Guide to Guideline 3.1 Level 3 Success Criterion 2   (proposed)

Major sections of this page

·         Understanding Guideline 3.1 L3 SC2

·         Techniques for meeting Guideline 3.1 L3 SC2

·         Benefits and Examples of Guideline 3.1 L3 SC2

What WCAG 2.0 requires

 

2. A mechanism is available for finding the pronunciation of all words in text content.

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.

 

 

Understanding Guideline 3.1 L3 SC2

Key terms and important concepts

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.”]

 

 

Intent of this success criterion

The intent of this success criterion is to provide the correct pronunciation for all words in the text of the delivery unit.

Applicability: When does Guideline 3.1 L3 SC2 Apply?

This criterion applies when the delivery unit contains text.

Techniques for meeting Guideline 3.1 L3 SC2

Technology-Independent techniques for Guideline 3.1 L3 SC2

There are several ways to address this success criterion.

·         Add a talking dictionary to the dictionary cascade. (See The Guide to Guideline 3.1 L2 SC2 for information about the dictionary cascade.) Talking dictionaries speak the target word  as well as the definition.

·         For names and other words that are not  found in the talking dictionary, consider the following:

o        Add the names and pronunciation information to the glossary;

o        Link to an audio recording of the spoken name; or

o        Show the pronunciation in the text.

Include a pronunciation lexicon for voice applications.

 

Technology-Specific Techniques for Guideline 3.1 L3 SC2

Techniques for associating content with information about pronunciation vary depending upon the type and language of the content.

 

Ruby Annotation

Ruby Annotation is appropriate for indicating pronunciation in some languages, such as Japanese, Chinese, and Korean.  However, Ruby is unnecessary in other languages such as Hebrew, where Unicode fonts can include diacritical marks that convey pronunciation.

 However, Ruby may also be used for non-Asian languages and to provide interlinear text.

·         <a href="http://www.w3.org/TR/ruby/">Ruby Annotation</a>

 HTML Techniques

 

·         <a href="http://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG20-HTML-TECHS/#lang-att_change">Identifying language changes</a>

CSS Techniques

 

·         <a href="http://www.w3.org/TR/css3-ruby">CSS 3 Ruby</a>

 

 

Advisory techniques: going beyond Guideline 3.1 L3 2C1

·         Use markup and visual formatting to help users recognize words for which pronunciation is available.

·         Choose tools that support additional pronunciation information when choosing server-based solutions to speak text content on demand.

·         Provide a voice-enabled dictionary search, so that users who have difficulty typing or spelling can speak the word whose definition they need.

 

Benefits and Examples

Benefits: How Guideline 3.1 L3 SC2 Helps People with Disabilities

This success criterion helps people with disabilities that make it difficult to recognize words, especially names and long  or unfamiliar words. It also helps people who have difficulty recognizing spoken words that are not pronounced correctly.

 

 

 

Examples of Guideline 3.1 L3 SC2

 

Example 1: A talking dictionary in the dictionary cascade.

The Web site for a university course in biology includes the scientific and common names of many organisms. A student who has dyslexia uses the site’s “Speak word” button to hear  the name of a bacterium.

Example 2: A voice application with a pronunciation lexicon.

An airline Web site has a voice-enabled application for checking flight information. The site’s pronunciation lexicon includes the names of all cities that the airline serves. The application speaks the names as speakers of the site’s primary language would expect to hear them.

 

 

 

Related resources

·         The W3C’s Voice Browser Working Group has published a Working Draft of the Pronunciation Lexicon Specification 1.0.  Retrieved17 April 2005 from http://www.w3.org/TR/pronunciation-lexicon/#S2. At the time of this writing, the Working Draft was dated 14 February 2005.

·         The W3C’s Internationalization Working Group maintains a range of useful resources about language. The site is available at http://www.w3.org/International/. Retrieved 17 April 2005.