ACT-Rules Community

Text content that changes automatically can be paused, stopped or hidden

  • Rule Type:atomic
  • Rule Id: efbfc7
  • Last modified: Feb 02, 2022
  • Accessibility Requirements Mapping:
    • 2.2.2 Pause, Stop, Hide (Level A)
      • Learn More about 2.2.2 Pause, Stop, Hide
      • Required for conformance to WCAG 2.0 and later on level A and higher.
      • Outcome mapping:
        • Any failed outcomes: success criterion is not satisfied.
        • All passed outcomes: success criterion needs further testing.
        • An inapplicable outcome: success criterion needs further testing.
    • WCAG Non-Interference
      • Learn More about WCAG Non-Interference
      • Required for conformance to WCAG 2.1.
      • Outcome mapping:
        • Any failed outcomes: WCAG 2 conformance requirement is not satisfied.
        • All passed outcomes: WCAG 2 conformance requirement needs further testing.
        • An inapplicable outcome: WCAG 2 conformance requirement needs further testing.
  • Input Aspects:

Description

This rule checks that for any text content that regularly changes automatically, there are instruments to pause, stop, or hide it or to control its changing frequency.

Applicability

This rule applies to any HTML element that has a visible text node as a descendant in the flat tree, for which all the following is true:

  • changed: the innerText property of the element changes multiple times within a 10 minute time span where there is no user interaction; and
  • no child changed: the element does not have children in the flat tree whose innerText property also changes; and
  • not alone: the element has an ancestor element in the flat tree with a non-empty innerText property whose value is different from the innerText of the test target.

Expectation

For each test target there is at least one set of instruments, where each instrument is in the same web page as the test target or can be found in a clearly labeled location from that web page, to achieve at least one of the following objectives:

Note: If there is more than one test target, the same instrument may be used to pause (or stop, or hide or alter the frequency) of several or even all test targets.

Assumptions

  • The auto-updating of the content is not essential, which is listed as valid exception to Success Criterion 2.2.2: Pause, Stop, Hide. When the auto-updating of content is essential this rule may produce incorrect results.
  • The content being changed automatically is information. If the automatically changing content is not information (for example, an ASCII rendered spinning icon that does not provide information on what time is left for a process to end or how much progress has been made) the rule might fail but the success criterion might still be satisfied.
  • Any content changes are enabled by the content of the HTML document the test target belongs to. Changes originating from any other sources (e.g. browser shortcuts, browser extensions, browser settings, user agents, external browser applications) are not considered.
  • All user actions are transmitted by the user agent to the HTML document. If there are other event sources that result from a user action this rule might fail but the success criterion might still be satisfied.
  • Available instruments for controlling the content changes rely on activation. If there are other instruments that do not rely on activation then the rule might fail but the success criterion might still be satisfied.
  • If there are other ways to control the automatically changing content that do not require the user to interact with the web page, failing this rule might not be a failure of the success criterion.
  • This rule does not check that the pausing instrument does not tie up the user focus. If that happens, then this rule might pass but the success criterion would not be satisfied.

Accessibility Support

There are no major accessibility support issues known for this rule.

Background

The 10 minute time span in the applicability is arbitrary. It is selected so that testing this rule would not become impractical. This 10 minute constraint is not included in WCAG. Content that changes less frequently may fail success criteria 2.2.2 without failing this rule.

The instruments used to pass this rule (if any), must meet all level A Success Criteria in order to fully satisfy Success Criterion 2.2.2: Pause, Stop, Hide. These extra requirements are left out of this rule, and should be tested separately.

Bibliography

Test Cases

Passed

Passed Example 1

Open in a new tab

This span element contains text content that is automatically changed multiple times without user intervention and there is a button available to stop the automatic changes. The rule is not applicable to the second p element because it has a child changed (the span element).

