Curtis' Assignments Page

Web Accessibility Report - 4

Guideline 4. Clarify natural language usage
Section 508, Subpart E (Technical Standards) 1194.22
http://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG10/#gl-abbreviated-and-foreign

"Use markup that facilitates pronunciation or interpretation of abbreviated or foreign text."

4.1 - Clearly identify changes in the natural language of a document's text and any text equivalents (e.g., captions).

4.2 - Specify the expansion of each abbreviation or acronym in a document where it first occurs.

4.3 - Identify the primary natural language of a document.

Guideline 4 is one that I’ve looked at a little more closely, since it was the subject of my individual class presentation. One of the most curious things about this guideline was the order in which the checkpoints were written. It seems very out of order, and if I may, I would like to suggest the order in which this guideline should be implemented.

1. Begin with checkpoint 4.3: Within the “html” element of your document, you should specify the native language of the document. In an XHTML strict 1.0 document, the tag would look like this:

<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" lang="en" xml:lang="en">

2. Checkpoint 4.1: Identify any changes in the natural language of your page by using “span”:

And with a certain je ne sais quoi, she entered both the room, and his life, forever. <Q>My name is Natasha,</Q> she said. <Q lang="it">Piacere,</Q> he replied in impeccable Italian, locking the door.

When tagged correctly, a web browser will show the correct characters, including alphabet and any accent marks of the specified language.

3. Checkpoint 4.2: After you have specified the native language of the document, and have marked up any changes in the natural language, continue onto what should be the final checkpoint. Use “ABBR” and “ACRONYM” so that screen readers and other software will now the meaning of any abbreviations or acronyms that you do use throughout your page. Example:

<TH>First name</TH> <TH><ABBR title="Social Security Number">SS#</ABBR>

Welcome to the <ACRONYM title="World Wide Web">WWW</ACRONYM>!

You should also keep in mind that ABBR is preferred, and ACRONYM has been suggested that it be deprecated. Get in a good habit, by using ABBR for the first time you abbreviate anything on the page.