Glossary

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C2C Marketplace(also: Customer-to-Customer Marketplace, Peer-to-Peer Marketplace)

An online platform where individual consumers list goods or services for sale to other individual consumers, rather than selling through a business intermediary. Examples include eBay, Etsy, Mercari, Facebook Marketplace, Vinted, Depop, Gumtree, and Craigslist. C2C marketplaces…

CAPTCHA(also: Completely Automated Public Turing test to tell Computers and Humans Apart)

A challenge-response test used on websites to determine whether a user is human, typically requiring users to identify distorted text, select images, or solve puzzles. CAPTCHAs present significant accessibility barriers, particularly for users with visual impairments who cannot…

CSS Media Queries(also: Media Queries, Responsive Breakpoints)

A CSS feature that allows stylesheets to apply different rules based on characteristics of the user's device or viewport, such as screen width, resolution, color capability, or user preferences like reduced motion and high contrast. Media queries are foundational to responsive…

Captioning(also: Captions, Subtitles for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing, SDH)

The process of displaying synchronized text on screen that represents spoken dialogue, sound effects, and other audio information in video content. Unlike subtitles, captions are specifically designed for deaf and hard of hearing viewers and include non-speech sounds like [door…

Caret Browsing(also: Caret Navigation, Caret Browse Mode)

A browser navigation mode that places a movable text cursor (caret) directly in web page content, allowing users to navigate and select text using standard keyboard commands as if the page were a document in a text editor. Typically activated by pressing F7 in Firefox and…

Carousel(also: Image Carousel, Content Carousel, Slider Carousel)

A UI pattern that displays a rotating series of content items (images, cards, teasers) in a single area, typically navigated by swipe, arrows, or auto-advance. Carousels pose well-known accessibility risks: auto-rotation can violate WCAG 2.2.2 (Pause, Stop, Hide), items beyond…

Cell Navigation(also: Table Cell Navigation, Cell-by-Cell Navigation)

Cell navigation is a method of accessing tabular data non-visually by moving between individual cells using directional commands (up, down, left, right). Rather than reading a table linearly from top-to-bottom, cell navigation allows screen reader users to traverse the…

Cloud Accessibility(also: Cloud-Based Accessibility)

The use of cloud computing technologies to deliver, manage, and personalize accessibility features and assistive technologies. Cloud accessibility enables users to store their accessibility preferences remotely and have them applied automatically to any device or platform they…

Collaborative Accessibility Authoring(also: Collaborative Authoring, Crowdsourced Accessibility)

An approach to web accessibility in which a community of volunteers collaboratively creates, maintains, and shares accessibility fixes for websites they do not own or control. Rather than relying solely on site owners to make their content accessible, collaborative authoring…

Color Contrast(also: Colour Contrast, Contrast Ratio)

The difference in luminance between foreground text (or UI components) and their background, measured as a ratio. WCAG 2.1 requires a minimum contrast ratio of 4.5:1 for normal text and 3:1 for large text at Level AA, and 7:1 for normal text and 4.5:1 for large text at Level…

Compound Controls(also: Composite Widgets, Complex Controls)

User interface components that combine multiple interactive elements into a single logical control, such as a group of radio buttons, a set of checkboxes with a shared label, a combobox (combining a text input with a dropdown list), or a date picker with multiple fields.…

Compound Document(also: Compound Web Document, Multi-format Document)

A compound document is a single deliverable that seamlessly combines content in multiple formats — for example, an HTML page that embeds a Flash movie, an SVG graphic, an MathML expression, and a video player — each with its own internal document object model. Compound documents…

Conformance Evaluation(also: Conformance Assessment, Accessibility Conformance Testing)

The process of systematically assessing whether a website, application, or digital product meets the requirements of a specific accessibility standard, typically WCAG at a designated conformance level (A, AA, or AAA). Conformance evaluation typically combines automated testing…

Conformance Level(also: WCAG Level, Priority Level)

The three-tiered classification system used by WCAG to rank success criteria by their importance and impact on accessibility. Level A represents the minimum baseline — criteria that must be met or some users will be completely unable to access content. Level AA addresses the…

Content Adaptation(also: Content Transformation, Web Adaptation)

The process of modifying web content to make it more accessible or usable in different contexts, including for users with disabilities, users of assistive technologies, or users on constrained devices like mobile phones. Content adaptation encompasses techniques such as…

Content Extraction(also: Web Content Extraction, Text Extraction)

The process of separating meaningful content from the surrounding structural markup, navigation elements, and boilerplate text on a web page. For assistive technology users, content extraction is valuable because it allows them to focus on the substantive information on a page…

Content Personalization(also: Accessibility Personalization, Content Adaptation)

The practice of tailoring digital content presentation and interaction to match individual users' needs, preferences, and abilities. In accessibility, personalization goes beyond one-size-fits-all approaches by allowing users to specify how they prefer to receive information —…

Content Prioritization(also: Content Ranking, Element Prioritization)

The process of ranking or scoring web page elements by their relevance or importance to a user's task, enabling the interface to highlight critical content and de-emphasize less relevant material. Content prioritization can be achieved through AI-powered relevance scoring, where…

Content Re-Rendering(also: Content Transformation, Accessible Re-Rendering)

The process of taking content from one format or presentation and transforming it into a different format that is more accessible or usable for a specific audience. In accessibility, content re-rendering typically involves converting visually-encoded information (images, PDFs,…

Content Rearrangement(also: Information Rearrangement, Content Reordering, Page Restructuring)

An accessibility technique in which the content of a web page is automatically reorganised to present the most relevant information first, based on user context, intent, or navigational history. Content rearrangement addresses the sequential nature of screen reader output by…

Content Transcoding(also: Content Adaptation, Content Transformation)

The process of automatically modifying web content to make it more accessible or usable for specific users or devices. Content transcoding can involve restructuring HTML, modifying CSS styles, replacing images with text alternatives, simplifying page layouts, or converting…

Contextual Reinforcement(also: Header Reinforcement)

A technique in aural and non-visual rendering of tabular data where column headers, row labels, or other structural context is repeated alongside data values to help users understand the relationships between cells. Without contextual reinforcement, a screen reader might…

Cookie Notice(also: Cookie Banner, Cookie Consent Banner, Cookie Popup)

A user interface element that appears on websites to inform visitors about the use of cookies and other tracking technologies, typically requesting consent to store data on their device. Cookie notices are required under privacy regulations like GDPR and the ePrivacy Directive.…

Coping Strategies(also: Coping Tactics, Workaround Strategies)

The techniques and approaches that users with disabilities develop to navigate around accessibility barriers they encounter on the web and in digital interfaces. Expert screen reader users, for example, employ strategies such as using element lists, virtual search, heading…

Course Management System(also: CMS, Learning Management System, LMS)

A software platform used by educational institutions to create, manage, and deliver course content, track student performance, and facilitate communication between instructors and students. Examples include Blackboard, Canvas, and Moodle. Course management systems present…

Crowdsourcing Accessibility(also: Accessibility Crowdsourcing)

The practice of using distributed groups of people, often through online platforms, to collect, label, or improve accessibility-related information at scale. Examples include using crowd workers to audit bus stop landmarks via Google Street View, label images for alt text,…

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