Techniques for WCAG 2.0

# Plain Text Techniques for WCAG 2.0

This Web page lists Plain Text Techniques from Techniques for WCAG 2.0: Techniques and Failures for Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.0. For information about the techniques, see Introduction to Techniques for WCAG 2.0. For a list of techniques for other technologies, see the Table of Contents.

## T1: Using standard text formatting conventions for paragraphs

### Applicability

Plain text documents. Not applicable to technologies that contain markup.

This technique relates to:

- Success Criterion 1.3.1 (Info and Relationships)
  - How to Meet 1.3.1 (Info and Relationships)
  - Understanding Success Criterion 1.3.1 (Info and Relationships)

### Description

The objective of this technique is to recognize a paragraph in a plain text document. A paragraph is a coherent block of text, such as a group of related sentences that develop a single topic or a coherent part of a larger topic.

The beginning of a paragraph is indicated by

- the beginning of the content, that is, the paragraph is the first content in the document, or

- exactly one blank line preceding the paragraph text

The end of a paragraph is indicated by

- the end of the content, that is, the paragraph is the last content in the document, or

- one or more blank lines following the paragraph text

A blank line contains zero or more non-printing characters, such as space or tab, followed by a new line.

### Examples

#### Example 1

Two paragraphs. Each starts and ends with a blank line.

Example Code:

    This is the first sentence in this
    paragraph. Paragraphs may be long
    or short.

        In this paragraph the first line is
    indented. Indented and non-indented
    sentences are allowed. White space within
    the paragraph lines is ignored in
    defining paragraphs. Only completely blank
    lines are significant.

### Resources

No resources available for this technique.

### Related Techniques

(none currently listed)

### Tests

#### Procedure

For each paragraph:

1. Check that the paragraph is preceded by exactly one blank line, or that the paragraph is the first content in the Web page

2. Check that the paragraph is followed by at least one blank line, or that the paragraph is the last content in the Web page.

3. Check that no paragraph contains any blank lines

#### Expected Results

- All checks above are all true for each paragraph.

## T2: Using standard text formatting conventions for lists

### Applicability

Plain text documents. Not applicable to technologies that contain markup.

This technique relates to:

- Success Criterion 1.3.1 (Info and Relationships)
  - How to Meet 1.3.1 (Info and Relationships)
  - Understanding Success Criterion 1.3.1 (Info and Relationships)

### Description

The objective of this technique is to use text formatting conventions to create simple lists of related items. Hierarchical lists or nested lists cannot be represented using this technique and should be represented using a different technology.

A list is a sequence of list items. A list item is a paragraph that begins with a label. For unordered lists, asterisks, dashes, and bullet characters may be used as the label, but the same label characters must be used for all the items in a list. For ordered lists, the label may be alphabetic or numeric, and may be terminated by a period or a right parenthesis. The labels must be in ascending order, that is,

- numbers must be in numeric order,

- alphabetic labels must be in alphabetical order or in numeric order when interpreted as Roman numerals.

### Examples

#### Example 1: Unordered list

Example Code:

    - unordered list item

    - unordered list item

    - unordered list item

#### Example 2: Numeric ordered list

Example Code:

    1. Ordered list item

    2. Ordered list item

    3. Ordered list item

#### Example 3: Roman numeral ordered list

Example Code:

    i.   Ordered list item

    ii.  Ordered list item

    iii. Ordered list item

    iv.  Ordered list item

#### Example 4: Alphabetic ordered list

Example Code:

    A) Ordered list item

    B) Ordered list item

    C) Ordered list item

### Resources

No resources available for this technique.

### Related Techniques

(none currently listed)

### Tests

#### Procedure

For each list in the text content

1. Check that each list item is a paragraph that starts with a label

2. Check that the list contains no lines that are not list items

3. Check that all list items in a list use the same style label

4. Check that the labels in ordered lists are in sequential order

5. Check that the labels in each unordered list are the same

#### Expected Results

- All checks above are all true.

## T3: Using standard text formatting conventions for headings

### Applicability

Plain text documents. Not applicable to technologies that contain markup.

This technique relates to:

- Success Criterion 1.3.1 (Info and Relationships)
  - How to Meet 1.3.1 (Info and Relationships)
  - Understanding Success Criterion 1.3.1 (Info and Relationships)

### Description

The objective of this technique is to use text formatting conventions to convey the structure of the content. Headings are used to locate and label sections of a text document, showing the organization of the document.

The beginning of a heading is indicated by

- two blank lines preceding the heading

The end of a heading is indicated by

- a blank line following the heading

A blank line contains any number of non-printing characters, such as space or tab, followed by a new line.

### Examples

#### Example 1

A paragraph is followed by two blank lines, then a heading, then one blank line, then another paragraph:

Example Code:

    ...this is the end of paragraph 1.

    The Text of the Heading

    This is the beginning of paragraph 2.

### Resources

No resources available for this technique.

### Related Techniques

(none currently listed)

### Tests

#### Procedure

For each heading in the content:

1. Check that each heading is preceded by two blank lines

2. Check that each heading is followed by a blank line

3. Check that no heading contains any blank lines

#### Expected Results

- All of the checks above are true.