exploratory Core requirement
Text Appearance Not Relied On
Summary in Plain English
An exploratory requirement: where styling, weight or other text characteristics carry meaning beyond the words themselves, that meaning is also available programmatically. Where the only added meaning is emphasis, the requirement does not apply.
Why It Matters
Bold, colour and size are invisible to a screen reader unless marked up. Meaning carried only by appearance simply does not reach the user.
Scope: When This Applies
The draft's own conditions, quoted from guidelines/groups/text-and-wording/text-to-speech/text-appearance-not-relied-on.md.
Applies when
- the styling, weight, or other text characteristics convey meaning beyond what the text itself says.
Except when
- emphasis is the only additional meaning conveyed.
Examples from the Draft
Worked examples the W3C editors wrote into the provision itself, not examples invented here.
- When bold or italics is used to indicate an error, an additional indicator such as an exclamation mark (!) is also provided.
- When larger text is used as a hint in a puzzle, an additional indicator such as an asterisk (*) is also provided.