Test Case Description Language 2.0

The Global Structure of a TCDL File [stable]

The root element type of a TCDL file is testCaseDescription. This element type has the following attributes and namespace declarations:

• id: an identifier for the test case that is unique that is unambiguous and unique withing the context of the test case (the context can be a test suite) (required);
• xml:lang: the default language of the TCDL file (optional);
• dir: the default text direction of the TCDL file (optional);
• xmlns="http://bentoweb.org/refs/TCDL2.0/": the default namespace (required);
• xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/": namespace for Dublin Core Element Set (required);
• xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink": namespace for W3C XLink (required);
• xmlns:html="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml": namespace for XHTML 1.x (required);
• xmlns:xsd="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema";
• xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance";
• xsi:schemaLocation: for linking namespace URIs with the URIs of the corresponding schema documents.

Note: the namespace prefixes need not be the same as those in the above list.

Note: for extensibility, the testCaseDescription element type can have any other attribute types in the target namespace (http://bentoweb.org/refs/TCDL2.0/); schema processors will validate attributes for which they can find declarations and raise errors if they are invalid (<xs:anyAttribute namespace="##targetNamespace" processContents="lax"/>).

TCDL metadata are organised in five major sections, which will be explained below:

• formal metadata (the formalMetadata element type, required),
• technologies (the technologies element type, required),
• test case (the testCase element type, required),
• rules (the rules element type, required),
• namespace mappings (the namespaceMappings element type, optional),
• an optional extension element (Extension),
• an extensibility point (any other element types in any namespace other than the target namespace).

In addition, there are also several extension elements and extension points. See “Versioning XML Vocabularies” (Orchard 2003) and “Extensibility, XML Vocabularies, and XML Schema” (Orchard 2004) for more background on the extensiblity of XML vocabularies.

Below is the skeleton of a TCDL file.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<testCaseDescription id="wcag20060427_sc1.1.1_l1_001"
  xml:lang="en"
  xmlns="http://bentoweb.org/refs/TCDL2.0/"
  xmlns:xsd="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema"
  xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
  xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/"
  xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"
  xmlns:html="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"
  xsi:schemaLocation="http://bentoweb.org/refs/TCDL1 http://bentoweb.org/refs/schemas/tcdl1.xsd
    http://bentoweb.org/refs/TCDL2.0/ http://bentoweb.org/refs/schemas/tcdl2.0.xsd
    http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/ http://dublincore.org/schemas/xmls/simpledc20021212.xsd
    http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml http://www.w3.org/2004/07/xhtml/xhtml1-strict.xsd
    http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink http://bentoweb.org/refs/schemas/xlink.xsd"
  >
  <formalMetadata>
    <!-- child elements omitted -->
  </formalMetadata>
  <technologies>
    <!-- child elements omitted -->
  </technologies>
  <testCase complexity="atomic">
    <!-- child elements omitted -->
  </testCase>
  <rules>
    <!-- child elements omitted -->
  </rules>
  <namespaceMappings>
    <!-- child elements omitted -->
  </namespaceMappings>
</testCaseDescription>


Note: There is no normative schema for XLink; see Appendix B of the XLink specification (XLink 1.0). In the BenToWeb project, the W3C XML Schema for XLink 1.0 (METS XLink Schema, v. 2, Nov. 15, 2004), from the Metadata Encoding and Transmission Standard (METS) Official Web Site (Library of Congress) was borrowed with permission.

Formal Metadata: The formalMetadata Element Type [stable]

The formalMetadata element type contains formal or administative metadata.

This element type has the following attribute types:

• xml:lang (optional),
• dir (optional).

The formalMetadata element type also has a number of required and optional child element types, which occur in the following order:

• title (required),
• dc:creator (required),
• dc:language (required),
• dc:rights (required),
• date (required),
• status (required),
• version (required),
• source (optional),
• dc:contributor (optional),
• Extension (optional extension element),
• any other element types in any namespace other than the target namespace (extensibility point).

The title Element Type

The title element type contains the title of the test case. It does not need to be unique (for example, in the test suite containing the test case) and its lenght can vary depending on the complexity of the test materials. However, the title should be sufficiently descriptive to allow a quick identification of the issue exhibited by the test case.

This element type has the following attribute types:

• xml:lang (optional),
• dir (optional).

This element type may not only contain character data but also the XHTML element types specified in XHTML-Style Inline Markup.

The dc:creator Element Type

The dc:creator element type is borrowed from the Dublin Core Metadata Element Set (DCMES 1.1) and identifies the person or organization primarily responsible for creating the test case.

Note: the TSD TF uses a constant value [@@todo add constant value], so the dc:creator element always looks as follows: <dc:creator>[@@constant</dc:creator>.

This element type has no attribute types.

The dc:creator element type has the data type xs:string and must therefore contain only character data.

The dc:language Element Type

The dc:language element type is borrowed from the Dublin Core Metadata Element Set (DCMES 1.1) and identifies the language of the intellectual content of the test case.

This element type has no attribute types.

The dc:language element type has the data type xs:string and must therefore contain only character data. However, in TCDL the value of dc:language must be one of the language tags defined by BCP 47 (the successor of RFC 3066). The value must not be empty or null.

The dc:rights Element Type

The dc:rights element type is borrowed from the Dublin Core Metadata Element Set (DCMES 1.1) and describes rights held in and over the test case.

Note: the TSD TF uses a constant value [@@todo add constant value], so the dc:rights element always looks as follows: <dc:rights>[@@constant with pointer to license]</dc:rights>.

This element type has no attribute types.

The dc:rights element type has the data type xs:string and must therefore contain only character data.

The date Element Type

The date element type identifies the date when the test case was created.

This element type has no attribute types.

The date element type has the data type xs:date (which is inspired by ISO 8601). Example: 2004-10-01 means 1 October 2004.

Note: Dublin Core's dc:date element type has the same meaning, but its data type is xs:string, which limits validation.

The status Element Type

The status element type identifies the state of the test case during the development process of the test suite, by means of one of an enumerated list of values (for example, “draft”, “pending bugfix”, “accepted”, “rejected”).

This element type has no attribute types.

The status element type has the data type xs:string, but the values should really be chose from a limited list. Defining the list of legal values is outside the scope of this specification because these values depend on the context of the test suite. For an example, see the Conformance Test Process For WCAG 2.0, which contains a description of the steps that must be performed so that a test case may be added to a test suite for WCAG 2.0.

The version Element Type

The version element type contains an identifier that allows one to distinguish between different revisions of a test case. Note that the W3C QA Framework Primer defines a new version of a specification as a significant functional change and enhancement. TCDLdoes not define what consitutes a new version of a test case because this depends on the context in which the language is used.

