November 2024

December 2024

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To comply with the strictest accessibility standard (WCAG AAA), the colour of text must 
strongly contrast with its background color, so that people with significant visual impairments 
can read it.

The [contrast ratio](https://www.w3.org/TR/UNDERSTANDING-WCAG20/visual-audio-contrast-contrast.html#contrast-ratiodef)
must be at least 7:1 for body text, and 4.5:1 for large text.

A far less demanding version of this check (1.4.3) exists for WCAG AA. All websites should aim to 
meet the easier AA standard at a minimum. The AAA standard is desirable but far more challenging,
and may not be practical for your website.

aaa-text-contrast

Tables which contain information should have clear headers defined.  

In this example, the top row of the table is a header:

| Surname        | City          |
| -------------- | ------------- |
| Washington     | London        |
| Phoenix        | Arizona       |
| Austin         | Travis        |

Notice how without the header here, it would be almost impossible to understand 
what the individual values mean ("Washington" could be a city or a surname). 

It is not enough to just make the headers look differently, as accessible technologies will not 
recognize this (for example, a screen reader cannot 'see' different colors or fonts). 
Table headings must be defined using the `<th>` tag. 

This example shows how a table should use a `<th>` to mark cells as headings. Note the 
use of the `col` attribute, to specify these headings are for the _column_:

```html
<table>
  <tr>
    <th scope="col">First name</th>
    <th scope="col">City</th>
  </tr>
  <tr>
    <td>Washington</td>
    <td>London</td>
  </tr>
  <tr>
    <td>Phoenix</td>
    <td>Arizona</td>
  </tr>
  <tr>
    <td>Austin</td>
    <td>Travis</td>
  </tr>
</table>
```

Tables which are used purely for layout do not need to do this. However, 
[the use of tables for layout is strongly discouraged](https://www.lifewire.com/dont-use-tables-for-layout-3468941).
This check will ignore tables that it believes are purposely used for layout.

Learn more about [accessible table design (W3C)](https://www.w3.org/WAI/tutorials/tables/one-header/).

add-header-to-tables

Two adjacent links should not point to the same destination. You almost always want to combine the 
two links.

For example, it is quite common to link an image and text together like this:

```html
<a href="news.html">
    <img src="photo.jpg" alt="" />
</a>
<a href="news.html">
    News
</a>
``` 

These adjacent links should be combined like so:

```html
<a href="news.html">
    <img src="photo.jpg" alt="" />
    News
</a>
``` 

Links to `#` are ignored, as these are nearly always placeholders for JavaScript, e.g.:

```html
<a href="#" onclick="approve()">
    OK
</a>
<a href="#" onclick="reject()">
    Cancel
</a>
```

# Justification

Many users of assistive technology are only able to experience content sequentially - that is, they must
step through each part of the page, one part at a time. Often this is a slow process, potentially 
hampered by a physical impediment.

Stepping through redundant links is time consuming; for example users of a screen reader must 
hear each link read aloud in turn. 

This also simplifies your code. 

# Methodology

1. Find all links (`<a>` tags) on the page.
2. Ignore links pointing to `#`, as these are usually placeholders for JavaScript.
3. Flag links which are (a) separated only by whitespace and (b) which point to the 
   same absolute URL.  

# Learn more

Read about [Technique H2](https://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG20-TECHS/H2) on how to combine
an adjacent image and texts links.

duplicate-adjacent-link

All `id` attributes on a page must be unique, or accessible technologies used by the page 
can stop working.

## Example

The duplicate `id` here makes it unclear which label belongs to which input field:

```html
<label for="name">Your name</label>
<input id="name">

<label for="name">Company name</label>
<input id="name">
```

As a result, accessible technologies like screen readers can fail to read out the 
correct text, or may read out no text at all.

Similar issues can occur when using `aria-labelledby` and `aria-describedby`.

## How to fix

Ensure all `id` attributes on a page are unique. 

## More information

See [Technique H93](https://www.w3.org/TR/2016/NOTE-WCAG20-TECHS-20161007/H93) 
for more information.

duplicate-id

Most content should be written so people with a lower secondary level of education can understand it.
Where this is not possible, supplemental content or an alternative version should be provided.

This check highlights pages with a reading age of 16 years or higher. Only pages with at least 100 words
of content (excluding navigation, footers, etc) are considered.  

For more information, see [WCAG SC 3.1.5](https://www.w3.org/TR/UNDERSTANDING-WCAG20/meaning-supplements.html).

ensure-reading-ability-is-not-advanced

All interactive components on a page, such as buttons or fields, should ideally be large enough 
to be easily used by people with motor impairments. 

