Contents

Front Matter

• Foreword
• Preface
• Introduction

Fundamentals

• Introduction
• Design simply
• Build well
• Favor HTML over other formats
• Design for keyboard access
• Design for transformation
• Allow users to control their environment

Document Structure

• Introduction
• Separate content and presentation
• Mark up document structure
• Use style sheets for presentation
• Design pages that function without style sheets
• Write valid code
• Use linked style sheets

Text

• Introduction
• Use plain text for text
• Use CSS for styling text
• Allow user settings to define base text size
• Size other text elements relative to the user-defined text size
• Design pages that can accommodate different text sizes
• Maintain contrast between text and background
• Use style sheets for setting text color
• Do not use text color alone to convey information
• Mark up text using structural tags
• Use structural markup appropriately

Images

• Introduction
• Use images purposefully
• Do not use graphic text
• Avoid animated images
• Provide alt-text for all relevant images
• Provide a full text description for content images
• Provide blank alt-text for irrelevant or redundant images
• Maintain a catalog of image content
• Keep image dimensions as small as possible
• Use thumbnails for large images

Data Tables

• Introduction
• Use table markup for data
• Simplify data table layouts
• Identify data table row and column headings
• Use CAPTION and SUMMARY to describe data tables

Layout Tables

• Introduction
• Use tables for layout only when necessary
• Use simple layout tables
• Use only basic table tags
• Design layout tables for linear access
• Use flexible cell widths

Frames

• Introduction
• Avoid using frames
• Use frame titles to identify the function of each frame
• Provide an alternative to frames

Lists

• Introduction
• Use list markup for lists
• Avoid compound lists

Forms

• Introduction
• Design simple and clear forms
• Provide an alternate to forms
• Label form fields
• Associate related form fields
• Design forms for keyboard accessibility
• Apply a logical sequence to form elements
• Don’t auto-populate form fields with text
• Use form elements correctly

Links

• Introduction
• Use text for links
• Use descriptive link text
• Underline links that are not otherwise identifiable as links
• Differentiate visited and unvisited links
• Provide "you are here" orientation cues
• Use alt-text for image links

Color

• Introduction
• Select contrasting colors for greatest legibility
• Don’t use color alone to convey meaning
• Allow users to override color settings

Audio and Video

• Introduction
• Provide text for audio content
• Provide descriptions for video content
• Provide alternate formats for media-based content
• Make media keyboard accessible
• Allow users to control media playback

Interactivity

• Introduction
• Use add-ons for interactivity only when necessary
• Allow users to control the user interface
• Make interactivity keyboard-accessible
• Provide an accessible alternate when using a nonstandard format

Editorial Style

• Introduction
• Break up text into segments
• Start sentences, headings, and links with keywords
• Adopt a writing style that is clear and to the point
• Use appropriate language and terminology
• Keep content current and links functional
• Mark up language changes within a document
• Identify and describe abbreviations and acronyms
• Provide a print option for lengthy documents

Page Layout

• Introduction
• Design pages for linear access
• Communicate visual information to nonvisual users
• Apply a consistent design
• Balance content and navigation
• Provide navigation tools
• Design flexible page layouts
• Use style sheets for layout whenever possible
• Provide direct access to page content

Back Matter

• Appendix
• References
• Illustration credits
• Acknowledgements
• About the contributors