Note: the TSD TF uses CVS numbering for test cases by inserting “$version” as a constant value; the version element always looks as follows: <version>$version</version>.

Note: the WG Note on Test Metadata contains the following note about “version”:

ISSUE: It is unclear whether it is necessary to apply version numbers to individual tests. More common practice is to version the entire test suite. Ideally tests will not need to be revised as the specification evolves. However, this is sometimes necessary, and at a minimum each Working Group should define SpecRef and possibly other metadata such as Grouping elements to indicate which versions of the specification an individual test supports.

This element type has no attribute types.

The version element type has the data type xs:string.

The source Element Type

Note: the source element type is not used by the TSD TF.

The source element type is used to document the source of a borrowed test case and related information: the name and URL of the original test suite, the URL of the original test file, its creator, whether the file was copied literally or with changes, and rights held in and over the original test case.

This element type has the following attribute types:

• xml:lang (optional),
• dir (optional).

The source element type can only contain other element types in the following order:

• testSuite (required),
• sourceFile (required and repeatable),
• dc:rights (optional),
• comment (optional).

The testSuite Element Type

The testSuite element type is used to document the test suite from which a test case was borrowed.

This element type has the following attribute:

• xlink:href (optional) to specify the location of the test suite.

The testSuite element type can only contain one element type (and no character data):

• name (required) to specify the name of the test suite.

This element type may not only contain character data but also the XHTML element types specified in XHTML-Style Inline Markup.

The sourceFile Element Type

The sourceFile element type is used to document a file that was borrowed from another test suite.

This element type has the following attribute types:

• changed (required) to specify whether the file was borrowed with changes (“true”) or without any changes (“false”),
• xlink:href (required) to specify the location of the original file.

The sourceFile element type can only contain one element type (and no character data):

• dc:creator (required).

The dc:creator element type identifies the person or organization primarily responsible for creating the borrowed test file. For attribute types and content model, see the dc:creator element type above.

The dc:rights Element Type

The dc:rights element type describes rights held in and over the borrowed test file. For attribute types and content model, see the dc:rights element type above.

The comment Element Type

The comment element type is a general-purpose container for comments on the borrowed materials, such as changes that were performed, errors that were found etcetera.

This element type can only contain XHTML-style paragraphs.

The dc:contributor Element Type

Note: the dc:contributor element type is not used by the TSD TF.

The dc:contributor element type identifies the person or organization responsible for making contributions to the content of the test case.

This element type has no attribute types.

The dc:contributor element type has the data type xs:string.

Technologies: The technologies Element Type [stable]

The technologies element type contains the followiing information about the technologies used in a test case:

• the formal specification or recommendation that defines the technology (by name and URL; required);
• the technology features (for example, which XHTML elements and/or attribute types) that are relevant to the test case (optional);
• a reference (URL) to a section in the formal specification or a quote from the formal specification that describes the technology features that are relevant to the test case (optional).

This element type has the following attribute types:

• xml:lang (optional),
• dir (optional).

The technologies element type contains one or more instances of the technicalSpec element type.

The technicalSpec Element Type

The technicalSpec element type identifies a technology (proprietary, W3C recommendation or other type of technical specification) used in the test case. If a test case uses server-side scripting to generate content on the fly, technicalSpec identifies the generated content type, not the server-side scripting language. Languages and formats that are embedded or inlined in another format, for example inline CSS or an embedded PNG file in an HTML file are also considered as technologies in the context of this specification. There is one technicalSpec element for each file technology used by the test case.

This element type has the following attribute types:

• xlink:href (optional),
• baseline (optional).

The xlink:href attribute type contains the URL of the technical specification of the file format. Examples:

• http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/ to refer to XHTML 1.0;
• http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml11/ to refer to XHTML 1.1;
• http://www.w3.org/TR/ruby/ to refer to Ruby Annotation;
• http://www.w3.org/TR/1998/REC-CSS2-19980512/ to refer to CSS2;
• http://www.w3.org/TR/2000/WD-DOM-Level-1-20000929/ to refer to DOM Level 1;
• http://www.ecma-international.org/publications/standards/Ecma-262.htm to refer to Standard ECMA-262 : ECMAScript Language Specification, 3rd edition (December 1999);
• http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/default.asp?url=/workshop/author/dhtml/reference/dhtml_reference_entry.asp to refer to Microsoft's HTML and DHTML Reference.

According to the XLink 1.0 specification,

[t]he value of the href attribute must be a URI reference as defined in RFC 2396, or must result in a URI reference (…).

The baseline attribute type specifies whether a technology (technicalSpec) or a feature (testElement) is inside or outside the baseline assumed by the test case. The value “included” means that something is inside the baseline; the value “excluded” means outside the baseline. (For information about baselines in WCAG 2.0, see Technology assumptions and the "baseline" in Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.0 (W3C Working Draft 27 April 2006) and About Baselines and WCAG 2.0.) [@@References]

Note: at the time of writing [@@date], it is not entirely clear whether WCAG baselines will only contain complete technologies or also mention specific features. The issue was discussed in March, with some arguments in favour of very granular baseline information. WCAG conformance claims don't need to specify what technologies were used outside the baseline, but it seems desirable that test case metadata are more precise in this area.

Note: the requirement that there is a formal specification or recommendation for each technology works for many technologies (HTML, CSS, ECMAScript, Flash, PDF, PNG, JPEG) but may be more problematic for others (vendor-specific HTML extensions, the currently non-standerdized XMLHttpRequest object, …).

The technicalSpec element type can contain two other element types:

• specName (required),
• testElements (optional).

For example, to refer to XHTML 1.0, one could write:

<technicalSpec xlink:href="http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/">
<specName><html:acronym>XHTML</html:acronym>&#8482; 1.0: The Extensible HyperText Markup Language (Second Edition)</specName>
</technicalSpec>

The specName Element Type

The specName element type contains the name of the technology, more specifically the title of the technical specification that defines the technology. This element type may not only contain character data but also the XHTML element types specified in XHTML-Style Inline Markup.

The testElements Element Type

The testElements element type contains a description of the elements or features used by the test case. This element can be omitted for binary formats (PDF, Flash, …).

Note: this element type allows developers to check how well a test suite covers certain features, especially accessibility features, of a technology. This could help the TSD TF to get help and/or test cases from other working groups (who often have test suites of their own). The TSD TF may decide later that storing this information requires too many resources and drop this element type.

The testElements element type has no attribute types. It contains at least one instance of the testElement element type.

The testElement Element Type

The testElement element type contains a description of a specific element or feature. There is one testElement for each feature used by the test case. For CSS, the name of the rule, selector, property, property value, … can be provided. For proprietary element and attribute types (Microsoft's bgsound, Netscape's embed, etcetera), a link to the company's documentation can be provided.

