Web Accessibility Terms & Definitions

Accessibility Library: Your guide to inclusive web terms

A comprehensive reference for digital accessibility terms, standards, and best practices—designed to help you create barrier-free digital experiences.

Accessibility

Accessibility is the practice of designing digital content, like websites and mobile apps so everyone can use them effectively, regardless of their abilities.

Accessibility Widget

An Accessibility Widget is a software add-on or tool that can be seamlessly integrated into a website. Its primary function is to empower users to personalize various aspects of the website's appearance and functionality to better suit their individual needs and preferences, especially those with diverse abilities.

Accessibility Audit

An accessibility audit is a systematic evaluation of your website to determine how effectively it serves the needs of users with disabilities.

Accessibility Awareness

Accessibility awareness is the effort to educate and inform people about the importance of web accessibility, encouraging them to create more inclusive digital experiences.

Accessibility Compliance

Accessibility compliance is the rigorous and mandatory act of adhering to established accessibility laws, regulations, and legal frameworks that govern the accessibility of digital content and services. It signifies an organization's commitment to meeting legal obligations designed to ensure equal access for individuals with disabilities.

Section 508

Section 508 is a United States federal law that mandates that all electronic and information technology (EI&T) developed, procured, maintained, or used by federal agencies must be accessible to people with disabilities. It is an amendment to the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, aiming to ensure that federal employees and members of the public with disabilities have comparable access to and use of information and data.

Accessibility Conformance

Accessibility conformance specifically refers to the act of adhering not only to legal accessibility laws but also to the technical standards and guidelines that detail how to achieve accessibility. It signifies that a digital product or service meets specific, verifiable criteria outlined in recognized accessibility standards, thereby mitigating the risk of accessibility lawsuits.

Accessibility Contrast Checker

An Accessibility Contrast Checker is a specialized digital tool or software utility designed to evaluate and recommend optimal color combinations for foreground (text, icons) and background elements on a website or digital interface. Its primary function is to ensure sufficient visual contrast to make content easily readable and discernible for all users, particularly those with visual impairments or color blindness.

Accessibility Laws

Accessibility laws, often interchangeably referred to as Accessibility Regulations, are legally binding statutes enacted by various countries and supranational bodies. These legislative acts mandate that all forms of digital content, products, and services must be designed and developed to be fully accessible and usable for individuals with disabilities across the globe, ensuring their equal participation in the digital sphere.

Accessibility Design Principles

Accessibility Design Principles are a foundational set of widely accepted and technically detailed requirements established by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C). These principles serve as guidelines for vendors, designers, and developers to ensure that websites and other digital assets are not only functional but also comprehensively usable and navigable for individuals with diverse disabilities. They are frequently referred to as Accessibility Standards.

Accessibility Lawsuit

An accessibility lawsuit is a formal legal action initiated in a court of law, typically filed by a user with a disability (or an advocate on their behalf) against an organization that owns or operates a website, mobile application, or other digital property. Such a case is brought when the user alleges that the organization has failed to comply with applicable accessibility laws, thereby creating barriers that prevent equal access to digital content or services.

Accessibility Scanner

An Accessibility Scanner is a specialized software tool or monitoring application designed to automatically analyze websites and digital content for common accessibility issues. It functions by programmatically identifying potential barriers to access, suggesting areas for improvement, and providing recommendations to enhance the overall accessibility of the digital resource.

Accessibility Statement

An Accessibility Statement is a publicly available document, typically displayed prominently on a website that provides a clear and comprehensive overview of the website's commitment to accessibility, its current level of conformance with accessibility standards, and the measures taken to ensure an inclusive user experience. It serves as a vital resource for users seeking information about the website's accessibility features and how to report any encountered barriers.

Accessibility Strategy

An Accessibility Strategy represents the overarching, comprehensive long-term plan and systemic approach an organization adopts to integrate digital accessibility across all its operations, products, and services. It outlines the vision, goals, responsibilities, and methodologies for ensuring that all digital assets are usable by everyone, including individuals with disabilities.

Accommodation

Accommodation, in the context of digital accessibility, refers to the proactive process of implementing specific modifications, adjustments, or alternative solutions within a website or digital product to ensure that it can be easily and effectively used by individuals with a diverse range of abilities. It involves making necessary changes to support seamless interaction for users with disabilities.

