The world Wide Web Consortium (W3C) recommended Accessibility Conformance Testing (ACT) rules format during October 2019.
The purpose of these ACT rules is to provide a guidance for writing and developing testing rules for various web content standards such as Web Content Accessibility guidelines. This include the test methods for automated, semi-automated and manual processes. The ACT rules also makes the test scenarios transparent, consistent and reduces the confusions in interpreting the guidelines. With the clarifications we provide on our website, the confusion reduces to certain degree. However, the effort from the community through organizations such as W3C makes a better and faster reach.
Who ACT rules is for?
Accessibility conformance Testing (ACT) is for developers who develop accessibility testing tools. It is also useful for those who writes the methodologies and set the accessibility policies for an organization. Many organizations in the recent past are developing their own testing tools. The effort is definitely appreciated. The greatest worry is how are they writing the rules to conformance for each success criterion.
This ACT rule set helps to have a consistent, transparent and reliable rules for accessibility conformance.
Current state of ACT rules
Accessibility Conformance Testing (ACT) currently published the following 5 rules.
- HTML Page has Title
- Image button has accessible name
- HTML page has lang attribute
- HTML page language is valid
- HTML page lang and xml:lang attributes have matching values
For up to date information on the rules bookmark the Accessibility conformance testing (ACT) overview page.
What’s more
Its not necessary for general developers, designers and quality engineers to know and understand the ACT rules. There are already certain organizations adapting the ACT rules. You may read the W3C blog article Calibarate Your Accessibility Evaluation with ACT. You may also contribute through the ACT Rules Community Group GitHub workspace.