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Understanding Guideline 3.1 L3 SC1
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Techniques for meeting Guideline 3.1 L3 SC1
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Benefits and Examples of Guideline 3.1 L3 SC1
1. A mechanism is available for determining the intended definitions of words used in an unusual or restricted way, including idioms and jargon.
Note: This
success criterion is in DRAFT form. It is presented to the Web Content
Accessibility Guidelines Working Group as a formal proposal, but it has not
earned the consensus of the Working Group, and it does not appear in the
current Public Working Draft at http://www.w3.org/tr/wcag20. It is presented
here for discussion only. It must not be cited as a
normative reference.
Text content
[WCAG
definition of text goes here]
Available
Ready for
use or service; usable
[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 intended
definition for any word used in an unusual or very particular way is the exact
definition that users must know in order to understand the content.
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 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 that must be understood according to a
specific sense listed in the dictionary
This success criterion applies when text contains
specific words that have to be understood in a specific way in order to
understand the content.
Technology-Independent
techniques for Guideline 3.1 L3 SC1
There are several ways to address this success criterion.
·
Provide any intended definitions in the text of
the delivery unit.
·
Attach a list of dictionaries, glossaries, and
other resources to the delivery unit (or collection of delivery units) so that
users can find definitions for all words in the text. The glossary should include any words that
must be defined in a particular way in order for the user to understand the
content. 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.) Include a dictionary of idioms and a dictionary of jargon in the
cascade.
·
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.
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 dictionary cascade.
WCAG 2.0 uses the word “text” in a specific way. If the
Glossary for WCAG 2.0 appears first in the dictionary cascade, users who want a
definition of “text” will get the definition as it appears in the
Glossary. Users who request definitions
for words that are not defined in the Glossary will get definitions that appear
in whatever dictionary appears in the cascade.
[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. For more information, see
http://www.freedict.org. Retrieved
·
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. Retrieved