ADA Law

The ADA Law refers to the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), a landmark civil rights law enacted in the United States. Its primary purpose is to prohibit discrimination against individuals with disabilities in all areas of public life, including employment, transportation, public accommodations, communications, and access to state and local government services, thereby ensuring equal opportunity and participation for persons with disabilities.

Alt Tag

An Alt Tag, formally known as alternative text (alt text), is an HTML attribute used in web pages to provide a descriptive text equivalent for non-text content, most commonly images. Its purpose is to describe the image's content and function to users who cannot see it, ensuring accessibility and conveying information effectively.

Alternative Information

Alternative information refers to the provision of equivalent content in a different format than its original presentation, where both versions convey the same fundamental information or message. This practice is crucial for digital accessibility, as it ensures that individuals with diverse disabilities can access and understand content regardless of their sensory or cognitive capabilities.

ARIA Tags

ARIA (Accessible Rich Internet Applications) tags refer to a set of special HTML attributes and roles that can be added to standard HTML elements. Their purpose is to provide semantic meaning and enhance the accessibility of dynamic web content and user interface components, particularly for assistive technologies like screen readers, by communicating critical information about the functionality, state, and properties of interactive elements that might otherwise be ambiguous.

Captioning

Captioning is the process of converting the spoken dialogue and significant non-speech audio (like sound effects, music cues, and speaker identification) from video or audio content into synchronized text. This text is then displayed on the screen alongside the running video or provided as a standalone transcript, making multimedia content accessible to individuals with hearing impairments and benefiting other diverse user groups.

Assistive Technology

Assistive Technologies (ATs) are specialized tools, devices, hardware, or software applications meticulously designed to enhance, maintain, or improve the functional capabilities of individuals with disabilities. In the context of digital accessibility, ATs specifically enable people with various impairments to access, interact with, and effectively use web content, digital documents, and software applications that might otherwise be inaccessible to them.

Clickability Cues

A clickability cue is a visual indicator strategically incorporated into a web page or digital interface that unambiguously signals to the user that a particular word, phrase, image, or interactive element is actionable – meaning it can be clicked, tapped, or otherwise activated to reveal more content, navigate to another page, or perform an action. These cues commonly include visual signals such as distinct colors, underlining, bullet points, and arrows.

Cognitive

Cognitive capability refers to an individual's multifaceted mental capacity to acquire knowledge, process information, and understand the world around them. This encompasses a broad range of mental processes including thinking, reasoning, problem-solving, learning, memory, perception (through senses), and the ability to apply understanding through action. These processes largely occur within the mind.

Contrast Ratio

Contrast ratio is a precise mathematical measurement that quantifies the difference in perceived luminance or brightness between a foreground element (like text, an icon, or a graphic) and its immediate background color on a digital display. This ratio is expressed as a numerical value, typically ranging from 1:1 (no contrast) to 21:1 (maximum contrast, e.g., pure black on pure white), and is crucial for ensuring the legibility and visibility of digital content.

Dyslexia

Dyslexia is a specific learning disability that primarily affects an individual's ability to read, write, and spell, despite having normal intelligence and adequate educational opportunities. It is characterized by difficulties with accurate and/or fluent word recognition, and by poor spelling and decoding abilities, stemming from a deficit in the phonological component of language.

Focus Indicator

A focus indicator is a crucial visual cue, typically appearing as a prominent solid or dotted border, outline, or highlight, drawn around the user interface element that is currently receiving keyboard input. It serves as an essential visual signal for keyboard-only users, clearly showing which interactive element (e.g., a link, button, form field, or heading) will respond to their next action (like pressing "Enter" or the spacebar).

Image Map

An Image Map is an HTML feature that allows specific, non-rectangular regions within a single image to be defined as distinct, clickable areas. Each of these clickable areas can then be associated with a unique hyperlink or action, enabling users to interact with different parts of a visual element to trigger relevant responses, such as navigating to a new page or section.

Impairments

An impairment refers to a problem in body function or structure, such as a significant deviation or loss. In the context of disability, it is often a permanent condition or a significant health problem that affects an individual's ability to participate in everyday activities. Impairments are specific types of disabilities that impact the physical or mental capabilities of an individual's organs or bodily systems.

JAWS

JAWS, an acronym for Job Access with Speech, is a leading commercial screen reader software specifically designed for individuals who are blind or visually impaired. It converts on-screen text, elements, and user actions into synthesized speech and/or Braille, enabling users to independently navigate, read, and interact with operating systems, applications, and web content.