The testElement element type has an optional baseline attribute. It also contains one instance of the elementName element type, followed by one instance of either the specReference element type or the specQuote element type.

The elementName element type identifies the name of the element or feature. This element type has the following attribute types:

• xml:lang (optional),
• dir (optional),
• localname (required),
• namespace (optional).

The localname attribute type identifies the name of the feature. If the feature is an element or attribute from an XML vocabulary, localname contains the unqualified name.

The namespace attribute type identifies the namespace URI of the feature, if relevant. This attribute type must not be used if the technology defining the feature is not an XML vocabulary.

elementName is an empty element type; it does not contain child elements or characer data.

The specReference element type contains the title of the relevant section in the specification. Use the title provided by the specification wherever possible; otherwise provide a succinct and meaningful title for the relevant section in the specification.

This element type has the following attribute types:

• xml:lang (optional),
• dir (optional),
• xlink:href (optional).

The xlink:href attribute type contains the URL of the relevant section in the technical specification.

Examples of xlink:href in specReference:

• http://www.w3.org/TR/1999/REC-html401-19991224/struct/objects.html#adef-alt to refer to the section “How to specify alternate text” in the HTML 4.01 specification;
• http://www.w3.org/TR/1999/REC-html401-19991224/interact/scripts.html#adef-onfocus to refer to the description of the “onfocus” event in the HTML 4.01 specification;
• http://www.w3.org/TR/1999/REC-html401-19991224/types.html#type-links to refer to the section on “Link types” in the HTML 4.01 specification;
• http://msdn.microsoft.com/workshop/author/dhtml/reference/objects/BGSOUND.asp to refer to “BGSOUND Element | bgSound Object” in Microsoft's HTML and DHTML Reference.

The specReference element type may not only contain character data but also the XHTML element types specified in XHTML-Style Inline Markup.

The specQuote element type contains a quote from the relevant section of the specification. specQuote can be used if it is not possible to provide an exact pointer to the relevant section in the specification (with specReference).

This element type has the following attribute types:

• xml:lang (optional),
• dir (optional).

The specQuote element type may not only contain character data but also the XHTML element types specified in XHTML-Style Inline Markup.

Describing Baselines

The Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.0 (WCAG 2.0, Working Draft 27 April 2006) defines a baseline as the

set of technologies assumed to be supported by, and enabled in, user agents.

The concept of baseline is intended to allow the use of newer technologies with accessibility features, instead of implicitly defining a baseline of HTML 4/XHTML 1.0 and CSS 1.0 (without JavaScript, Flash, PDF etcetera) as WCAG 1.0 did. A conformance claim for WCAG 2.0 must include a description of the baseline. To enable the description of a baseline for a test case, TCDL has the baseline attribute type on the technicalSpec element type. However, support for a technology is rarely, if ever, complete. For example, in HTML 4 the element types object and link and the attribute type longdesc were not widely supported for a long time (or at least not in the browser that dominates the market). For this reason, TCDL also enables the exclusion of certain element or attribute types from a technology that is in the baseline, by means of the baseline attribute type on the testElement element type.

For example, Techniques for WCAG 2.0 contains technique H60: Using the link element to link to a glossary. If the test case author assumes that link is well supported, the technologies section can simply look as follows:

<technologies>
  <technicalSpec xlink:href="http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/" baseline="included">
    <specName>
      <html:acronym>XHTML</html:acronym>&#8482; 1.0: The Extensible HyperText Markup Language (Second Edition)
    </specName>
  <technicalSpec>
</technologies>

However, if the test case author assumes that link is not sufficiently supported, it is possible to exclude this element type in the following manner:

<technologies>
  <technicalSpec xlink:href="http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/" baseline="included">
    <specName>
      <html:acronym>XHTML</html:acronym>&#8482; 1.0: The Extensible HyperText Markup Language (Second Edition)
    </specName>
    <testElements>
      <testElement baseline="excluded">
        <elementName localname="link" namespace="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"/>
        <specReference xlink:href"http://www.w3.org/TR/1999/REC-html401-19991224/struct/links.html#edef-LINK">
          Document relationships: the <html:code>link</html:code> element
        </specReference>
      </testElement>
    </testElements>
  <technicalSpec>
</technologies>

Test Case: The testCase Element Type [stable]

The testCase element type describes what is necessary for the evaluation of the test case.

This element type has only one attribute type, complexity, with the values “atomic” or “complex”. A test case is atomic if it applies to only one “accessibility rule” (for example, a WCAG 1.0 checkpoint, a WCAG 2.0 success criterion or a Section 508 rule), or complex if it applies to multiple “accessibility rules” from the same set (i.e. the same guidelines document or the same set of legal requirements).

The testCase element type can contain six other element types:

• description (required),
• purpose (required),
• expertGuidance (optional),
• preconditions (optional),
• requiredTests (required),
• files (required).

The description Element Type

The description element type contains a summary of the test materials and how they are to be used in the test case. The description indicates to the accessibility expert/scenario author what to expect and what will happen when a user interacts with the test materials. The description of the behaviour is especially important for test materials with interactive components such as forms.

This element type has the following attribute types:

• xml:lang (optional),
• dir (optional).

The description element type may not only contain character data but also the XHTML element types specified in XHTML-Style Inline Markup.

Note: Dublin Core's dc:description element type has the same meaning, but its data type is xs:string, which limits validation.

The purpose Element Type

The purpose element type contains a description of the intention of the test materials. The purpose contains an explanation of the expected evaluation result in regard to the relevant rules, checkpoints or success criteria. It does not need to repeat the “rule” or success criterion for which the test case is developed. (Strictly speaking, this goes beyond the Purpose in W3C Working Group Note on Test Metadata.)

This element type has the following attribute types:

• xml:lang (optional),
• dir (optional).

This element type can only contain XHTML-style paragraphs.

The expertGuidance Element Type

The expertGuidance element type contains guidance to reviewers (for example, accessibility experts if TCDL is used for a WCAG test suite) for evaluating the test case.

This element type has the following attribute types:

• xml:lang (optional),
• dir (optional).

This element type can only contain XHTML-style paragraphs.

The preconditions Element Type

The preconditions element type contains conditions that must be met before this test is executed. See Preconditions in W3C Working Group Note on Test Metadata.

This element type is provided for extensibility; it can contain any elements in any namespace (##any).

The requiredTests Element Type

Note: the requiredTests element type is not used by the TSD TF.

The requiredTests element type describes

• the test mode or modes (required): the ways in which the test case should be evaluated to advance the test case from “draft” status to “accepted”;
• one or more test scenarios for end user evalution (strictly optional, but required if the test mode is “end user”): a scenario consists of
  • user guidance (for example, advice on features of a user agent that should be supported by and enabled in a browser),
  • questions that the user is expected to answer (yes/no question, open question, Likert scale, multiple choice, or a combination of yes/no and open question),
  • the experience that the user should have with certain user agents or assistive technologies to evaluate the test, and
  • optionally, disabilities to which the test is relevant.