<body onload="startUpdates()">
	<p>
		The W3C Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI) develops standards and support materials to help you understand and
		implement accessibility.
	</p>

	<p>Random number: <span id="target">1</span></p>
	<input type="button" onclick="stopUpdates()" value="Stop changes" />

	<script type="text/javascript" src="/test-assets/efbfc7/script.js"></script>
</body>

Passed Example 2

Open in a new tab

This span element contains text content that is automatically changed multiple times without user intervention and there is a button available to pause and resume the automatic changes. The rule is not applicable to the second p element because it has a child changed (the span element).

<body onload="startUpdates()">
	<p>
		The W3C Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI) develops standards and support materials to help you understand and
		implement accessibility.
	</p>

	<p>Random number: <span id="target">1</span></p>
	<input type="button" id="control" onclick="toggleUpdates()" value="Pause changes" />

	<script type="text/javascript" src="/test-assets/efbfc7/script.js"></script>
</body>

Passed Example 3

Open in a new tab

This span element contains text content that is automatically changed multiple times without user intervention and there is a button available to hide the automatically updating content. The rule is not applicable to the second p element because it has a child changed (the span element).

<body onload="startUpdates()">
	<p>
		The W3C Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI) develops standards and support materials to help you understand and
		implement accessibility.
	</p>

	<p>Random number: <span id="target">1</span></p>
	<input type="button" onclick="hide()" value="Hide changing content" />

	<script type="text/javascript" src="/test-assets/efbfc7/script.js"></script>
</body>

Passed Example 4

Open in a new tab

This span element contains text content that is automatically changed multiple times without user intervention and there is an instrument available to modify the frequency of the changes. The rule is not applicable to the second p element because it has a child changed (the span element).

<body onload="startUpdates()">
	<p>
		The W3C Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI) develops standards and support materials to help you understand and
		implement accessibility.
	</p>

	<p>Random number: <span id="target">1</span></p>
	<label for="interval">Content change frequency (seconds):</label>
	<input type="text" id="interval" />
	<input type="button" onclick="changeFrequency(document.getElementById('interval').value)" value="Change frequency" />

	<script type="text/javascript" src="/test-assets/efbfc7/script.js"></script>
</body>

Passed Example 5

Open in a new tab

This span element contains text content that is automatically changed multiple times without user intervention and the location of an instrument to control the changes is clearly available.

<body onload="startUpdates()">
	<p>
		The W3C Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI) develops standards and support materials to help you understand and
		implement accessibility.
	</p>

	<p>Random number: <span id="target">1</span></p>
	<p>To control the random number updates activate the "Control changes" button.</p>
	<input type="button" onclick="openModal()" value="Control changes" />

	<div
		style="
      display: none;
      position: fixed;
      top: 2em;
      left: 10em;
      background-color: #505050;
      color: white;
      padding: 1em;
      padding-top: 0em;
    "
		id="overlay"
	>
		<p>Control changes</p>
		<input type="button" id="control" onclick="toggleUpdates()" value="Pause changes" />
		<input type="button" onclick="hide()" value="Hide changes" />
		<button onclick="closeModal();">Dismiss</button>
	</div>

	<script type="text/javascript">
		function openModal() {
			document.getElementById('overlay').style.display = 'block'
		}
		function closeModal() {
			document.getElementById('overlay').style.display = 'none'
		}
	</script>
	<script type="text/javascript" src="/test-assets/efbfc7/script.js"></script>
</body>

Failed

Failed Example 1

Open in a new tab

This span element contains text content that is automatically changed multiple times without user intervention and there is no instrument available to stop, pause, hide or alter the frequency of the automatic changes.

<body onload="startUpdates()">
	<p>
		The W3C Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI) develops standards and support materials to help you understand and
		implement accessibility.
	</p>

	<p>Random number: <span id="target">1</span></p>

	<script type="text/javascript" src="/test-assets/efbfc7/script.js"></script>
</body>

Inapplicable

Inapplicable Example 1

Open in a new tab

This document does not have any visible text node.

