Guide to Guideline 3.1 Level 3 Success Criterion 2

Key terms and important concepts

Available

Ready for use or service; usable

NOTE: [Note: The baseline impact analysis for guidelines and SC recommended that the phrase "is available]" be used in this and a number of other SC as a way to describe a "functional outcome." I am concerned that the phrase is vague and subject to intentional misinterpretation—e.g., a mechanism is available but we didn’t implement it." To avoid this, we may want to consider changing "mechanism is available" to something like "mechanism has been implemented" or "is available to the user."]

Intended definition

the exact definition that users must know in order to understand the content

Mechanism

a process or technique for achieving a result

Text content

[WCAG definition of text goes here]

Intent of this success criterion

The intent of this success criterion is to ensure that definitions are available for:

Techniques for addressing 3.1 L3 SC2

The following combinations of techniques are deemed to be sufficient by the WCAG Working Group for meeting success criterion 3.1 L3 SC2.

Provide the definition of words using at least one of the techniques from the following list or one of the technology specific techniques.

  1. Using internal linking
  2. Using a Glossary Page
  3. Searching an online dictionary
  4. Using a dictionary cascade

Technology-Specific Techniques for 3.1 L3 SC2

Creating a Definition list in HTML

Optional Techniques (Advisory) for 3.1 L3 SC2

Although not required for conformance, the following additional techniques should be considered in order to make content more accessible. Not all techniques can be used or would be effective in all situations.

Additional Technology-Independent Techniques (Advisory)

Additional HTML Techniques (Advisory)

Benefits: How 3.1 L3 SC2 helps people with disabilities

This success criterion helps people whose disabilities make reading difficult or impossible. These include:

This success criterion helps people with disabilities that affect their ability to use context to aid understanding. This includes people with certain learning disabilities and cognitive impairments. In addition, people with low vision often lose context when screen magnifiers zoom in on a small area of the screen. This success criterion also helps people who have difficulty recognizing words (decoding) by limiting the number of dictionary entries they must read in order to find the definition that fits the context.

Examples of 3.1 L3 SC2

Example 1: Text that includes a definition for a word used in an unusual way.

Organize the list or "cascade" of dictionaries and other resources so that the definition search will find the intended definitions instead of displaying definitions from other sources in the "cascade." (The "cascade" lists the dictionaries and other reference materials in the order most likely to bring up the right definition. This controls the order to follow when searching for definitions.)

Example 2: Including definitions in the glossary.

WCAG 2.0 uses the word "text" in a specific way.  Thus, when the word "text" is used within WCAG 2.0 it is linked to the definition of "text"  provided in a glossary within the same delivery unit. 

Related resources

[Note: The inclusion of a product or vendor name in the list below does not constitute an endorsement by the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines Working Group or the Web Accessibility Initiative of the World Wide Web Consortium. This list is provided simply for convenience, and to give users an idea of what resources may be available.]