Note: in Bentoweb, each scenario has a mandatory identifier that is unique within the test case description. This identifier is necessary to map end user feedback to the scenarios.

The TCDL specification does not define any attribute types for the requiredTests element type but allows the use of any attribute types for extensibility.

The requiredTests element type can contain the following element types in the following order:

• testMode (required),
• scenario (optional and repeatable),
• Extension (optional extension element),
• any other element types in any namespace other than the target namespace (extensibility point).

The testMode Element Type

The testMode element type specifies the type of evaluation that is required to get the test case “accepted”.

This element type has no attribute types and allows only string values (xs:string).

The scenario Element Type

The scenario element type specifies a scenario that can generate data for validating the test case. In TCDL, this element type is geared towards end-user evaluation of test samples. For this purpose, it is possible to define several types of questions (see below).

This element type has the following attribute:

• id (required) for an identifier that is unique within the TCDL file.

The scenario element type can contain the following element types in the following order:

• dc:creator (optional),
• date (optional),
• status (optional),
• scenarioNotes (optional),
• userGuidance (optional and repeatable, one per language),
• questions (required),
• experience (required),
• disabilities (optional).

For dc:creator, date and status, see above: the dc:creator element type, the date element type, and the status element type.

The scenarioNotes Element Type

The scenarioNotes element type is a container for any kind of notes on the scenario, for example, its purpose.

This element type has the following attribute types:

• xml:lang (optional),
• dir (optional).

The scenarioNotes element type can only contain XHTML-style paragraphs.

The userGuidance Element Type

The userGuidance element type contains additional guidance to the end user who evaluates the test case, especially with regard to the configuration of their user agent and/or assistive technology. The xml:lang attribute is required.

This element type has the following attribute types:

• xml:lang (required),
• dir (optional).

Note: the languages must match those used for the questions defined in the questions element. This means that for each language version of a question, there must be a corresponding language version of userGuidance, and vice versa, unless the scenario does not need user guidance (in which case there is no userGuidance element for any of the languages in which the questions are available).

This element type can only contain XHTML-style paragraphs.

The questions Element Type

The questions element type contains one or more question that can be presented to a human evaluator (an end user) to evaluate a test case. In this context, end-user evaluation is a method for getting feedback on a technique or a specific aspect of a technique's implementation, for example, the use of certain elements and/or attributes to meet a WCAG 2.0 success criterion or a specific contrast ratio in a web page.

If the evaluation panel (a group of end-users not involved in the development of the test cases) is multilingual, it may be necessary to provide the questions in different languages. In that case, there should be one question or set of questions per language that needs to be supported. The use of different language versions for questions, user guidance and labels must be consistent: when any of these items is translated, each of the other elements (assuming that they are used) must also be translated.

This element type has the following attribute types:

• xml:lang (required),
• dir (optional).

The questions element type can contain only one of the following five element types, which are mutually exclusive:

• openQuestion, or
• yesNoQuestion, or
• yesNoOpenQuestion, or
• likertScale, or
• multipleChoice.

The openQuestion Element Type

The openQuestion element type contains an open question with a textarea, which can be presented to a user.

This element type has the following attribute types:

• xml:lang (optional),
• dir (optional).

The openQuestion element type contains the following element types, which occur in the following order:

• questionText (required and repeatable, one per language), which contains the actual question, and
• space (required) which specifies the size of the text area in which the user can enter a response.

The questionText element type has a required xml:lang attribute and an optional dir attribute. There is one questionText element per language in which the scenario needs to be available. As noted, above, the language versions of questionText must match those of userGuidance, if any user guidance is provided. The questionText element type can only contain XHTML-style paragraphs.

The space element type has two required attribute types: rows, which specifies the number of visible text lines, and columns, which specifies the visible width in average character widths. The values of the rows and columns attributes must be positive integers. The resulting text area must allow the user to enter more lines than specified by the rows attribute and longer lines specified by the columns attribute.

The yesNoQuestion Element Type

The yesNoQuestion element type contains a yes-no-question, with a third option (for options such as “Don't know”, “Not applicable”, etcetera).

This element type has the following attribute types:

• xml:lang (optional),
• dir (optional).

The yesNoQuestion element type contains the following element types, which occur in the following order:

• questionText (required and repeatable, one per language), which contains the actual question, and
• optionYes (required),
• optionNo (required),
• optionOther (optional).

The questionText element type is defined above.

The element types optionYes and optionNo are empty element types with the following attribute types:

• value (required) for the value that will be sent to the server if the user selects this option,
• expected (optional) to specify if this option is what the question author would expect from the user (indicated with the values “yes” or “no”),
• xml:lang (optional),
• dir (optional).

The element types optionYes and optionNo are empty because it is not necessary for TCDL to contain the strings “yes” or “no” (or any translations of these): the process that transforms the scenarios into a user interface can fill in these strings.

The optionOther element type specifies an alternative for “yes” or “no”, for example “I don't know” or “Other”. There must be one “other option” for each language in which the questions are available. Unlike the element types optionYes and optionNo, optionOther has child elements: it can only contain XHTML-style paragraphs.

The optionOther element type has the following attribute types:

• expected (optional) to specify if this option is what the question author would expect from the user (indicated with the values “yes” or “no”),
• xml:lang (required),
• dir (optional).

The yesNoOpenQuestion Element Type

The yesNoOpenQuestion element type contains a yes-no-question, with a third option (for options such as “Don't know”, “Not applicable”, etcetera) and an open question with a text area. It is a combination of the yesNoQuestion and openQuestion element types defined above.

The yesNoOpenQuestion element type contains the following element types, which occur in the following order:

• questionText (required and repeatable, one per language), which contains the question for the yes-no part and possibly also for the open part,
• optionYes (required),
• optionNo (required),
• optionOther (optional),
• questionText (optional and repeatable, one per language), which contains the question for the open part if this is not already contained in the first questionText(s),
• space (required), which specifies the size of the text area in which the user can enter a response.

The element types questionText, optionYes, optionNo, optionOther and space are defined above.

The likertScale Element Type

The likertScale element type specifies a Likert scale.

The Usability First™ Usability Glossary defines Likert scale as follows:

a type of survey question where respondents are asked to rate the level at which they agree or disagree with a given statement. For example:

I find this software easy to use.

strongly disagree 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 strongly agree

A Likert scale is used to measure attitudes, preferences, and subjective reactions. In software evaluation, we can often objectively measure efficiency and effectiveness with performance metrics such as time taken or errors made. Likert scales and other attitudinal scales help get at the emotional and preferential responses people have to the design. Is it attractive, fun, professional, easy?

