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."]
the exact definition that users must know in order to understand the content
a process or technique for achieving a result
[WCAG definition of text goes here]
The intent of this success criterion is to ensure that definitions are available for:
Idiomatic expressions (words or phrases specific to a region or language that do not mean what the dictionary definitions of the individual words say. For example, the English phrase "he blew his stack" means that someone became very angry.
Jargon (words used in a particular way by people in a particular field. For example, the word StickyKeys is jargon from the field of assistive technology/accessibility.)
Words used in such a way that users must know exactly what definition to apply in order to understand the content correctly. For example, the word "representational" means something quite different if it occurs in a discussion of visual art as opposed to a treatise on government, but the appropriate definition can be determined from context. . By contrast, the word "text" is used in a very specific way in WCAG 2.0, so a definition is supplied in the Glossary.
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.
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.
Use markup and visual formatting to help users recognize words that have special meaning.
Provide a voice-enabled dictionary search, so that users who have difficulty typing or spelling can speak the word whose definition they need.
Provide a Sign language dictionary to help Deaf users find the necessary definitions
This success criterion helps people whose disabilities make reading difficult or impossible. These include:
People with learning disabilities or cognitive limitations that impair the ability to read
People with low vision. Screen magnification may reduce contextual cues.
People with memory loss
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.
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.
[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.]
Free bilingual dictionaries for a number of languages are available from the Freedict.org Web site. The dictionaries are of uneven quality and size, as noted on the site. Retrieved 9 April 2005.
The Free Dictionaries and Search Engines site provides access to free online dictionaries and search engines in many languages. For more information, see http://www.stars21.com/index.html?lang=en&pname=african @@broken link. Retrieved 9 April 2005.