Motor Disability

A motor disability refers to a condition that affects an individual's ability to control and perform voluntary physical movements. This can manifest as problems with muscle control, strength, coordination, balance, or range of motion, impacting their capacity to interact with the physical and digital world.

Screen Reader

A screen reader is a software application that functions as a crucial assistive technology, primarily for individuals who are blind or have severe visual impairments. Its core purpose is to verbally interpret and read aloud the contents of a computer screen, including text, images (via alt text), interactive elements, and interface components, thereby enabling users to access and navigate digital information without visual input.

Seizure Disorders

Seizure disorder refers to a neurological condition characterized by recurrent, unprovoked seizures, which are sudden, uncontrolled disturbances in brain activity. These disturbances can manifest in a variety of ways, including changes in awareness, altered sensation, confusion, involuntary jerking movements of the limbs, stiffening of muscles, or even feelings of fear and anxiety, depending on the brain area affected. Epilepsy is a common type of seizure disorder.

Semantics

Semantics, in the context of web development, refers to the practice of writing HTML code in a way that conveys the intrinsic meaning and purpose of content and its structure, rather than just its visual appearance. This method of coding creates a more organized and machine-readable web page, which is essential for enhancing accessibility, particularly for assistive technologies.

Sensory Impairment

A sensory impairment is a type of disability that specifically affects the normal functioning of one or more of an individual's primary sense organs. These organs include the eyes (vision), ears (hearing), nose (smell), tongue (taste), and skin (touch), leading to difficulties in perceiving or processing sensory information.

Tab Order

Tab order (or keyboard navigation order) is an HTML attribute or logical sequence that precisely defines the specific, predictable order in which the focus moves between interactive elements on a web page when a user navigates solely using a keyboard, typically by pressing the "Tab" key. It dictates the sequential flow of keyboard accessibility.

Transcript

Transcripts are comprehensive text representations of spoken content from any audio or video recording. For a video, a transcript typically includes all dialogue, narration, and often a description of significant non-speech elements such as actions, on-screen graphics, important sound effects, and scene changes, providing a complete textual equivalent of the multimedia.

Universal Design

Universal Design is a philosophical approach and framework for the design of products, environments, programs, and services to be usable by all people, to the greatest extent possible, without the need for adaptation or specialized design. It advocates for creating inherently accessible solutions from the outset, rather than retrofitting them later.

VoiceOver

VoiceOver is an advanced, gesture-based screen reader software that comes built-in across Apple Inc.'s entire ecosystem of products, including iPhones, iPads, Apple Watches, MacBooks, and Apple TVs. It enables users who are blind or have low vision to navigate and interact with their devices by hearing spoken descriptions of everything on the screen and using intuitive gestures.

VPAT Certificate

A VPAT (Voluntary Product Accessibility Template) Certificate is a standardized document meticulously created by a product vendor to articulate and demonstrate how their information and communication technology (ICT) product or service conforms to relevant accessibility standards. It serves as a self-disclosing report, providing detailed information about a product's compliance with accessibility requirements, particularly those outlined in Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act in the United States.

Web Accessibility Initiative

The Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI) is a leading program of the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), the primary international standards organization for the Internet. WAI's core mission is to improve the accessibility of the World Wide Web for people with disabilities, enabling them to fully participate in online activities by developing guidelines, resources, and educational materials.

Web Accessibility Solution

Web Accessibility Solutions refer to the comprehensive range of services, strategies, tools, and practices employed to identify, address, and remediate accessibility barriers on a website or digital platform. These solutions aim to ensure that all users, regardless of ability, can fully perceive, understand, navigate, and interact with web content, often incorporating various components such as accessibility audits, automated scanning, manual testing, and assistive technology compatibility.

Web Accessibility Tools

Web Accessibility Tools are a broad category of software applications, browser extensions, online services, and development frameworks designed to assist in the process of designing, developing, evaluating, and testing websites for conformance with accessibility standards. These tools help ensure that digital content is perceivable, operable, understandable, and robust for individuals with disabilities.

Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG)

The Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) are a globally recognized set of technical standards and best practices for making web content more accessible to people with disabilities. Published by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), the primary international standards organization for the Internet, WCAG provides a detailed framework that covers various types of disabilities and offers clear, testable criteria for achieving accessibility.

World Wide Web Consortium

The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) is the main international standards organization for the Internet, responsible for developing and maintaining the open standards that ensure the long-term growth and interoperability of the World Wide Web. It serves as a neutral forum where various stakeholders collaborate to create technical specifications, guidelines, and tools that underpin web technologies.

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