This element type has the following attribute type:

• display (required), which defines how a list of choices is displayed: vertically, horizontally or as a drop-down list (with the values “vertical”, “horizontal” and “dropdown”, respectively).

The default for display is vertical (for greater accessibility to screen readers). Dropdowns are not recommended if more than one choice needs to be selected.

The likertScale element type contains the following element types, which occur in the following order:

• questionText (required and repeatable, one per language), which contains the actual question, and
• likertLevel (required, exactly five times).

The likertLevel element type defines a level in the Likert scale.

The element has the following attribute types:

• number (required) for the number of the level (1-5, consecutively),
• expected (optional) to specify if this option is what the question author would expect from the user (indicated with the values “yes” or “no”).

The likertLevel element type contains the following elements, which occur in the following order:

• label (required and repeatable, one per language), for the value displayed to the user,
• value (required), for the value to be submitted to the server.

The label element type specifies the label associated with the choice. There is one label element per language in which the scenario needs to be available.

This element type has the following attribute types:

• xml:lang (required),
• dir (optional).

The label element type may not only contain character data but also the XHTML element types specified in XHTML-Style Inline Markup.

The value element type specifies the value to be submitted by the user. There is only one value element in every likertLevel, so that the same value is sent to the server, regardless the number of languages the label is available.

This element type has no attribute types. Its data type is xs:string.

The multipleChoice Element Type

The multipleChoice element type contains a multiple choice question. It is possible to limit the number of responses to one (for radio buttons) or to allow multiple reponses (for check boxes). This element type is strictly a generalisation of likertScale, which can be seen as a short-hand notation of a specific usage of multipleChoice.

The multipleChoice element type has the following attribute types:

• select (required), with the values “one” or “multiple”,
• display (required).

The select attribute type defines whether the user can select one or multiple choices (i.e. one radio button versus multiple check boxes): if a multipleChoice element has a select attribute with the value “one”, the HTML equivalent is rendered as a set of radio buttons; if the select attribute has the value “multiple”, the HTML equivalent is rendered as a set of check boxes.

The multipleChoice element type contains the following element types, which occur in the following order:

• questionText (required and repeatable, one per language), which contains the actual question, and
• choice (required, at least two instances), for each of the options presented to the user.

The choice element type has the following attribute types:

• number (optional),
• display (optional),
• expected (optional).

The choice element type contains the following element types, which occur in the following order:

• label (required and repeatable, one per language), for the value displayed to the user,
• value (required), for the value to be submitted to the server.

The experience Element Type

The experience element type specifies a user's level of experience with the specified types of software. There are three categories of software: assistive technologies, user agents and devices. User agent also covers browser plugins.

The experience element type has no attribute types. It contains the following element types, which occur in the following order:

• AssistiveTechnology (optional and repeatable),
• UserAgent (required and repeatable),
• Device (optional and repeatable).

AssistiveTechnology, UserAgent and Device are empty element types. AssistiveTechnology lists assistive technologies such as screen readers, screen magnifiers, voice recognition software, alternative keyboards and alternative pointing devices. UserAgent here refers to any software that retrieves and renders Web content for users. This may include Web browsers, media players, plug-ins, and other programs — including assistive technologies — that help in retrieving and rendering Web content. Device reters to the hardware on which user agents and/or assistive technologies run: personal computers, personal digital assistants, mobile phones, …

Note: in BenToWeb, assistive technologies are not user agents but are a category of their own.

The element types AssistiveTechnology, UserAgent and Device have the following attribute types:

• minimumLevel (required),
• type (required),
• product (optional),
• version (optional).

The attribute type minimumLevel specifies a user's required level of experience with a certain software or device on a scale from 1 (low/novice) to 5 (high/expert). How these levels are established is outside the scope of this specification but depends on the context where TCDL is used. This attribute type contains integers from 1 up to and including 5.

The attribute type type specifies the type of software or device. This attribute type contains only character data (data type xs:string).

The attribute type product specifies a product in the category specfied in type.

The attribute type version specifies a version of the product specified in product. If the version attribute type is used, the product attribute type must also be used. The data type of version is xs:decimal.

Matching experience and User Profiles

The experience information in a TCDL file can be used to filter specific scenarios for users with a specific profile, so that it is possible to gather information on how a test case is used by someone with a specific browser, a specific screen reader, etcetera. For this to work, the system that matches scenarios to user profiles would need a matching algorithm like the following:

• the three classes of experience (AssistiveTechnology, UserAgent and Device) have an AND relationship: a user's profile only matches if there is a match between each of the classes in experience and the corresponding part of the user profile;
• the absence of any of these classes (except the required ones) in a scenarios means “any type, product or version” in that class maches;
• assistive technologies with a different type value have an AND relationship: a user's profile only matches if each of these types is listed in his/her profile;
• assistive technologies with the same type value have an OR relationship: a user's profile results in a match if any product of this type is in his profile, unless experience also lists specific products;
• user agents with a different type value have an AND relationship: a user's profile only matches if each of these types is listed in his/her profile;
• user agents with the same type value have an OR relationship: a user's profile results in a match if any product of this type is in his profile, unless experience also lists specific products;
• devices with the same type value have an OR relationship: a user's profile results in a match if any product of this type is in his profile, unless experience also lists specific products;
• in each of the three classes of experience (AssistiveTechnology, UserAgent and Device), values of product and version need an exact match in the user profile.

Using experience: Examples

A few examples of how to match scenarios to user protiles with the above algorithm are discussed below. For the sake of simplicity, we will disregard to minimumLevel attribute values.

<!-- example 1 -->
<AssistiveTechnology type="screenreader" minimumLevel="3"/>
<UserAgent type="browser" minimumLevel="1"/>

This matches all user profiles with a certain screenreader AND a certain browser.

<!-- example 2 -->
<AssistiveTechnology type="screenreader" minimumLevel="3"/>
<AssistiveTechnology type="alternative input devices" minimumLevel="3"/>
<UserAgent type="browser" minimumLevel="1"/>

This matches all user profiles with a certain screenreader AND an alternative input device AND a certain browser.

<!-- example 3 -->
<AssistiveTechnology type="screenreader" minimumLevel="3"/>
<UserAgent type="browser" product="Microsoft Internet Explorer" version="4" minimumLevel="1"/>
<UserAgent type="browser" product="Microsoft Internet Explorer" version="5" minimumLevel="1"/>
<UserAgent type="browser" product="Microsoft Internet Explorer" version="6" minimumLevel="1"/>

This matches all user profiles with a certain screenreader AND any of the specified versions of Microsoft Internet Explorer (4, 5 or 6, but not 5.5).

