# Deciding the criteria the engine hands you The static engine decides 3 of the 55 WCAG 2.2 AA success criteria outright. The other 52 come back as residual risks: 14 need a rendered page (the `scan` tier), 38 are judgment calls. This page is the decision rule for each of them — what makes it Conforming, when `NA` is legitimate, and the questions that get you there. It is the same dataset `verify --manual` loads into `ADJUDICATE.md`, so the worklist and this page can never disagree. Two rules govern every verdict below: - **A non-conformity must cite a normative test that resolves.** The worklist proposes the criterion's W3C techniques; `verify --apply` rejects a `normativeRef` that does not exist. - **A good practice with no failing test is a recommendation**, not a non-conformity — it never flips a criterion, never enters the conformance rate. ## 1.1 Text Alternatives ### 1.1.1 — Non-text Content · A · _judgment_ **Decide.** Conforming when EVERY non-text content carries an alternative serving the same purpose: a description of the meaning for an informative image, alt="" for a decorative one, a description of the action for a control. Non-conforming as soon as one alternative is missing, empty on a meaningful image, or off-topic (a file name, "image", "logo"). **Not applicable when.** No non-text content in scope. **Ask.** - For each alt: does it describe what the image CONTRIBUTES here, rather than what it depicts? The same photo can need two different alternatives in two contexts. - Do the purely decorative images carry alt="" (not a missing alt)? A named decorative image is as harmful as a silent informative one. - For a chart or infographic: does the alternative give the DATA (or point to an equivalent table), or does it merely name the chart? **Citable references.** ARIA10, ARIA4, ARIA6, ARIA7, ARIA8, ARIA9, C9, F15, F19, F20, F3, F30 … (`criteria 1.1.1`) ## 1.2 Time-based Media ### 1.2.1 — Audio-only and Video-only (Prerecorded) · A · _judgment_ **Decide.** Conforming when every audio-only media has a text transcript, and every video-only media a transcript OR an equivalent audio track. Non-conforming when the media carries information available nowhere else. **Not applicable when.** No audio-only or video-only media. **Ask.** - Is the transcript reachable from the media's own page (an adjacent link, a disclosure panel) rather than buried elsewhere? - Does it cover ALL the content, including speaker identification and meaningful sounds? **Citable references.** F30, F67, G158, G159, G166, G173, G58, G69, G78, G8, H96, SM6 … (`criteria 1.2.1`) ### 1.2.2 — Captions (Prerecorded) · A · _judgment_ **Decide.** Conforming when every prerecorded video carrying speech has synchronized captions (a , captions embedded in the container, or a player supplying them). Non-conforming when the speech is restituted by no caption at all. **Not applicable when.** No prerecorded video carrying meaningful audio. **Ask.** - Does a missing really prove there are no captions? Check the container and the player: captions can be embedded — which is why the engine does not class this as a non-conformity. - Do the captions also cover meaningful non-speech sounds (music, alarm, laughter)? **Citable references.** F74, F75, F8, G58, G87, G93, H95, SM11, SM12 ### 1.2.3 — Audio Description or Media Alternative (Prerecorded) · A · _judgment_ **Decide.** Conforming when every prerecorded video with audio offers audio description OR a complete text alternative describing the visual information. Non-conforming when information carried only by the picture is restituted nowhere. **Not applicable when.** No prerecorded video with audio. **Ask.** - What information exists ONLY in the picture (on-screen text, a demonstration, a chart)? Is it spoken or described elsewhere? **Citable references.** F30, F67, G158, G159, G166, G173, G58, G69, G78, G8, H96, SM6 … (`criteria 1.2.3`) ### 1.2.4 — Captions (Live) · AA · _judgment_ **Decide.** Conforming when every live audio broadcast has real-time captions. Non-conforming otherwise. **Not applicable when.** No live broadcast. **Ask.