This ensures people with motor impairments can easily click or tap on the element.

The recommended size is 44 x 44 CSS pixels, with some exceptions:

* **Equivalent available** - the functionality provided by
  the control is available elsewhere, and large enough, on the same page.
* **Inline text** - the control appears inside a sentence or block of text. 
* **User Agent control** - the size of the target is determined by the user agent 
  and is not modified by the author. Generally this is not the case for web content.
* **Essential** - the size of the target is essential to the information being conveyed,
  e.g. a tutorial demonstrating what a small button looks like. This exception is rare.

## Applying this check

Nearly all websites will fail this check by default. The minimum size requirement
is larger than most links and controls on most websites.

This is the much stricter version of the WCAG 2.2 AA check for target size. Most websites
should focus on the AA check before considering this AAA check:

* [Target Size (Minimum)](https://w3c.github.io/wcag/understanding/target-size-minimum.html)

## Methodology

This check is run on both the mobile and desktop versions of every page. Results
for each may differ.

1. All interactive elements are identified, including buttons, links, and form controls. 
2. If an element is preceded or followed directly by a non-empty text node, the control
   is ignored.
3. If an element is not normally visible, it is ignored. This includes elements which 
   are positioned offscreen or cropped (e.g. for 'screen-reader only' text).
4. If an element is a link, and another visible link on the page points to the same URL, with 
   that other link meeting the size requirements, the element is ignored.
5. Otherwise, the element must have a minimum size of 44 x 44 CSS pixels.

## Troubleshooting

Silktide only records the first 100 instances of a failure on a page. Because failures
of this check are common, it is possible that your page has more than 100 failures, but
only the first 100 will be shown.

## Further reading

* [Target Size (Enhanced)](https://www.w3.org/WAI/WCAG22/Understanding/target-size-enhanced)

ensure-reasonable-target-size

Forms should always contain a submit button, otherwise some people using
accessible technologies may not be able to submit the form.

Submit buttons are `<input>` elements with a type attribute of `submit` or
`image`, or `<button>` elements with type `submit`. 

## Rationale 

Many users expect to be able to press enter in a form to submit it. However,
this is not always possible.

Users of some assistive technologies may (depending on the technology) only
be able to press a button to submit the form. In the absence of a submit
button, the user may not be able to submit the form.

In addition, the absence of a submit button suggests that the form may 
provide an automatic 'change of context', i.e. major change to the user 
interface without the user choosing to do so. This can be highly disorientating
to some users.

## Further reading

See [Technique H32](https://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG20-TECHS/H32.html).

form-submit-required

When an image is the only content of a link, it should specify alternative text, 
via an `alt` attribute. The alternative text should describe the purpose of the link.

Without this, some users will be unable to determine what a link does, for example anyone 
using a screen reader.

To fix this, simply add an `alt` attribute to the image inside the link, e.g.:

```html
<a href="/apple">
    <img src="apple.png" alt="Apple">
</a>
```

img-in-link-missing-alt

Links must be appear visually distinct from regular text. A common mistake is to make links
only differ subtly in color. Users with visual impairments cannot see these links.   

There are two ways to comply with this requirement:

1. You can make links appear differently from regular text without relying on color alone.
   For example, you can add an underline to your links. This makes links easy to identify, even
   to people who cannot see color at all.
2. You can make links a color which is very different from the surrounding text (a 3:1 ratio), 
   AND ensure that when the link is selected with the keyboard or mouse that it appears   
   differently from regular text without relying on color alone.

Unless you have disabled the `outline` CSS style, links will automatically appear visually distinct
when selected with the keyboard.

link-contrast

Avoid opening links in a new tab or window. Where you must do this, include an explanation
in the text of the link.

## Why this matters

Opening links in a new tab or window breaks the back button and can be disorientating for 
novice web users, and the visually impaired. Generally you should avoid opening links in a
new tab or window, but if you have to, you should include text explaining that this will happen.

## How to fix

An explanation must be clear in the accessible text for the link. For example:

```html
<a href="products.html" target="_blank">
    Products (opens in new window)
</a>
```

Or, for an image inside a link:

```html
<a href="products.html" target="_blank">
    <img src="products.jpg" alt="Products (opens in new window)">
</a>
```

Rather than updating all of your links manually to do this, you can add a simple CSS
selector, such as:

```css
a[target="_blank"]:after {
    content: " (opens in new window)";
}
```

Note that doing this with an icon, is not sufficient to pass this check. The text must be
readable by screen readers.