<!-- example 4 -->
<AssistiveTechnology type="screenreader" minimumLevel="3"/>
<AssistiveTechnology type="magnification software" minimumLevel="3"/>
<UserAgent type="browser" product="Microsoft Internet Explorer" version="4" minimumLevel="1"/>
<UserAgent type="browser" product="Microsoft Internet Explorer" version="5" minimumLevel="1"/>

This matches all user profiles with any screenreader AND any magnification software AND any of the specified versions of Microsoft Internet Explorer (4 or 5 but not 5.5).

<!-- example 5 -->
<AssistiveTechnology type="screenreader" product="JAWS" minimumLevel="3"/>
<AssistiveTechnology type="screenreader"product="Window-Eyes" minimumLevel="3"/>
<UserAgent type="browser" product="Microsoft Internet Explorer" version="4" minimumLevel="1"/>
<UserAgent type="browser" product="Microsoft Internet Explorer" version="5" minimumLevel="1"/>

This matches all user profiles with any version of JAWS or Window-Eyes AND any of the specified versions of Microsoft Internet Explorer (4 or 5 but not 5.5).

<!-- example 6 -->
<AssistiveTechnology type="screenreader" product="JAWS" minimumLevel="3"/>
<AssistiveTechnology type="Braille display" minimumLevel="3"/>
<UserAgent type="browser" minimumLevel="1"/>
<Device type="PC" minimumLevel="2"/>

This matches all user profiles with any version of JAWS AND any Braille display AND any browser AND a PC.

The disabilities Element Type

The disabilities element type specifies one or more disabilities to which the test case is relevant. This enables matching test cases with user profiles and prevents that end users get test cases that are irrelevant to them (for example, a test case on colour contrast should not be matched with a blind user).

The disabilities element type has no attribute types. It can only contain one element type:

• disability (required and repeatable).

The disability element type can only contain character data (data type: xs:string). Defining a list of disabilities is beyond the scope of this specification.

The files Element Type

The files element type contains information about each of the test files that make up the test case.In a XHTML test suite for WCAG 1.0 or 2.0, for example, there is usually only one XHTML test file per test case (not counting supporting files such as external stylesheets , images, etcetera), but some checkpoints or success criteria, for example, those on consistent navigation, consistent style etcetera, require a set of files.

The files element type has only one attribute type:

• sequential (optional), with the value “true” or “false” (the default).

The sequential attribute type specifies whether the order of the files (if there are several) matters for the evaluation of the test case: “true” means that the files should be processed in the order in which they occur in the test case description; “false” means that the files can be processed in random order. The default value is “false”.

The files element type can only contain one element type:

• file (required and repeatable).

The file Element Type

The file element type has the following attribute types:

• xlink:href (optional),
• hrefLang (optional).

The xlink:href attribute type specifies the URL of the test file or test sample. Supporting files such as included images, external style sheets and dummy pages to which forms are submitted (if only the form is relevant to the test) etcetera, need not be documented. (Only what the Last Call Working Draft of WCAG 2.0 calls "Web units" needs to be listed.)

If test cases are organised so that TCDL data are in a directory “metadata” and sample files are in a directory called “testfiles” and these directories are both subdirectories of “xhtmltestsuite”, xlink:href can contain a relative URL, for example: ../testfiles/sc1.1.1_l1_001.html.

The hrefLang attribute type specifies the language of the file or sample identified by xlink:href (if the attribute is present) or httpRequest (explained below).

The file element type can only contain one element type:

• httpRequest (optional).

The httpRequest Element Type

The httpRequest element type specifies data for creating a HTTP request, such as media type, encoding, HTTP headers and HTTP body. The request URI for the HTTP request is the URI in xlink:href of the file element type.

The httpRequest element type has the following attribute types:

• method (required).

The method attribute type specifies the HTTP method; only the values “GET”, “POST”, “PUT” and “HEAD” are allowed. (Methods are case sensitive; “TRACE”, “OPTIONS”, “DELETE” and “CONNECT” are not useful in this context.)

The httpRequest element type contains the following element types, which occur in the following order:

• httpHeaders (optional),
• httpBody (optional).

The httpHeaders element type specifies headers for an HTTP request to a server. This element type has no attribute types and can contain only one element type:

• header (required and repeatable).

The httpBody element type specifies content for the “body” or “payload” of an HTTP POST request.This element type has no attribute types and can contain only one element type:

• variable (optional and repeatable).

The element types header and variable are empty element types with the following attribute types:

• name (required),
• value (required).

The name and value attribute types of both the header and body element types allow any character data (data type: xs:string).

Rules: The Element Types rules and rule [stable]

The rules element type contains the “rules” that are tested by a test case. “Rule” is here used as a generic term for accessibility requirements such as

• WCAG 2.0 success criteria,
• WCAG 1.0 checkpoints,
• Section 508 provisions,
• BITV provisions.

The rules element type has no attribute types. It can only contain one element type:

• rule (required, repeatable).

The accessibility requirements identified by each of the rule elements have an AND relationship. This enables the creation of complex test cases where the impact of combinations of failures or techniques can be demonstrated.

The rule Element Type

There is one rule element per “rule” that is documented in the test case.

The rule element type has the following attribute types:

• id (required), for the URI of the rule,
• primary (required), to specify if the rule is “primary” (value “yes”) or not (value “no”).

The id attribute type specifies the URI of the rule (data type xs:anyURI). The id attribute type does not provide a direct reference to the relevant online source because it may not always be possible to reference “rules” directly (for example, because they are not available in HTML). The id attribute type contains a URL with a fragment identifier: the URL part locates a “Rulesets XML” file, the fragment identifier refers to a rule ID which in turn references the relevant rule in an online source.

The primary attribute type specifies whether a rule is “primary” or not: primary rules are those against which the test case is supposed to be evaluated; other rules are informational.

The rule element type contains the following element types, which occur in the following order:

• locations (required),
• techniques (optional),
• functionalOutcome (optional),
• techComment (optional).

The locations Element Type

The locations element type specifies the location or locations where relevant (especially faulty) code occurs, more specifically code that exhibits an issue (especially an error) relevant to the specified “rule”.

This element type has the following attribute type:

• expectedResult (required).

The expectedResult attribute type specifies the expected result of an evaluation of the code against the specified “rule”. The following values are allowed: “pass”, “fail”, “cannotTell” and “notApplicable”. The value “cannotTell” is used if there is ambiguity of unclarity (for example, dependence on the implementation or version of a user agent or assistive technology, ambiguity in the accessibilty rules or in the specification of the file format). The value “notApplicable” can be used to point out explicitly that a specific location in the code is not relevant.

The locations element type can only contain one element type (and no character data):

• location (optional and repeatable).

The location element type specifies a location in the code. Sometimes a combination of features (markup, rules, etcetera) constitute an error when taken together (even if these features are not errors when considered separately). In that case, there should be one location element per feature/error. At least XPath or a combination of line and column number must be used.