<img src="/test-assets/shared/w3c-logo.png" alt="W3C logo" />
<p style="display: none">
	The W3C Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI) develops standards and support materials to help you understand and
	implement accessibility.
</p>

Inapplicable Example 2

Open in a new tab

This document does not have text content that is automatically changed.

<p>
	The W3C Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI) develops standards and support materials to help you understand and
	implement accessibility.
</p>

Inapplicable Example 3

Open in a new tab

This span element changes color but not its innerText property.

<body onload="startColorUpdates()">
	<p>
		The W3C Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI) develops standards and support materials to help you understand and
		implement accessibility.
	</p>

	<p>Number: <span id="target">1</span></p>
	<input type="button" onclick="stop()" value="Stop color changes" />

	<script>
		const myColors = ['red', 'green', 'blue', 'black']
		let updates

		function startColorUpdates() {
			updates = setInterval(change, 1000)
		}

		function change() {
			let randomColor = myColors[Math.floor(Math.random() * myColors.length)]
			var target = document.getElementById('target')
			target.style.color = randomColor
		}

		function stop() {
			clearInterval(updates)
		}
	</script>
</body>

Inapplicable Example 4

Open in a new tab

This span element contains text content that is automatically changed but only as a result of the user activating a button on the page.

<body>
	<p>
		The W3C Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI) develops standards and support materials to help you understand and
		implement accessibility.
	</p>

	<p>Random number: <span id="target">1</span></p>
	<input type="button" id="control" onclick="toggleUpdates()" value="Start changes" />

	<script type="text/javascript" src="/test-assets/efbfc7/script.js"></script>
</body>

Inapplicable Example 5

Open in a new tab

This span element with text content that automatically changes multiple times is alone in the document.

<body onload="startUpdates()">
	<span id="target">1</span>

	<script type="text/javascript" src="/test-assets/efbfc7/script.js"></script>
</body>

Glossary

Clearly labeled location

Secondary information and alternative controls of functionality are often not displayed together with primary information or functionality. For example, an option to change a web page to dark mode may be placed on an options page instead of being available on every page and page state of a website. Another example is a maps application, where, instead of using GPS, an option is available in a dropdown menu to set the current location of the device. Such content should be placed in a clearly labeled location.

The location of a target is said to be clearly labeled when the target can be found by activating "identifiable" instruments which either lead the user to find the target, or to another page or page state from which this action can be repeated until the target is found.

Whether or not the content is "clearly labeled" depends on the starting point of the search. If page A has a link which clearly "identifies" some piece of content, then the location of the content is clearly labeled. Page B, which can be in the same website, may not have such a link or may have a link with a link text that does not "identify" target content or which can be interpreted to "identify" more than one target, and so the location of the content starting from page B is not clearly labeled.

For the purpose of this definition, an instrument is identifiable if any text or other content with a text alternative, allows any user to identify an element with a semantic role that inherits from widget.

A web page changes state when the document's body changes without a change in the document's URL.

Instrument to achieve an objective

An HTML element that when activated allows an end-user to achieve an objective.

Note: Any rule that uses this definition must provide an unambiguous description of the objective the instrument is used to achieve.

Background About Instrument for Instrument to achieve an objective

This definition is a more restrictive version of WCAG's definition of mechanism, notably restricting it to the current document. WCAG has a note that "The mechanism needs to meet all success criteria for the conformance level claimed." This includes all the level A criteria such as Success Criterion 2.1.1 Keyboard (the mechanism must be keyboard accessible) or Success Criterion 4.1.2 Name, Role, Value (the mechanism must be exposed to assistive technologies and have an accessible name). This definition, and the rules using it, leaves these extra requirements out. This avoids reporting the same component twice for the same reason (e.g., missing an accessible name) under two different rules and Success Criteria, and helps pinpoint the error related to each Success Criterion. Instruments should nonetheless be fully accessible at the correct conformance level (depending on the rule using them).

