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Understanding SC 3.3.6: Error Prevention (All) (Level AAA)

In Brief

Goal
Users can avoid submitting incorrect information.
What to do
Provide ways for users to confirm, correct, or reverse any submissions.
Why it's important
People with disabilities may be more likely to make mistakes, or not notice them.

Success Criterion (SC)

For Web pages that require the user to submit information, at least one of the following is true:

Reversible
Submissions are reversible.
Checked
Data entered by the user is checked for input errors and the user is provided an opportunity to correct them.
Confirmed
A mechanism is available for reviewing, confirming, and correcting information before finalizing the submission.

Intent

The intent of this Success Criterion is to help users with disabilities avoid consequences that may result from making a mistake when submitting form data. This criterion builds on Success Criterion 3.3.4 in that it applies to all forms that require users to submit information.

Users with disabilities may be more likely to make mistakes and may have more difficulty detecting or recovering from mistakes. People with reading disabilities may transpose numbers and letters, and those with motor disabilities may hit keys by mistake. Providing the ability to reverse actions allows users to correct a mistake. Providing the ability to review and correct information gives the user an opportunity to detect a mistake before taking an action.

Benefits

  • Providing safeguards to avoid consequences resulting from mistakes helps users with all disabilities who may be more likely to make mistakes.

Techniques

Each numbered item in this section represents a technique or combination of techniques that the WCAG Working Group deems sufficient for meeting this Success Criterion. However, it is not necessary to use these particular techniques. For information on using other techniques, see Understanding Techniques for WCAG Success Criteria, particularly the "Other Techniques" section.

Sufficient Techniques

Key Terms

assistive technology

hardware and/or software that acts as a user agent, or along with a mainstream user agent, to provide functionality to meet the requirements of users with disabilities that go beyond those offered by mainstream user agents

Note

Functionality provided by assistive technology includes alternative presentations (e.g., as synthesized speech or magnified content), alternative input methods (e.g., voice), additional navigation or orientation mechanisms, and content transformations (e.g., to make tables more accessible).

Note

Assistive technologies often communicate data and messages with mainstream user agents by using and monitoring APIs.

Note

The distinction between mainstream user agents and assistive technologies is not absolute. Many mainstream user agents provide some features to assist individuals with disabilities. The basic difference is that mainstream user agents target broad and diverse audiences that usually include people with and without disabilities. Assistive technologies target narrowly defined populations of users with specific disabilities. The assistance provided by an assistive technology is more specific and appropriate to the needs of its target users. The mainstream user agent may provide important functionality to assistive technologies like retrieving Web content from program objects or parsing markup into identifiable bundles.

user agent

any software that retrieves and presents Web content for users

Web page

a non-embedded resource obtained from a single URI using HTTP plus any other resources that are used in the rendering or intended to be rendered together with it by a user agent

Note

Although any "other resources" would be rendered together with the primary resource, they would not necessarily be rendered simultaneously with each other.

Note

For the purposes of conformance with these guidelines, a resource must be "non-embedded" within the scope of conformance to be considered a Web page.

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