Note: the TSD TF is considering to replace some of the content of the location element type by the location pointers from EARL.

The location element type has the following attribute types:

• xlink:href (optional),
• line (optional),
• column (optional),
• xpath (optional),
• @@<xs:anyAttribute/>

The xlink:href attribute type specifies the file in which the issue occurs. This attribute type must be used when the files element specifies more than one file; otherwise it can be omitted: if the files element contains only one file element, the file specified there is assumed to contain the issue.

The line and column attribute type specify the line and column, respectively, where the relevant code is located. These attribute types must always be used together. The value “1” denotes the first position.

The xpath attribute type specifies the location of an issue by means of an XPath expression as defined in XPath 1.0.

The techniques Element Type

The techniques element type specifies a list of techniques and/or failures demonstrated in the test case, especially WCAG 2.0 techniques and failures. The techniques element type contains the following element types:

• technique (required and repeatable).

The techniques element type is optional to allow the creation of test cases for which a technique or failure does not yet exist (in online documents). Some WCAG 2.0 success criteria require a combination of techniques, so it is sometimes necessary to point to a list of techniques by using more than one technique element.

The technique Element Type

The technique element type specifies a technique or a failure demonstrated in the test case, especially a WCAG 2.0 technique or failure.

• xlink:href (required).

The xlink:href attribute type points to a (WCAG 2.0) technique or failure. Since the WCAG 2.0 techniques will change in the future, dated URLs must be used. For example, to refer to failure F14 (Failure of SC 1.3.5 due to identifying content only by its shape or location) in the 27 April Working Draft of Techniques for WCAG 2.0, one must use the URL http://www.w3.org/TR/2006/WD-WCAG20-TECHS-20060427/#F14 (or http://www.w3.org/TR/2006/WD-WCAG20-TECHS-20060427/Overview.html#F14), not http://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG20-TECHS/#F14.

The functionalOutcome Element Type

Note: the functionalOutcome element type is not used by the TSD TF.

The functionalOutcome element type specifies the functional outcome of the test: a description of why the test case passes or fails, in terms that relate to a user's experience (as opposed to technical comments about source code).

This element type has the following attribute types:

• xml:lang (optional),
• dir (optional).

The functionalOutcome element type can only contain XHTML-style paragraphs.

The techComment Element Type

The techComment element type specifies a technical comment on the test: a technical description of why the test case passes or fails, and other technical information (for example, issues in certain browsers or assistive technologies) that go beyond a mere description of the test case.

This element type has the following attribute types:

• xml:lang (optional),
• dir (optional).

The techComment element can only contain XHTML-style paragraphs.

Below is an example of techComment from a BenToWeb test case that contains an object element with an image map (the object element contains another object element).

<!-- example 1 -->
<techComment>
  <p>The<html:code>img</html:code>element has an<html:code>alt</html:code>attribute.</p>
  <p>In Mozilla 1.7.3 and Firefox 1.0, the map does not work if the <html:code>map</html:code> element has only an <html:code>id</html:code> and no <html:code>name</html:code> attribute.</p>
  <p>Internet Explorer does not support <html:code>object</html:code> and does not display the fallback image if it is inside a nested object.</p>
</techComment>

Using rules: Examples

<!-- example 1 -->
<rules>
  <rule primary="yes"
      id="http://bentoweb.org/refs/rulesets.xml#WCAG2_20060427_3.1_meaning-doc-lang-id">
    <locations expectedResult="fail"/>
    <!-- other child elements omitted -->
  </rule>
</rules>

This rule means that the test case fails success criterion 3.1.1 (in the 27 April Working Draft of WCAG 2.0).

<!-- example 2 -->
<rules>
  <rule primary="yes"
      id="http://bentoweb.org/refs/rulesets.xml#WCAG2_20060427_1.1_text-equiv-all">
    <locations expectedResult="fail">
      <location xpath="/:html/:body/:p[2]/:img/@alt">
    </locations>
    <!-- other child elements omitted -->
  </rule>
  <rule primary="yes"
      id="http://bentoweb.org/refs/rulesets.xml#WCAG2_20060427_1.4_visual-audio-contrast-contrast">
    <locations expectedResult="fail">
      <location xpath="/:html/:body/:p[2]/:img">
    </locations>
    <!-- other child elements omitted -->
  </rule>
</rules>

Assuming that the image at identified by the XPath statement /:html/:body/:p[2]/:img is a diagram with low contrast, this combination of rules means that the test case passes success criterion 1.1.1 (in the 27 April Working Draft of WCAG 2.0) because there is a text alternative that conveys the same information, but fails success criterion 1.4.1 because the luminosity contrast ratio between the diagram and its background is lower than 1:5. The XPath statements in the two rules clarify that both rules refer to the same image (assuming that there is more than one image in the sample file).

@@todo one more example

Namespace Mappings: The Element Types namespaceMappings and namespace [stable]

This optional section is important for test cases based on test files that use XML-based technologies. The technology features (see the section on Technologies above) used in a test case exist in an XML namespace1 and should be referenceable with XPath. The normal mechanism for mapping namespaces to URIs by declaring them with xmlns:prefix= "namespaceURI" cannot be used for this, because it is necessary to be able to define empty prefixes and to extract the namespace mappings with a common XML API.

Other Content Models and Data Types [stable]

This section describes content models and data types that are used by several element types in TCDL.

XHTML-Style Inline Markup

This content model is a mixture of character data and the following XHTML elements:

• em (emphasis);
• strong (strong emphasis);
• dfn (defining instance of a term or phrase);
• code (program code);
• q (inlined quote);
• samp (sample);
• kbd (keyboard input, something a user would input);
• var (variable);
• cite (citation);
• abbr (abbreviation);
• acronym;
• sub (subscript);
• sup (superscript);
• br (forced line break);
• span (generic container);
• bdo (I18N bidirectionality override).

The XHTML 1.0 specification allows that the above element types contain other element types. However, in TCDL the above element types must not contain element types other than those in the above list and the a element type (for links). Note that the schema for TCDL does not enforce this constraint.

XHTML-Style Paragraphs

This content model is a sequence of one or more p elements. The content model of these p elements is the XHTML-style inline markup described above.

The Attribute Types xml:lang and hrefLang

The xml:lang attribute type specifies the base language of an element's attribute values and text content. The default value of this attribute is unknown. This attribute type is imported from the XML schema for XML 1.0, which is available at http://www.w3.org/2001/xml.xsd. The value of xml:lang is inherited; the data type is xs:language.

The hrefLang attribute type specifies the base language of the resource designated by the xlink:href attibute on the same element; its data type is xs:language.

The dir Attribute Type

The only values allowed for this attribute type are ltr (for left-to-right text) and rtl (for right-to-left text). When the attribute is not used, the text direction is left to right, unless another text direction is inherited from an ancestor element.