** - Is there a live stream (a webinar, a broadcast, an embedded conference) in scope? Is the captioning provider in place for EVERY session? ### 1.2.5 — Audio Description (Prerecorded) · AA · _judgment_ **Decide.** Conforming when every prerecorded video with audio has audio description (a dedicated track or an audio-described version). Note: at AA a text alternative alone no longer suffices, unlike 1.2.3. **Not applicable when.** No prerecorded video with audio. **Ask.** - Does an audio-description track actually exist, or is only the 1.2.3 transcript provided? **Citable references.** G173, G58, G78, G8, H96, SM1, SM2, SM6, SM7 ## 1.3 Adaptable ### 1.3.1 — Info and Relationships · A · _judgment_ **Decide.** Conforming when every relationship and structure conveyed visually (headings, lists, tables, field groups, regions) is programmatically determinable. Non-conforming as soon as a relationship exists visually only — a bold
acting as a heading, a list built from
, a label/value pair in s. **Ask.** - Technique consistency (RGAA 9.1): is the SAME structuring technique (hn vs caption, ul/ol/dl markup) used across ALL similar tables/pages — not instance by instance? - Div-presented fields (RGAA 8.9): for each label/value pair shown with
/, is the relationship anything other than visual (
/
/
or an ARIA association)? - Read without CSS, does the content keep the same meaning and the same order? **Citable references.** ARIA11, ARIA12, ARIA14, ARIA16, ARIA17, ARIA4, ARIA6, ARIA9, C18, C22, C6, C8 … (`criteria 1.3.1`) ### 1.3.2 — Meaningful Sequence · A · _judgment_ **Decide.** Conforming when the DOM reading order produces a sequence that preserves meaning. Non-conforming when the visual and DOM orders diverge enough to change the meaning (columns reordered in CSS, `order`/`flex-direction: *-reverse`, absolute positioning). **Ask.** - Reading the DOM top to bottom, does the sequence stay understandable — or does a side column cut through the middle of a text? - Does a CSS `order` or a reversed `flex-direction` visually move meaning-bearing elements? **Citable references.** ARIA4, C18, C22, C6, C8, F1, F15, F32, F33, F34, F48, F49 … (`criteria 1.3.2`) ### 1.3.3 — Sensory Characteristics · A · _judgment_ **Decide.** Conforming when no instruction relies SOLELY on a sensory characteristic (shape, colour, size, position, sound). Non-conforming for "click the green button", "see the box on the right", "the field below" with no other cue. **Ask.** - Does each instruction also name its target (a label, a heading) in addition to its position or colour? **Citable references.** F14, F26, G140, G96 ### 1.3.4 — Orientation · AA · _needs-rendering_ **Decide.** Conforming when the content displays in both orientations. Non-conforming when display is locked (a blocking CSS `transform`/orientation media query, an app-level lock) without the orientation being essential. **Ask.** - Is the orientation genuinely ESSENTIAL (a piano keyboard, a cheque to photograph), or merely a layout choice? ### 1.3.5 — Identify Input Purpose · AA · _judgment_ **Decide.** Conforming when every field collecting information ABOUT THE USER declares its purpose with an `autocomplete` token from the WCAG list. Non-conforming when the token is missing or outside the vocabulary. **Not applicable when.** No field collects information about the user. **Ask.** - Does the field collect data about the USER (name, email, address, phone) — rather than business data (an order number, a search keyword)? **Citable references.** H98 ## 1.4 Distinguishable ### 1.4.1 — Use of Color · A · _needs-rendering_ **Decide.** Conforming when no information is conveyed by colour ALONE. Non-conforming for an in-paragraph link distinguished only by colour, a red/green status with no text or icon, a field error signalled only by a coloured border. **Ask.** - Seen in greyscale, does every piece of information stay distinguishable? **Citable references.** C15, F14, F26, F73, F78, G111, G117, G138, G14, G140, G149, G165 … (`criteria 1.4.1`) ### 1.4.3 — Contrast (Minimum) · AA · _needs-rendering_ **Decide.** Decided on the render (`scan`): 4.5:1 for body text, 3:1 for large text (>= 18.66px bold or >= 24px). The engine settles the inline-literal colour subset; everything else needs computed styles. **Ask.