Namespaced Element

An element with a specific namespaceURI value from HTML namespaces. For example an "SVG element" is any element with the "SVG namespace", which is http://www.w3.org/2000/svg.

Namespaced elements are not limited to elements described in a specification. They also include custom elements. Elements such as a and title have a different namespace depending on where they are used. For example a title in an HTML page usually has the HTML namespace. When used in an svg element, a title element has the SVG namespace instead.

Outcome

An outcome is a conclusion that comes from evaluating an ACT Rule on a test subject or one of its constituent test target. An outcome can be one of the three following types:

  • Inapplicable: No part of the test subject matches the applicability
  • Passed: A test target meets all expectations
  • Failed: A test target does not meet all expectations

Note: A rule has one passed or failed outcome for every test target. When there are no test targets the rule has one inapplicable outcome. This means that each test subject will have one or more outcomes.

Note: Implementations using the EARL10-Schema can express the outcome with the outcome property. In addition to passed, failed and inapplicable, EARL 1.0 also defined an incomplete outcome. While this cannot be the outcome of an ACT Rule when applied in its entirety, it often happens that rules are only partially evaluated. For example, when applicability was automated, but the expectations have to be evaluated manually. Such "interim" results can be expressed with the incomplete outcome.

Semantic Role

The semantic role of an element is determined by the first of these cases that applies:

  1. Conflict If the element is marked as decorative, but the element is included in the accessibility tree; or would be included in the accessibility tree when it is not programmatically hidden, then its semantic role is its implicit role.
  2. Explicit If the element has an explicit role, then its semantic role is its explicit role.
  3. Implicit The semantic role of the element is its implicit role.

This definition can be used in expressions such as "semantic button" meaning any element with a semantic role of button.

Accessibility Support for Definition of Semantic Role for Semantic Role

  • There exist popular web browsers and assistive technologies which do not correctly implement Presentational Roles Conflict Resolution. These technologies will not include in the accessibility tree elements that should be, according to Specifications. Thus, some elements that should have their semantic role fixed by case Conflict above are instead falling into case Explicit and are hidden for users of assistive technologies.
  • A similar conflict exists for focusable elements with a aria-hidden="true" attribute. The WAI ARIA specification does not explain how to solve it. Some browsers give precedence to the element being focusable (and expose it in the accessibility tree) while some give precedence to the aria-hidden attribute (and hide the element).

User interaction

A user interaction is any action that causes the user agent to fire one of the following DOM events:

  • auxclick
  • click
  • compostionend
  • compositionstart
  • compositionupdate
  • dblclick
  • keydown
  • keyup
  • mousedown
  • mouseenter
  • mouseleave
  • mousemove
  • mouseout
  • mouseover
  • mouseup
  • select
  • wheel

This list comprises the User Interface event that are generated by the user agent as a result of user interaction.

Visible

Content perceivable through sight.

Content is considered visible if making it fully transparent would result in a difference in the pixels rendered for any part of the document that is currently within the viewport or can be brought into the viewport via scrolling.

Content is defined in WCAG.

For more details, see examples of visible.

Web page (HTML)

An HTML web page is the set of all fully active documents which share the same top-level browsing context.

Note: Nesting of browsing context mostly happens with iframe and object. Thus a web page will most of the time be a "top-level" document and all its iframe and object (recursively).

Note: Web pages as defined by WCAG are not restricted to the HTML technology but can also include, e.g., PDF or DOCX documents.

Note: Although web pages as defined here are sets of documents (and do not contain other kind of nodes), one can abusively write that any node is "in a web page" if it is a shadow-including descendant of a document that is part of that web page.

Useful Links

Implementations

This section is not part of the official rule. It is populated dynamically and not accounted for in the change history or the last modified date. This section will not be included in the rule when it is published on the W3C website.

ToolConsistencyCompleteReport
Trusted TesterconsistentYesView Report

Acknowledgments

Authors

Funding

  • WAI-Tools
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