Extensibility of TCDL [stable]

Languages often evolve: certain features need to be refined, added or even removed because of new needs or to simplify the language. In a metadata format such as TCDL it is often useful to be able to add new elements and to be able to tell parsers that they can ignore elements and attributes they don't know. Instead of allowing unknown elements anywhere in a TCDL file, the TCDL schema limits the addition of new elements to specific locations — the Extension element type and the extensibility points — so that new elements can only be added in a controlled way. This enables extensibility without descending into chaos.

The Extension element type can have any attribute types in any namespace; schema processors will attempt to find a schema document associated with the namespace and validate the attributes. If a schema processor cannot find the schema document or an attribute is invalid, it will raise errors (<xs:anyAttribute/>; with default attributes added, this results in <xs:anyAttribute namespace="##any" processContents="strict"/>).

The Extension element type contains at least one element type in the target namespace (http://bentoweb.org/refs/TCDL2.0/); schema processors will attempt to validate the elements for which they can find declarations (namely in the schema document associated with the namespace: the W3C XML schema for TCDL 2.0) and raise errors if they are invalid. Schema processors will not raise errors on elements for which they cannot find declarations (<xs:any namespace="##targetNamespace" processContents="lax" maxOccurs="unbounded"/>).

After the Extension element type, the W3C XML schema for TCDL 2.0 contains an extensibility point identified as <xs:any namespace="##other" processContents="lax" minOccurs="0" maxOccurs="unbounded"/>. This code specifies that only elements from namespaces other than the target namespace can be added after an Extension element, and that these elements must be in a namespace. Schema processors will attempt to validate the elements for which they can find declarations and raise errors if they are invalid. Schema processors will not raise errors on elements for which they cannot find declarations.

Rulesets [stable]

Introduction

The rules section of TCDL refers to accessibility requirements by means of URLs that end with a fragment identifier that corresponds to the ID of a “rule” in a “rulesets file”. A “rulesets file” is an XML file conforming to Rulesets XML 1.0.

Rulesets XML is an XML vocabulary for identifying and referencing accessibility checkpoints, success criteria or rules. A Rulesets XML serves as a global map of rulesets such as WCAG 1.0, WCAG 2.0, Section 508 and BITV and as a bridge between test case metadata (for example in TCDL 2.0) and those rulesets. An example ruleset, used in the BenToWeb project, is available at http://bentoweb.org/refs/rulesets.xml. Rulesets XML uses the namespace http://bentoweb.org/refs/rulesets; a W3C XML Schema is available at http://bentoweb.org/refs/schemas/rulesets.xsd.

Structure of Rulesets XML

The parts of a rulesets file are named after the constituent parts of WCAG 2.0 but should be sufficiently generic to be used for other rulesets.

Below is the skeleton of a Rulesets XML file.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<rulesets xmlns="http://bentoweb.org/refs/rulesets"
  xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"
  xmlns:html="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">
  xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance">
  xsi:schemaLocation="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml http://www.w3.org/2004/07/xhtml/xhtml1-strict.xsd
    http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink http://bentoweb.org/refs/schemas/xlink.xsd
    http://bentoweb.org/refs/rulesets http://bentoweb.org/refs/schemas/rulesets.xsd">
  <!-- ruleset elements go here -->
</rulesets>

The root element type of a Rulesets XML file is rulesets. This element type has no attribute types and contains at least one instance of the ruleset element type.

The ruleset Element Type

A Rulesets XML document contains one or more rule sets (instances of the ruleset element type). Examples of rule sets are WCAG 1.0, WCAG 2.0, Section 508 and BITV. Working drafts of rulesets can also count as rule sets; for example, it is possible to treat the 30 June 2005 Working Draft of WCAG 2.0 as a different ruleset than the 23 November 2005 Working Draft of WCAG 2.0. All that is necessary is that each rulesets has a different and stable URL.

The ruleset element type has the following attribute types:

• id (required), for a unique identifier, for example WCAG2_20051123;
• xlink:href (required) for theURL of the rule set;
• hrefLang (optional) for the natural language of the document referenced by xlink:href;
• xml:lang (optional).

The ruleset element type contains the following element types:

• guideline (required and repeatable).

The guideline Element Type

A ruleset consists of one or more subdivisions or “guidelines”: each ruleset element contains one or more guideline elements.

The guideline element type has the following attribute types:

• name (required), which contains a name, for example the guideline number in WCAG 2.0: 1.1, …;
• id (required), which contains a unique identifier, for example WCAG20-20051123_1.1;
• xlink:href (optional) for the URL of the guideline;
• hrefLang (optional) for the natural language of the document referenced by xlink:href;
• xml:lang (optional).

The guideline element type contains the following element types:

• successCriterion (optional and repeatable).

Some “guidelines” have no further subdivisions (for example in Section 508), so successCriterion is not required.

The successCriterion Element Type

A “guideline” may consist of one or more subdivisions or “success criteria”: each guideline element can contain one or more successCriterion elements.

The successCriterion element type has the following attribute types:

• name (required), which contains a name, for example the success criterion number in WCAG 2.0: 1;
• level (optional), which contains the level of the “success criterion”, for example the level in WCAG or BITV: 1;
• id (required), which contains a unique identifier, for example WCAG2_20051123_1.1_text-equiv-informative;
• xlink:href (optional) for the URL of the “success criterion”;
• hrefLang (optional) for the natural language of the document referenced by xlink:href.

Success criteria have no further subdivisions, so successCriterion is an empty element type.

Example: BenToWeb's rulesets.xml

In BenToWeb's rulesets.xml, a ruleset consists of guidelines, and a guideline may consist of success criteria. Depending on the ruleset, guidelines and success criteria refer to:

• guidelines and success criteria (WCAG 2.0); principles are not referenced;
• guidelines and checkpoints (WCAG 1.0);
• Anforderungen and Bedingungen (BITV);
• rules (Section 508 only knows rules).

The value of the name attribute of a guideline element corresponds to

• the guideline number in WCAG 1.0 [x] & WCAG 2.0 [x.y],
• the number of an Anforderung in BITV [x],
• the letter identifying a rule in Section 508.

The id attribute type of the guideline element type is required; the name attribyte type cannot serve this purpose because IDs must not start with a number.

For each guideline, all success criteria or checkpoints are listed as successCriterion elements. The value of the name attribute of a successCriterion element corresponds to

• checkpoint number in WCAG 1.0 [x.y],
• a success criterion number in WCAG 2.0 [y] — the level attribute is required,
• the number of a Bedingung in BITV [x.y],
• nothing in Section 508 because the rules have no subdivisions.

The level attribute type is optional except for WCAG 2.0.

Naming Conventions [stable]