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Top 200 accessible Web sites in Québec, selected from the top 500 most popular Web sites in French Canada, made public by ComScore in May 2007.

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Evaluation criteria

AccessibilitéWeb’s 2007 Triennial Evaluation is noted for its rigorous process and highly objective evaluation criteria. These evaluations are based on the 46 Priority 1 and 2 checkpoints of the W3C accessibility guidelines, They were developed with the greatest respect of version 1.0 of the standards (dating from 1999) and include important updates from the new version, scheduled for implementation in 2008, according to certain experts.

Accessibility themes

To demonstrate our commitment to transparency regarding the objectivity of our Web site evaluation criteria, we have outlined below the complete list of 60 questions, categorized into 10 distinct themes. If you have any questions or comments about the evaluation criteria or would like additional information on the evaluation process, please do not hesitate to contact us.

Structure

Element <title>.
Is this title meaningful?
Headers <h1> to <h6>.
Are there any headers?
Logical order of headers.
Are headers (<h1> to <h6>) used correctly?
<li> omitted.
Are items in a list tagged with <li>?
<li> incorrectly used.
Is <li> used for lists?
<blockquote> omitted.
Are <blockquote> tags used for quotations of three lines or more?
<blockquote> incorrectly used.
Is text within <blockquote> tags really a quotation?

Text equivalents

Images.
Do images have an "alt"?
Image links.
Do image links have a non-empty "alt"?
Image buttons.
Do image buttons have a non-empty "alt"?
Clickable regions.
Do clickable regions have a non-empty "alt"?
Pertinence of "alt".
Are the text equivalents of images, image links, and image map hotspots pertinent?
"longdesc" attribute.
Are images requiring a long description tagged accordingly?

Multimedia

Applets.
Do applets have a content equivalent?
Objects.
Do objects have a content equivalent?
Audio files.
Do audio files have a textual transcription?
Video files (audio help).
Do video files have an audio description?
Clickable images.
Is the page free of clickable images on the server side?
Redundant clickable image links.
Do clickable images on the server side have redundant text links?
Accessibility of PDF documents.
Are PDF documents without an equivalent version accessible via adaptive technologies?
Video files (audio help).
Do video files have subtitles?
Mathematical formulas.
Do mathematical formulas use MathML?

Forms

Form labels.
Are form fields labelled?
Association of labels.
Are labels tagged with <label> and associated to their corresponding fields with "id" and "for"?
Grouping of fields.
Do the forms meet the following conditions :
  1. Are fields grouped together when the form is long?
  2. Are grouped fields tagged with <fieldset> and <legend>?

Tables

Data tables.
Do data tables have <th>?
Complex data tables.
Are header cells associated to data cells using "id" and "headers"?
Layout tables.
Are layout tables free of <th>?
Logic of layout tables.
Once the table is linearized, does the reading order still make sense?

Layout

Legibility without CSS.
Does the page meet the three following conditions :
  1. Is all the content preserved?
  2. Does the order remain logical?
  3. Are text/background contrasts strong enough?
Information conveyed via colour.
Does information conveyed via colour have a text equivalent?
Fluctuations.
Is the page free of rapid light fluctuations?
CSS.
Are CSS used?
Movement.
Is the page free of distracting moving content?
Contrasts.
Are text/background contrasts strong enough?
Design flexibility.
Is page layout elastic?
Flexibility of main text.
Can the text be resized with IE 6?

Validity

Code HTML.
Is the HTML error-free?
CSS code.
Are the CSS error-free?
Elements to avoid.
Is the HTML free of inadvisable elements?
Invalid tags.
Is the HTML free of <blink> and <marquee> tags?

Interactivity

Section <noscript>.
Is a <noscript> section present when there are scripts?
JavaScript.
Are the content and features of the page JavaScript-independent?
Scripts.
Does the <noscript> section have a content equivalent?
JavaScript links.
Are links usable without JavaScript?
Script events.
Are script events accessible via the keyboard?
Accessibility of applets.
Are applets available through adaptive technologies?
Titles of frames.
Do frames have a title?
Source of frames.
Is the page free of frames using an image as a source?
Site map.
Does the site meet the following two conditions :
  1. Is there a link to the site map on each page?
  2. Does the site map provide access to all the content?
Navigation.
Is the navigation mechanism consistent on all pages?
Updates or redirections.
Is the page free of automatic updates and redirections?
Description of the purpose of frames.
If there are more than four frames, is the purpose described on another page identified by the "longdesc" attribute?
Section <noframes>.
Is there a <noframes> section when using frames?
<noframes> section equivalent.
Does the <noframes> section provide links to the individual frames?

Comprehension

Language.
Is the language clear and simple for the target audience?
Change in language.
Are changes in language correctly identified?
Significance of links.
Do links make sense when read out of context?
Identical links.
Is the page free of identical links that point to different targets?
Links opening a new window.
Do links that open a new window provide a warning message?

More information?

Have the above evaluation criteria raised any questions or concerns? Please don’t hesitate to contact us!

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