A comprehensive reference for digital accessibility terms, standards, and best practices—designed to help you create barrier-free digital experiences.
Accessibility is the practice of designing digital content, like websites and mobile apps, so everyone can use them effectively, regardless of their abilities.
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.
An accessibility audit is a systematic evaluation of your website to determine how effectively it serves the needs of users with disabilities.
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 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 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 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.
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, 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 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.
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.
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.
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.
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, 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.
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.
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 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 (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 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 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.
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 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 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 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.
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).
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.
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, 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.
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.
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 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, 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.