1. Perceivable
1.3 Adaptable (Level AA and AAA)
Contents
WCAG 2.1 added two new Level AA and one new Level AAA Success Criteria for Guideline 1.3.
Success Criterion 1.3.4 Orientation
WCAG 2.1
Level AA
Content does not restrict its view and operation to a single display orientation, such as portrait or landscape, unless a specific display orientation is essential.
Orientation Explained
When WCAG 2.0 was introduced in 2008, the first iPhone had only just been released. At that time there was no real consideration regarding device orientation because, typically, there was no need. Today, however, mobile devices have become as prevalent as computer screens, and orientation is a key characteristic of such devices. Even computer monitors these days typically have an orientation setting that allow a monitor to be turned to a vertical orientation.
It is common for people to mount a mobile device on their wheelchair arm, for instance. Depending on preference, the device may be positioned in either a portrait or landscape orientation. If web content is limited to a particular orientation, it can make content difficult to access effectively in cases like this.
There are occasions where orientation has to be limited to landscape or to portrait, but in general, such a limitation should be avoided.
Some examples where orientation may be restricted could include:
- A piano app, which would need to be in a landscape orientation in order for the piano keys to be wide enough to touch individually with a finger
- A cheque deposit function in a banking app, where landscape orientation would be required
Suggested Reading:
Success Criterion 1.3.5 Identify Input Purpose
WCAG 2.1
Level AA
The purpose of each input field collecting information about the user can be programmatically determined when:
- the input field serves a purpose identified in the Input Purposes for User Interface Components section; and
- the content is implemented using technologies with support for identifying the expected meaning for form input data.
Identify Input Purpose Explained
For people with cognitive disabilities, low vision, or some types of learning disabilities, it can be difficult to determine the purpose of a form field or the correct format for the data being entered. This success criteria indicates that browsers and assistive technologies must be able to determine the expected input.
While browsers have been able to do this for some time, it’s only recently that browsers have used their own strategies to automatically fill (autofill) forms with predefined data using technology-specific algorithms. For instance, Firefox will remember values entered into a field named “name” or “telephone.” So, the next time a field with the same name is encountered, it will offer up the values that were previously entered into a field with the same name. While this does provide some indication of the expected input, they are general and not exact. That is, “name” could refer to first or last name; “t