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Trusted Tester

A standardized approach for manual inspection of Web content for conformance with the Revised Section 508 Standards.

11. Language

Language of Page

Identify Content

Identify all pages with text.
Review the page content to identify the default human language of the page (the language in which most of the page is presented).

Note:

“Human language” refers to the language that people use to communicate with one-another as opposed to coding languages used to produce software and web content.

Test ID 11.A always applies.

Check 3.1.1-page-language-defined

Test Name	Test ID	Test Condition
3.1.1-page-language-defined	11.A	The default human language of each web page can be programmatically determined.

Applicability:

This Test Condition always applies – you may NOT evaluate the condition as DOES NOT APPLY (DNA). All pages should have some textual content, even if that content is included programmatically as alternative text for non-text content.

How to Test:

Launch ANDI: structures.
Click the “more details” link, then “page language.”
1. ANDI will display a dialog listing the value of the lang attribute assigned to the <html> element of the page.
2. If no lang attribute is defined or if the attribute is empty, ANDI will provide a warning in the same dialog.
Consult the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority’s (IANA) Language subtag registry to determine whether the language is properly defined and matches the default human language for the page.

Evaluate Results:

If ALL of the following are TRUE, then the content PASSES:

The default primary language is correctly specified per IANA, AND
The identified language in the lang attribute correctly matches the default human language for the page.

Note:

The primary language subtag is the first 2 or 3 character code in the value of the lang attribute. (Do not test additional language specifications for dialects that may follow the primary language subtag.)
The primary language subtag must conform to the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority’s (IANA) Language subtag registry.

Language of Parts

Identify Content

Identify any text content that differs from the default human language of the page including alternative text.
Identify the human language of the text content that differs from the default human language of the page.

Note:

Proper names, technical terms, words of indeterminate language, and words or phrases that have become part of the vernacular of the immediately surrounding text do not require a lang attribute different from the default language of the page and are not covered by this test.

If there is no such content, the result for the following test ID(s) is DOES NOT APPLY: 11.B.

Check 3.1.2-part-language-defined

Test Name	Test ID	Test Condition
3.1.2-part-language-defined	11.B	The human language for any content segment that differs from the default human language of the page can be programmatically determined.

Applicability:

This Test Condition DOES NOT APPLY (DNA) if all of the content in the page is in the same human language.

How to Test:

Launch ANDI: structures; click the “more details” link, then “[#] lang attributes”. If the [#] is zero, no content was marked with a lang attribute.
Locate the markup added to the web page that identifies the element to which the attribute is applied and the language defined in the language attribute value (e.g., “en” for English).
1. Mouseover or tab to the markup to reveal the beginning and end of the element.
2. Determine whether the entire passage is enclosed within the element.
Consult the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority’s (IANA) Language subtag registry to determine whether the language is properly defined and matches the human language for the content segment.

Evaluate Results:

If ALL of the following are TRUE, then the content PASSES:

The language for the content segment that differs from the primary default language of the page is correctly specified per IANA, AND
The identified language in the lang attribute correctly matches the human language for the content segment

Note:

The primary language subtag is the first 2 or 3 character code in the value of the lang attribute. (Do not test additional language specifications for dialects that may follow the primary language subtag.)
The primary language subtag must conform to the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority’s (IANA) Language subtag registry.

Applicable Standards

Section 508/WCAG Success Criteria	Baseline Requirements
WCAG SC 3.1.1 Language of Page: The default human language of each Web page can be programmatically determined. WCAG SC 3.1.2 Language of Parts: The human language of each passage or phrase in the content can be programmatically determined except for proper names, technical terms, words of indeterminate language, and words or phrases that have become part of the vernacular of the immediately surrounding text.	15. Language

Section 508/WCAG Success Criteria

Baseline Requirements

WCAG SC 3.1.1 Language of Page: The default human language of each Web page can be programmatically determined.

WCAG SC 3.1.2 Language of Parts: The human language of each passage or phrase in the content can be programmatically determined except for proper names, technical terms, words of indeterminate language, and words or phrases that have become part of the vernacular of the immediately surrounding text.

15. Language

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