Re: Hiding unwanted -- by all -- content with CSS; hurts people who do not use your CSS?

I accidentally sent this message only to Alan, but it should have gone to the mailing list.

> Hi Alan,
> 
>     Since the wording of WCAG 2.x success criteria is technology neutral, you won't find success criteria that require or forbid relying on CSS. What you need look at is the site's conformance claim (which is optional), which may contain a "list of the Web content technologies relied upon" (https://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG21/#conformance-claims). "Relied upon" is defined as follows: "the content would not conform if that technology is turned off or is not supported" (https://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG21/#dfn-relied-upon).
> 
>     If the conformance claim says that CSS is a relied-upon technology on that site, then the fact that certain form controls that become visible by disabling CSS cannnot be used to invalidate that site's conformance claim, even if (for example) those form fields have no programmatically determinable label.
> 
>     If you want to minimise the impact of those hidden form controls, you may consider disabling them as long as they are not needed, and let the JavaScript that triggers their visibility also enable the controls at the same time. (JavaScript would then also be a relied-upon technology.)
> 
>     Best regards,
> 
>     Christophe Strobbe
> 
> 
>         > > "Bristow, Alan" <Alan.Bristow@elections.ca> hat am 24. Mai 2019 um 14:39 geschrieben:
> > 
> > 
> >         Hi All,
> > 
> > 
> >         Is it a 100% WCAG pass to use CSS to hide content that must, at times, be hidden from all for the content to work, and yet perhaps some users browse with my CSS disabled?
> > 
> > 
> >         If not, where do I go in WCAG to identify that hiding content with CSS is a fail or partial fail?
> > 
> > 
> >         Example: For all except Jane my form works perfectly. But Jane has developed her own style sheet that she uses in place of site style sheets as it ensures the visual presentation (sizes, content widths, colours) works for her visual abilities. If my form is for animal adoption, with my CSS missing, Jane sees form fields that prompt her to provide details about cats when she has selected to adopt a dog.
> > 
> > 
> >         It seems to me that, if Jane exists, then using CSS in this way is a fail (e.g.: 1.3.1,  1.3.2) and to pass WCAG I must use a different technique to hide content (e.g. JavaScript etc).
> > 
> > 
> >         My Google is full of results about hiding content but I can find nothing about this – about whether hiding illogical content with CSS is a fail as it impacts only those who use their own style sheets.
> > 
> > 
> >         Cheers,
> > 
> > 
> >         Alan
> > 
> > 
> >         Alan Bristow
> >         Web Programmer
> >         Policy and Public Affairs
> >         Elections Canada
> >         Desk 9-A-053
> >         30 Victoria Street, Gatineau, QC K1A 0M6
> >         alan.bristow@elections.ca mailto:alan.bristow@elections.ca
> >         Tel.: 819-939-2232
> > 
> >     >