Summary of Priority 1 Guidelines

Checkpoint 1.1 For the following items, provide a text description using the alt="" attribute:

• images
• graphical representations of text (including symbols)
• image map regions
• animations (e.g., animated GIFs)
• applets and programmatic objects
• ascii art
• frames
• scripts
• images used as list bullets
• spacers
• graphical buttons
• sounds (played with or without user interaction)
• stand-alone audio files
• audio tracks of video
• video

In Dreamweaver use the Alt box in the Properties Panel for the picture.

Checkpoint 2.1 When you use color to indicate things such as headings, use the correct HTML element to indicate a heading.

Checkpoint 4.1 If you change the language of a page use lang="" attribute for the element. It is best not to change the language in a page but if it is necessary, make the change understood by telling the user of the change. For example if the language of a page changes from English to French for a paragraph, use the lang="fr" attribute in the paragraph element.
Example: <p lang = "fr"> The French text.</p>

Checkpoint 6.1 Layout your document so that if the style sheet is turned off the page is still readable.

Checkpoint 6.2 If your document uses scripting or Java objects, make sure you provide the results in a way that can be accessed by a screen reader, usually a text format. If you provide the alternative result, make sure you update the alternative page when you change the script so the results are valid.

Checkpoint 7.1 Do not use then BLINK element. People with photosensitive epilepsy can have seizures triggered by flickering or flashing in the 4 to 59 flashes per second (Hertz) range with a peak sensitivity at 20 flashes per second as well as quick changes from dark to light (like strobe lights).

Checkpoint 14.1 Use the clearest and simplest language appropriate for your site. The writing style described below will assist you in making your site clear.

1. Strive for clear and accurate headings and link descriptions. This includes using link phrases that are terse and that make sense when read out of context or as part of a series of links (Some users browse by jumping from link to link and listening only to link text.) Use informative headings so that users can scan a page quickly for information rather than reading it in detail.
2. State the topic of the sentence or paragraph at the beginning of the sentence or paragraph (this is called "front-loading"). This will help both people who are skimming visually, but also people who use speech synthesizers. "Skimming" with speech currently means that the user jumps from heading to heading, or paragraph to paragraph and listens to just enough words to determine whether the current chunk of information (heading, paragraph, link, etc.) interests them. If the main idea of the paragraph is in the middle or at the end, speech users may have to listen to most of the document before finding what they want. Depending on what the user is looking for and how much they know about the topic, search features may also help users locate content more quickly.
3. Limit each paragraph to one main idea.
4. Avoid slang, jargon, and specialized meanings of familiar words, unless defined within your document.
5. Favor words that are commonly used. For example, use "begin" rather than "commence" or use "try" rather than "endeavor."
6. Use active rather than passive verbs.
7. Avoid complex sentence structures.

Checkpoint 1.2 If your use an image that has "hotspots" (areas you click to navigate) for navigation (known as a client-side imagemap) provide text links elsewhere on the page as well.

Checkpoint 9.1 If you us an imagemaps for navigation use them with the "usemap" attribute instead of the "ismap" attribute. "ISMAP" creates a server side image map, that when accessed by a screen reader may not correctly pass the location to visit.

And if you use tables (Priority 1)

Checkpoint 5.1 For tables be sure to use header and data cells to define which cell contains data and which cells are the column headers. (<th> is a header <td> is a data cell)

Checkpoint 5.2 For complex tables break your table into its parts using the thead, tbody and tfoot elements.

And if you use frames (Priority 1)

Checkpoint 12.1 Title each frame to allow for frame identification and navigation.

And if you use applets and scripts (Priority 1)

Checkppoint 3 Ensure that pages are usable when scripts, applets, or other programmatic objects are turned off or not supported. If this is not possible, provide equivalent information on an alternative accessible page.

And if you use multimedia (Priority 1)

Checkpoint 1.3 If you use video, provide a description of the visual part of the page, either as a sound file or as a text file that a screen reader can read.

Checkpoint 1.4 Synchronize sound and captioning to video files.

And if all else fails (Priority 1)

Checkpoint 11.4 If all else fails, provide an alternate page that is accessible, has equivalent information (or functionality), and is updated as often as the original page.