** - Have the states (hover, focus, disabled) and text over images/gradients been measured, not just the resting state? **Citable references.** C29, F24, G136, G145, G148, G174, G18 ### 1.4.4 — Resize Text · AA · _needs-rendering_ **Decide.** Decided on the render: at 200% text zoom no content or functionality is lost, truncated or overlapped. Non-conforming when a `meta viewport` blocks zooming. **Ask.** - At 200%, does any text overlap, or any button escape its container? **Citable references.** C12, C13, C14, C17, C28, F69, F80, G146, G179, SCR34 ### 1.4.5 — Images of Text · AA · _needs-rendering_ **Decide.** Conforming when text is real text, except for a logotype or an essential presentation. Non-conforming for a heading, a button or a quotation baked into an image. **Ask.** - Is the image of text a logo (exempt), or a styling that CSS could reproduce? **Citable references.** C22, C30, G136, G140 ### 1.4.10 — Reflow · AA · _needs-rendering_ **Decide.** Decided on the render: at 320 CSS px wide (equivalent to 400% on 1280px), no two-dimensional scrolling is required, except for content that inherently needs it (a map, a wide data table). **Ask.** - Does the remaining horizontal scrolling apply to genuinely exempt content, or to the whole page? **Citable references.** C34, C37 ### 1.4.11 — Non-text Contrast · AA · _needs-rendering_ **Decide.** Decided on the render: 3:1 for user-interface components (a field border, a button outline, the focus indicator) and for the meaningful parts of graphics. **Ask.** - Do the border identifying a field, and the focus indicator, reach 3:1 against their background? **Citable references.** F78, G145, G174, G18, G183, G195, G207 ### 1.4.12 — Text Spacing · AA · _needs-rendering_ **Decide.** Decided on the render: forcing line height 1.5x, paragraph spacing 2x, letter spacing 0.12x and word spacing 0.16x, no content is lost or clipped. **Ask.** - Do any fixed-height containers clip text once the spacing is increased? **Citable references.** C21, C35, C36, C8 ### 1.4.13 — Content on Hover or Focus · AA · _needs-rendering_ **Decide.** Decided on the render: any additional content shown on hover or focus must be dismissible (Escape), hoverable (the pointer can reach it) and persistent (it does not vanish on its own). **Ask.** - Does the tooltip survive the pointer moving onto it, and does Escape close it without moving focus? **Citable references.** F95 ## 2.1 Keyboard Accessible ### 2.1.1 — Keyboard · A · _judgment_ **Decide.** Conforming when every function is operable with the keyboard alone. Non-conforming as soon as an action exists only for the mouse (a handler on a non-interactive element, drag-and-drop with no equivalent, mandatory hover). **Ask.** - Does each `onClick`/`onMouseEnter` on a non-native element have a keyboard equivalent (a native element, or role + tabindex + Enter/Space handling)? - Do the composite widgets (menu, tabs, combobox) follow the expected keyboard contract (arrows, Escape, Home/End)? **Citable references.** F10, F42, F54, F55, G202, G21, G4, G90, H91, SCR2, SCR20, SCR29 … (`criteria 2.1.1`) ### 2.1.2 — No Keyboard Trap · A · _needs-rendering_ **Decide.** Decided on the render: focus must be able to ENTER and LEAVE every component with the keyboard alone. Non-conforming for a modal, an embedded player or an editor that captures focus permanently. **Ask.** - In every modal and third-party iframe, does Tab eventually get out — and does Escape hand control back? **Citable references.** F10, G202, G21, G4, G90, H91 ### 2.1.4 — Character Key Shortcuts · A · _judgment_ **Decide.** Conforming when every single-printable-character shortcut can be turned off, remapped, or is active only while its component has focus. Non-conforming when it is global and cannot be disabled. **Not applicable when.** No single-character shortcut. **Ask.** - Could a speech-input user dictating text trigger this shortcut by accident? **Citable references.** F99, G217 ## 2.2 Enough Time ### 2.2.1 — Timing Adjustable · A · _judgment_ **Decide.