WCAG2ICT recommendation for editorial change to 1.3.6 Identify Purpose (AAA)

[bruce-usab]

WCAG2ICT task force is closely reviewing AAA success criteria.

BLUF: WCAG2ICT recommends replacing “region” in SC 1.3.6 with “section” and removing the former from the glossary.

1.3.6 Identify Purpose (AAA):

In content implemented using markup languages, the purpose of user interface components, icons, and regions can be programmatically determined.

region: perceivable, programmatically determined section of content
NOTE: In HTML, any area designated with a landmark role would be a region.

section: a self-contained portion of written content that deals with one or more related topics or thoughts
NOTE: A section may consist of one or more paragraphs and include graphics, tables, lists and sub-sections.

The TF found the term “regions” problematic to recontextualize for non-web documents and software. The TF also found the definition to be ambiguous. The TF could not come up with a non-web example which is an analog to landmark role provided in the NOTE of the glossary.

Regardless that the definition for section is also ambiguous, since region depends upon it, nothing is gained by having the additional term. Both the SC and the glossary term for region require programmatically determinability so the SC is redundant on that point. Nothing is achieved by having 1.3.6 use region (instead of section) and nothing is lost by by substituting section for region.

1.3.6 would then read:

In content implemented using markup languages, the purpose of user interface components, icons, and sections can be programmatically determined.

The only reference to region is in SC 1.3.6, so with the substitution, the term can (and should be) removed from the glossary.

Please see WCAG2ICT Issue 538 for additional context.

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[patrickhlauke]

not 100% sure the current definition of "section" is up to snuff either

a self-contained portion of written content that deals with one or more related topics or thoughts

what if it's not written content, but images, videos, form controls, or anything else that's not "written content"? wonder if dropping the word "written" there would help generalise the definition