Skip to main content

Web checklist

Checkpoint 4.2a: Text-only pages

If accessibility cannot be accomplished in any other way, an alternative text-only page with equivalent information or functionality is provided.

On this page:

Rationale

Required development techniques

Required test techniques



Rationale

An alternative text-only page should only be used if compliance with the Web checklist cannot be achieved any other way. Alternative text-only pages are used as a last resort because they must be maintained and kept in synch with the primary page.

For additional information regarding the difficulties of maintaining alternative text-only sites, please read the article from AccEase: Five Key Difficulties of Text Only Sites.

Back to top

Required development techniques

Compliance with this checkpoint requires all of the following techniques be met.

  1. Making the link to the text-only page easy to find.
  2. Keeping content on the text-only page in synch.

Examples for general developers

1. Making the link to the text-only page easy to find.

To comply with this technique, all of the following examples must be implemented.

Example 1

In order to keep the equivalent information and functionality for the primary Web page and the text-only page, publish both versions at the same time.

Example 2

Provide the link at the top of the page in a location that is easy to identify.

2. Keeping content on the text-only page in synch.

To comply with this technique, the following example must be implemented.

Example 3

A key issue with text-only pages is keeping the content in synch with the main page. This is usually a manual process. The BBC provides a tool which can be used to create an automatic text-only version of a Web page. Betsie (BBC Education Text to Speech Internet Enhancer) (link resides outside of ibm.com) is a free server-side solution.

Though this tool makes it easier to create a text-only version, it should not be relied upon as an effective way to create an on-demand text-only page. Results from this tool must be validated to ensure that the content is accurately translated to text.

Back to top

Required test techniques

The following manual test techniques are required to verify this checkpoint.

  1. Required accessibility verification test techniques

Required accessibility verification test techniques:

Use the following accessibility verification test (AVT) techniques to validate the Web content. It is recommended that these tests be performed in order.

1. Manual test:
Action Result

Verify the compliance criteria for this technique as follows.

  • Any Web content for which compliance with the checklist cannot be achieved, an equivalent text-only page is required.
  • Verify the following is true.
    • A link to the text-only page is provided at the top of the page in a location that is easy to identify.
    • Select the link and verify a text only page is displayed.
    • Navigate to the text-only page and compare to the same content on the primary Web page. Verify the text-only page is current and matches the Web page.

Pass:

  • All applicable compliance criteria in the action column to the left are verified to be true.

Fail:

  • Any failure from applicable compliance criteria in the action column to the left.

Back to top

©2009 IBM Corporation

Last updated September 1, 2009

W3C Recommendation 11 December 2008: http://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG20/ (link resides outside of ibm.com)
Consortium for Informatics and Mathematics, Keio University), All Rights Reserved.

Checkpoint 4.1b

Web checklist

Checkpoint 4.2b