** Conforming when every time limit can be turned off, adjusted (x10) or extended on request. Exemptions: real-time activity, an essential event, a limit longer than 20 hours. **Not applicable when.** No time limit. **Ask.** - Does the session expire? Is the user warned BEFORE it does, and can they extend it? **Citable references.** F16, F4, F40, F41, F47, F50, F58, F61, F7, G11, G110, G133 … (`criteria 2.2.1`) ### 2.2.2 — Pause, Stop, Hide · A · _judgment_ **Decide.** Conforming when any moving, blinking or scrolling content lasting more than 5 seconds and starting automatically can be paused, stopped or hidden. Same for any auto-updating content. **Not applicable when.** No moving content and no automatic updates. **Ask.** - Do carousels, animations and scrolling banners have a pause control reachable by keyboard? **Citable references.** F16, F4, F40, F41, F47, F50, F58, F61, F7, G11, G110, G133 … (`criteria 2.2.2`) ## 2.3 Seizures and Physical Reactions ### 2.3.1 — Three Flashes or Below Threshold · A · _needs-rendering_ **Decide.** Decided on the render: nothing flashes more than three times per second, unless it stays below the general and red flash thresholds. **Not applicable when.** No flashing content. **Ask.** - Does any video or animation contain rapid flashes (explosions, strobe effects)? **Citable references.** G15, G176, G19 ## 2.4 Navigable ### 2.4.1 — Bypass Blocks · A · _judgment_ **Decide.** Conforming when a mechanism bypasses repeated blocks: a working skip link, or a structure of landmarks and headings. Non-conforming when the user must traverse the navigation on every page. **Ask.** - Is the skip link the FIRST focusable element, visible on focus, and does its target actually receive focus? **Citable references.** ARIA11, ARIA12, ARIA4, F15, F66, G1, G10, G115, G123, G124, G130, G135 … (`criteria 2.4.1`) ### 2.4.3 — Focus Order · A · _judgment_ **Decide.** Conforming when the tab order preserves meaning and operability. Non-conforming when focus jumps incoherently, enters hidden content, or departs from the visual order where that order carries meaning. **Ask.** - SPA (RGAA 12.8): after a partial navigation, is focus moved to the new content (not left on the clicked link, nor reset to the top)? - When a modal opens, does focus move into it; when it closes, does it return to the trigger? **Citable references.** C27, F1, F15, F44, F66, F85, G1, G10, G123, G124, G135, G140 … (`criteria 2.4.3`) ### 2.4.4 — Link Purpose (In Context) · A · _judgment_ **Decide.** Conforming when each link's purpose is understandable from its text alone, or from its text plus its immediate context (sentence, list item, cell + headers). Non-conforming for "read more", "click here", a bare URL, or two identically-named links going to different destinations. **Ask.** - Read out of context, does the text say WHERE the link goes or WHAT it triggers? - Do two links with the same text lead to the same destination? - Does a download link state the format and size (a recommendation, not normative)? **Citable references.** ARIA7, ARIA8, F63, F89, G53, G91, H30, H78, H79, H80, H81 ### 2.4.5 — Multiple Ways · AA · _judgment_ **Decide.** Conforming when at least TWO ways lead to each page: a search engine, a site map, the main navigation, a breadcrumb, an index. Exemption: a page that is a step in a process. **Ask.** - Do the two ways exist across the WHOLE site, or only on the home page? **Citable references.** G161, G61, G63, G64 ### 2.4.6 — Headings and Labels · AA · _judgment_ **Decide.** Conforming when each heading describes the section it introduces and each label describes what the field expects. Non-conforming for a generic heading ("Section 2"), a vague label ("Value"), or a heading that does not match its content. **Ask.** - Read on their own, do the headings give an understandable outline of the page? - Table-title concision (RGAA 5.5): is each a SHORT, relevant title? A clear but verbose title should become a brief intro, with the details moved into text associated via aria-labelledby/aria-describedby. **Citable references.** ARIA12, ARIA14, ARIA16, ARIA4, ARIA6, ARIA9, F68, F82, F86, G115, G130, G131 … (`criteria 2.4.6`) ### 2.4.7 — Focus Visible · AA · _needs-rendering_ **Decide.