Alternatively you can override the link text for accessible technologies (like screenreaders),
so that the appearance of the link does not change. For example:

```html
<a href="products.html" target="_blank" aria-label="Products (opens in new window)">
    Products
</a>
```

Note that if you do this, the `aria-label` will replace the text content of the link completely,
so it must still make sense in isolation.

## Terminology

Although it is common to say "opens in new window", almost all browsers now use tabs, and
so this terminology is potentially confusing. You may prefer: "opens in new tab".

## Methodology

1. Silktide considers all links on a page with a `target` attribute of `_blank`.
2. For each link, Silktide considers the screen-readable text of the link, which includes:
   * The text content of the link
   * Any `alt` text inside any images inside the link
   * Any `aria-label` or `aria-labelled-by` text
   * The `content` of the pseudo-elements `:before` and `:after`
3. This text is analysed for the presence of common text, including "opens new tab"
    and "opens new window". If the text is not found, the link fails the test.

## Further reading

Generally best practice is to avoid opening links in a new tab or window.  

The W3C provides detailed guidance on 
[when opening a link in a new window may be appropriate](https://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG20-TECHS/G200.html).

link-text-explains-open-in-new-window

Form controls must appear sufficiently distinct from their surroundings, so that people 
with visual impairments are still able to clearly see them.    

Either the border or the form control itself must have a 3:1 colour contrast with the 
surrounding area. 

## Methodology

* All `<input>`, `<textarea>`, and `<select>` elements are checked.
* For `<input>` elements, these types are ignored as their
  appearance is controlled by the browser or operating system:
  `checkbox`, `radio`, `submit`, `reset`, `image`, `hidden`, `file`. 
* The flattened background color of the control is determined. This is the color of the
  control itself, combined with any parent elements if the control is transparent.
* If the control has a border or outline:
  * The flattened background color of each edge is determined. 
    This is the color of the edge itself, combined with any parent elements
    if the edge is transparent.
  * If any edge has sufficient contrast with the flattened background color of the control, 
    the control is considered to have sufficient contrast.
* If the control does not have a border or outline:
  * The flattened background color of the surrounding 
    area is determined. This is the color of the first control's parent element which is at least 
    one pixel larger around the element in every dimension, i.e. above, below, left, and right.
  * If the background color of the element has sufficient contrast with surrounding area color
    the control is considered to have sufficient contrast.

## Troubleshooting

There are some limitations to the contrast checker:

* The use of drop shadows, glowing effects, gradients, and other complex effects 
  mean there is no one clear color to determine the contrast ratio against. 
  In these cases, the contrast ratio cannot currently be determined.
* It is possible for an element to be positioned over multiple elements, e.g. via
  `position: absolute` or `position: fixed`. In this case, the contrast ratio cannot 
  currently be determined.

## Further reading

* [WCAG 1.4.11](https://www.w3.org/WAI/WCAG21/Understanding/non-text-contrast.html)

non-text-contrast

PDFs should have a default document language set to help render text accurately and help screen readers pronounce words correctly. 
See [WCAG](https://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG20-TECHS/pdf.html#PDF16) for reference.

pdf-missing-default-language

PDF files should have headings.
 See [WCAG](https://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG20-TECHS/pdf.html#PDF9)

pdf-missing-headings

PDFs need to be tagged in a valid reading order for accessibility. See [Adobe's guide](https://helpx.adobe.com/uk/acrobat/using/creating-accessible-pdfs.html#tag_the_pdf) and [WCAG](https://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG20-TECHS/pdf.html#PDF3) for advice.

pdf-must-be-tagged

All PDFs must define a valid title. This must not be confused with the file name. 
See [PDF 18](https://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG20-TECHS/PDF18.html) for details.

pdf-no-title

When viewed on small screens (like mobile phones) content must fit without 
requiring scrolling in two dimensions.

WCAG 2.1 specifically requires this for:

+ Vertical scrolling content at a width equivalent to 320 CSS pixels
+ Horizontal scrolling content at a height equivalent to 256 CSS pixels

Except for parts of the content which require two-dimensional layout for usage or meaning,
such as a maps application.

Priority	Recommendation	Progress
	Ensure PDFs have a title WCAG 2.0 A 2.4.2	25%
	Ensure pages don't scroll in two dimensions on small screens WCAG 2.1 AA 1.4.10	77%
	Combine adjacent links with the same destination WCAG 2.0 A 1.1.1	23.3%
	Specify alternative text for images inside links WCAG 2.0 A 1.1.1	88%
	Ensure content is not too difficult to understand WCAG 2.0 AAA 3.1.5	72.5%

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Accessibility

WCAG Levels

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