WCAG2ICT provides some key glossary terms to address differences between web and non-web contexts and to introduce terms that are nonexistent in WCAG but important to define for a non-web context. “Content” and “user agent” are glossary terms from WCAG 2 that need to be interpreted significantly differently when applied to non-web ICT. The glossary term “Web page” in WCAG 2 is replaced with the defined terms “document” and “software”, and both “set of web pages” and “multiple web pages” are replaced with the defined terms “set of documents” and “set of software programs”. The terms introduced by WCAG2ICT are “accessibility services of platform software” because non-Web software doesn't leverage the WCAG notion of a user agent, and "closed functionality" which is specific to non-web software. The remaining glossary terms from WCAG 2 are addressed in Chapter 7 Comments on Definitions in WCAG 2 Glossary. Terms defined and used in WCAG2ICT are applicable only to the interpretation of the guidance in this document. The particular definitions should not be interpreted as having applicability to situations beyond the scope of WCAG2ICT. Further information on usage of these terms follows.
The term accessibility services of platform software, as used in WCAG2ICT, has the meaning below:
- accessibility services of platform software (as used in WCAG2ICT)
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services provided by an operating system, user agent, or other platform software that enable non-web documents or software to expose information about the user interface and events to assistive technologies and accessibility features of software
These services are commonly provided in the form of accessibility APIs (application programming interfaces), and they provide two-way communication with assistive technologies, including exposing information about objects and events.
The term closed functionality, as used in WCAG2ICT, has the meaning below:
- closed functionality (as used in WCAG2ICT)
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a property or characteristic that prevents users from attaching, installing, or using assistive technology
To support users with disabilities, products with closed functionality might instead provide built-in features that function as assistive technology or use other mechanisms to make the technology accessible.
Examples of technology that may have closed functionality include but are not limited to:
- self-service transaction machines or kiosks — examples include machines used for retail self-checkout, point of sales (POS) terminals, ticketing and self-check-in, and Automated Teller Machines (ATMs).
- telephony devices such as internet phones, feature phones, smartphones, and phone-enabled tablets
- educational devices such as interactive whiteboards and smart boards
- entertainment technologies including gaming platforms or consoles, smart TVs, set-top boxes, smart displays, smart speakers, smart watches, and tablets
- an ebook reader or standalone ebook software that allows assistive technologies to access all of the user interface controls of the ebook program (open functionality) but does not allow the assistive technologies to access the actual content of book (closed functionality).
- medical devices such as digital blood pressure monitors, glucose meters, or other wearable devices
- an operating system that makes the user provide login credentials before it allows any assistive technologies to be loaded. The login portion would be closed functionality.
- other technology devices, such as printers, displays, and Internet of Things (IoT) devices
Some of these technologies, though closed to some external assistive technologies, often have extensive internal accessibility features that serve as assistive technology that can be used by applications on these devices in the same way assistive technology is used on fully open devices, such as desktop computers. Others are open to some types of assistive technology but not others.
WCAG 2 defines content as:
information and sensory experience to be communicated to the user by means of a user agent, including code or markup that defines the content's structure, presentation, and interactions
For non-web content it is necessary to view this a bit more broadly. Within WCAG2ICT, the term “content” is used as follows:
- content (non-web content) (as used in WCAG2ICT)
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information and sensory experience to be communicated to the user by means of [software], including code or markup that defines the content's structure, presentation, and interactions
Non-web content occurs in two places; documents and software. When content occurs in a document, a user agent is needed in order to communicate the content's information and sensory experience to the user. When content occurs in software, a separate user agent isn't needed — the software itself performs that function.
Within WCAG2ICT wherever “content” or “web content” appears in a success criterion it is replaced with “content” using the definition above.
The term document, as used in WCAG2ICT, has the meaning below:
- document (as used in WCAG2ICT)
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assembly of content, such as a file, set of files, or streamed media that functions as a single item rather than a collection, that is not part of software and that does not include its own user agent
A document always depends upon a user agent to present its content to the user.
Letters, spreadsheets, emails, books, pictures, presentations, and movies are examples of documents.
Software configuration and storage files such as databases and virus definitions, as well as computer instruction files such as source code, batch/script files, and firmware, are examples of files that function as part of software and thus are not examples of documents. If and where software retrieves “information and sensory experience to be communicated to the user” from such files, it is just another part of the content that occurs in software and is covered by WCAG2ICT like any other parts of the software. Where such files contain one or more embedded documents, the embedded documents remain documents under this definition.
A collection of files zipped together into an archive, stored within a single virtual hard drive file, or stored in a single "encrypted file system" file, do not constitute a single document.
Anything that can present its own content without involving a user agent, such as a self-playing book, is not a document but is software.
A single document may be composed of multiple files such as the video content, closed caption text, etc. This fact is not usually apparent to the end-user consuming the document / content. This is similar to how a single web page can be composed of content from multiple URIs (e.g. the page text, images, the JavaScript, a CSS file etc.).
An assembly of files that represented the video, audio, captions, and timing files for a movie would be a document.
Counterexample: A binder file used to bind together the various exhibits for a legal case would not be a document.
The term menu-driven interface, as used in WCAG2ICT, has the meaning below:
- menu-driven interface (as used in WCAG2ICT)
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an interface composed of menus and sub-menus which the user accesses by pressing buttons or using a touch-screen
Products that have a menu-driven interface include, but are not limited to, self-service transaction machines, printers, and IP-based telephones.
The term platform software, as used in WCAG2ICT, has the meaning below:
- platform software
- software that runs on an underlying software or hardware layer and that provides a set of software services to other software components
Platform software may run or host other software, and may isolate them from underlying software or hardware layers.
