to extend the time limit at least ten times; or
- Real-time Exception: the time limit is an important part of a real-time event (for example, an auction), and no alternative to the time limit is possible; or
- Essential Exception: the time limit is part of an activity where timing is essential (for example, competitive gaming or time-based testing) and time limits can not be extended further without invalidating the activity.

## New Web Provision – keyboard operability

- All functionality of the user interface is operable through a keyboard interface without requiring specific timings for individual keystrokes, except where the underlying function requires input that depends on the path of the user's movement and not just the endpoints.
- Note: This exception relates to the underlying function, not the input technique. For example, if using handwriting to enter text, the input technique (handwriting) requires path dependent input but the underlying function (text input) does not.
- Note: This does not forbid and should not discourage providing mouse input or other input methods in addition to keyboard operation.

## New Web Provision – information and relationships

- Information and relationships conveyed through presentation shall be programmatically determinable, and notification of changes to these is available to user agents, including assistive technologies. For example:
- row and column headers are identified for data tables
- markup is used to associate data cells and header cells for data tables that have two or more logical levels of row or column headers.
- markup is used to identify section headings
- Programmatically determinable: can be determined by software from data provided in a user-agent-supported manner such that various user agents including assistive technologies can extract and present this information to users in different modalities.

## New Provision – focus cursor

- A focus cursor shall be provided that visually indicates which user interface element currently has the keyboard input focus, as well as the focus location within that element when one exists. The focus cursor shall be programmatically determinable so that assistive technology can track focus and focus changes.

## New Web Provision – user interface components

- For all user interface components, the name and role shall be programmatically determinable, states, properties, and values that can be set by the user shall be programmatically determinable and can be programmatically set, and notification of changes to these items is available to user agents, including assistive technologies. For example:
- Frames shall be titled with text that facilitates frame identification and navigation.

## New Web Provision – consistent identification

- Components that have the same functionality within a set of Web units shall be identified consistently.

## New Web Provision – Moving Content

- Content shall be capable of being paused by the user unless the timing or movement is part of an activity where timing or movement is essential.

## New Web Provision - Contrast

- Text (and images of text) have a contrast ratio of at least 5:1, except if the text is pure decoration. Larger-scale text or images of text can have a contrast ratio of 3:1.

## Accessibility Features & User Display Preferences

*Subcommittee is still discussing 21(b) [non-interference with accessibility features] and 21(g) [not overriding user’s display preferences] as they relate to Web content and applications.*

## Content

## Recommendation for New Section on Content Formats

- Content formats must have certain features to enable the creation of accessible content
- Recommend adding a section that defines these features to assist agencies in:
- Choosing accessible content formats
- Choosing authoring tools that support accessible content formats

## New Section – Content Formats

- When a content format supports non-text objects, an encoding mechanism shall be provided to associate non-text objects with textual descriptions displayable by a user-agent.
- When a content format supports multimedia, an encoding mechanism shall be provided to include synchronized text of verbal content, and audio descriptions of critical nonverbal activity displayable by a user-agent.
- When a content format supports 2 dimensional display of information, an encoding mechanism shall be provided to identify the logical linear reading order of the content displayable by a user-agent.
- When a content format supports row and column headers in data tables, an encoding mechanism shall be provided to identify row and column headers for data tables displayable by a user-agent.

## New Section – Content Formats (cont.)

- When a content format supports data tables that have two or more logical levels of row or column headers, an encoding mechanism shall be provided to associate row and column headers with data cells, displayable by a user-agent.
- When a content format supports interactive elements, an encoding mechanism shall be provided to identify name, operation, and state, of any interactive elements displayable by a user-agent.
- When a content format supports links, an encoding mechanism shall be provided to identify link text displayable by a user-agent.
- When a content format supports embedded comments, an encoding mechanism shall be provided to identify embedded comments and associate those comment locations within the document.

## New Section – Content Formats (cont.)

- When a content format supports scanned images of text, an encoding mechanism shall be provided to identify text of scanned images of text, displayable by a user-agent. Note, this means allowing for inclusion of the text of a scanned image of text.
- When a content format supports dynamic presentations, graphs, or other extracted information, an encoding mechanism shall be provided to include data used for any dynamic presentations, graphs, or other extracted information displayable by a user-agent.