** Decided on the render: every focusable element shows a visible focus indicator. Non-conforming for an unreplaced `outline: none`. **Ask.** - Is the indicator visible on ALL backgrounds (dark theme, hover, elements over images)? **Citable references.** C15, F42, F54, F55, F73, F78, G149, G165, G183, G195, G202, G90 … (`criteria 2.4.7`) ### 2.4.11 — Focus Not Obscured (Minimum) · AA · _needs-rendering_ **Decide.** Decided on the render: the element receiving focus is not entirely hidden by author-created content (a sticky header, a cookie banner, an action bar). **Ask.** - Tabbing down then up, does a sticky header or footer cover the focused element? ## 2.5 Input Modalities ### 2.5.1 — Pointer Gestures · A · _judgment_ **Decide.** Conforming when every function using a multipoint or path-based gesture has a single-pointer alternative. Non-conforming for a pinch, a swipe or a path with no button equivalent. **Not applicable when.** No complex gesture. **Ask.** - Do carousels, maps and sliders offer buttons in addition to the gesture? **Citable references.** G215, G216 ### 2.5.2 — Pointer Cancellation · A · _judgment_ **Decide.** Conforming when no function executes on the DOWN event, or when it is abortable/reversible. Non-conforming for an action fired on `mousedown`/`touchstart` with no way to abort by moving the pointer away. **Ask.** - Do any `onMouseDown`/`onTouchStart` handlers fire the action instead of `onClick`? ### 2.5.3 — Label in Name · A · _judgment_ **Decide.** Conforming when, for every control with a visible text label, that text is CONTAINED in the accessible name. Non-conforming when `aria-label` replaces the visible text with a different wording: voice control can no longer find the target. **Ask.** - Does the accessible name ideally START with the visible text, so voice control matches the first spoken word? **Citable references.** ARIA14, ARIA16, ARIA18, ARIA19, ARIA4, ARIA5, ARIA6, ARIA7, ARIA8, ARIA9, F15, F19 … (`criteria 2.5.3`) ### 2.5.4 — Motion Actuation · A · _judgment_ **Decide.** Conforming when every function triggered by device motion (shake, tilt) has an equivalent in the interface AND can be disabled. **Not applicable when.** No motion actuation. **Ask.** - Does a `devicemotion`/`deviceorientation` listener trigger an action with no equivalent button? ### 2.5.7 — Dragging Movements · AA · _judgment_ **Decide.** Conforming when every dragging action has a single-pointer alternative that does not require dragging (buttons, an input, a menu). Non-conforming for reordering, a slider or a kanban that only supports drag-and-drop. **Not applicable when.** No dragging interaction. **Ask.** - Do the reorderable lists offer "move up"/"move down" buttons in addition to dragging? ### 2.5.8 — Target Size (Minimum) · AA · _needs-rendering_ **Decide.** Decided on the render: the pointer target is at least 24x24 CSS px, unless there is sufficient spacing, an equivalent elsewhere, an inline-in-text target, or a legally mandated size. **Ask.** - Do the small icons (close, edit, delete) reach 24px, or do they benefit from the spacing exception? ## 3.1 Readable ### 3.1.2 — Language of Parts · AA · _judgment_ **Decide.** Conforming when every passage in a language other than the page's carries a correct `lang`. Exemptions: proper nouns, technical terms, words that have entered the vernacular. **Not applicable when.** No change of language. **Ask.** - Are quotations, work titles and foreign expressions marked — and does the subtag actually match the text's language? **Citable references.** H58 ## 3.2 Predictable ### 3.2.1 — On Focus · A · _judgment_ **Decide.** Conforming when receiving focus triggers NO change of context. Non-conforming when focus opens a window, submits a form or moves focus elsewhere. **Ask.** - Do any `onFocus` handlers navigate, open a modal or move focus? **Citable references.** F22, F36, F37, F41, F55, F9, G107, G13, G76, G80, H32, H84 … (`criteria 3.2.1`) ### 3.2.2 — On Input · A · _judgment_ **Decide.** Conforming when changing a control's value does not by itself trigger a change of context, or when the user was warned beforehand. Non-conforming for a `