Guide to Guideline 1.2 Level 1 Success Criterion 1

Intent of this success criterion

The intent of this success criterion is to enable people who are deaf or hard of hearing to watch multimedia presentations. Captions provide the part of the content available via the audio track. Captions not only include dialog, but identify who is speaking and notate sound effects and other significant audio.

Techniques for addressing 1.2 L1 SC1

The following combinations of techniques are deemed to be sufficient by the WCAG Working Group for meeting success criterion 1.2 L1 SC1.

Use a technology-specific technique to create a caption for the multimedia content AND @@do we need conditions or discussion on how to write good captions?

Technology-Specific Techniques for 1.2 L1 SC1

Captions in SMIL 1.0

Provide captions as text stream elements where the system-captions test attribute has the value on

Video with caption area underneath.

<smil>

<head>
   <layout>
     <root-layout background-color="black" height="266" width="320"/>
     <region id="video" background-color="black" top="26" left="0" height="144" width="320"/>
     <region id="captions" background-color="black" top="186" height="80" left="0" width="320"/>
   </layout>
</head>

<body>	
   <par>
   		<textstream src="captions.rt" region="captions" system-captions="on" title="captions"/>
   		<video src="movie.rm" begin="00:00.0" region="video" title="video"/>
   </par>	  
</body>

</smil>

Captions in SMIL 2.0

Provide captions as text streams where the systemCaptions test attribute has the value on

Video with captions.

<smil>

<head>
   <layout>
     <root-layout backgroundColor="black" height="266" width="320"/>
     <region id="video" backgroundColor="black" top="26" left="0" height="144" width="320"/>
     <region id="captions" backgroundColor="black" top="186" height="80" left="0" width="320"/>
   </layout>
</head>

<body>	
  <par>
	<textstream src="captions.rt" region="captions" systemCaptions="on" title="captions"/>
	<video src="movie.rm" region="video" title="video"/>
  </par>
</body>

</smil>

Common Failures Identified by the Working Group

The following are common mistakes which are considered failures of this success criterion by the working group.

@@

Optional Techniques (Advisory) for 1.2 L1 SC1

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)

@@

Benefits: How 1.2 L1 SC1 helps people with disabilities

People who are deaf or have a hearing loss can access the auditory information in the multimedia content through captions.

Examples of 1.2 L1 SC1

A captioned tutorial.
A video clip shows how to tie a knot. The captions read,
"(music)
USING ROPE TO TIE KNOTS
WAS AN IMPORTANT SKILL
FOR THE LIKES OF SAILORS, SOLDIERS, AND WOODSMEN."
From Sample Transcript Formatting by Whit Anderson