A single software component may have both platform and non-platform aspects.
Examples of platforms are: desktop operating systems; embedded operating systems, including mobile systems; Web browsers; plug-ins to Web browsers that render a particular media or format; and sets of components that allow other applications to execute, such as applications which support macros or scripting.
This definition is based on the definition of "platform software" found in [[ISO_9241-171]] and [[ISO/IEC_13066-1]].
The term set of documents, as used in WCAG2ICT, has the meaning below:
- set of documents (non-web) (as used in WCAG2ICT)
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collection of [documents] that share a common purpose; are created by the same author, group or organization; [are published together; and all refer to each other by name or link]
Republishing or bundling previously published documents as a collection does not constitute a set of documents.
If a set is broken apart, the individual parts are no longer part of a set, and would be evaluated as any other individual document is evaluated.
One example of a set of documents would be a three-part report where each part is a separate file. The table of contents is repeated at the beginning of each file to enable navigation to the other parts.
The term set of software programs, as used in WCAG2ICT, has the meaning below:
- set of software programs (as used in WCAG2ICT)
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collection of [software programs] that share a common purpose; are created by the same author, group or organization; [and are distributed together and can be launched and used independently from each other, but are interlinked each with every other one such that users can navigate from one program to another via a consistent method that appears in each member of the set]
Although "sets of web pages" occur frequently, "sets of software programs" appear to be extremely rare.
Redistributing or bundling previously distributed software as a collection does not constitute a set of software programs.
Consistent does not mean identical. For example, if a list of choices is provided it might not include the name of the current program.
If a member of the set is separated from the set, it is no longer part of a set, and would be evaluated as any other individual software program.
Any software program that is not part of a set, per this definition, would automatically satisfy any success criterion that is specified to apply to “sets of” software (as is true for any success criterion that is scoped to only apply to some other type of content).
If there is any ambiguity whether the group is a set, then the group is not a set.
If there is no independent method to launch the software programs (as is common in products with closed functionality), those programs would not meet the definition of a “set of software programs”.
Although the term “software” is used throughout this document because this would apply to stand-alone software programs as well as individual software components and the software components in software-hardware combinations, the concept of “set of software programs” would only apply (by definition) to programs that can be launched separately from each other. Therefore, in the WCAG2ICT guidance for the provisions that use the phrase “set of” (Success Criteria 2.4.1, 2.4.5, 3.2.3, 3.2.4, and 3.2.6), the phrase “set of software programs” is used.
One example of a set of software programs would be a group of programs that can be launched and used separately but are distributed together and all have a menu that allows users to launch, or switch to, each of the other programs in the group.
Counterexamples: Examples of things that are not sets of software programs:
- A suite of programs for authoring different types of documents (text, spreadsheets, presentations, etc.) where the programs don't provide an explicit, consistent means to launch, or switch to, each of the other programs in the group.
- An office package consisting of multiple programs that launches as a single program that provides multiple functionalities such as writing, spreadsheet, etc., but the only way to navigate between programs is to open a document in one of the programs.
- A bundle of software programs that is sold together but the only way to navigate between the programs in the bundle is to use a platform software level menu to navigate between them (and not via a menu provided by each program that allows you to navigate to just the other programs in this bundle).
- A group of programs that was a set, but the programs have been moved to separate locations so that their “set” behaviors were disrupted and no longer work. Even though they were a set at one time, because they are no longer installed as a set they no longer are a set and would not need to meet any success criteria that apply to sets of software.
The term software as used in WCAG2ICT, has the meaning below:
- software (as used in WCAG2ICT)
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software products, or software aspects of hardware-software products, that have a user interface and do not depend upon a separate user agent to present any of its content
For software, the user interface and any other embedded content is covered by these guidelines. The software provides a function equivalent to a user agent for the embedded content.
Software without a user interface does not have content and is not covered by these guidelines. For example, driver software with no user interface would not be covered.
Because software with a user interface provides a function equivalent to a user agent in addition to content, the application of some WCAG 2 success criteria would be different for content embedded in software versus content in a document, where it is viewed through a separate user agent (e.g. browser, player, viewer, etc.).
WCAG 2 defines user agent as:
any software that retrieves and presents Web content for usersWeb browsers, media players, plug-ins, and other programs — including assistive technologies — that help in retrieving, rendering, and interacting with Web content.
For non-web ICT, “user agent” needs to be viewed differently. In WCAG 2, the term “user agent” only refers to retrieval and display of web content. For non-web ICT, the term “user agent” refers to retrieval and display of separate content that is not on the Web, which WCAG2ICT refers to as a “document”. Within WCAG2ICT, the term “user agent” is used as follows:
- user agent (as used in WCAG2ICT)
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any software that retrieves and presents [documents] for users
Software that only displays the content contained within it is not considered to be a user agent. It is just considered to be software.
An example of software that is not a user agent is a calculator application that doesn't retrieve the calculations from outside the software to present it to a user. In this case, the calculator software is not a user agent, it is simply software with a user interface.
Software that only shows a preview of content, such as a thumbnail or other non-fully functioning presentation, is not providing full user agent functionality.
The term virtual keyboard, as used in WCAG2ICT, has the meaning below:
- virtual keyboard (as used in WCAG2ICT)
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any software that acts as a keyboard and generates output that is treated by other software as keystrokes from a keyboard
Eye-gaze, morse code, speech, and switches (e.g. sip-and-puff) have all been used by virtual keyboards as input that generates "keystroke" output.