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Proposed Video element visual content has strict accessible alternative

Description

This rule checks that video elements with audio have audio description.

Applicability

This rule applies to every non-streaming video element that is visible, where the video contains audio.

Expectation

For each test target, the outcome of at least one of the following rules is passed:

Assumptions

Accessibility Support

The HTML video element can also have a track element that provides an audio description. This should provide assistive technologies with a timed text description of visual information in a video. However, there is no native support in any major browser for this technique. Technique H96: Using the track element to provide audio descriptions can not be relied upon to conform to 1.2.5: Audio Description (Prerecorded).

Background

Bibliography

Accessibility Requirements Mapping

Input Rules

Outcomes of the following rules are required as input for this rule.

Test Cases

This HTML file is used in several examples:

File /test-assets/rabbit-video/transcript.html:

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html lang="en">
	<head>
		<meta charset="utf-8" />
		<title>Description of the rabbit video</title>
	</head>
	<body>
		<h1>Description of the rabbit video</h1>
		<p>
			The video shows a giant fat rabbit climbing out of a hole in the ground. He stretches, yawns, and then starts
			walking. Then he stops to scratch his bottom.
		</p>
	</body>
</html>

Passed

Passed Example 1

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A video element with a voiceover that describes the visual information.

<html lang="en">
	<video controls>
		<source src="/test-assets/rabbit-video/video-with-voiceover.mp4" type="video/mp4" />
		<source src="/test-assets/rabbit-video/video-with-voiceover.webm" type="video/webm" />
	</video>
</html>

Passed Example 2

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A video element that describes some of the text on the same page. The text on the page labels the video as an alternative.

<html lang="en">
	<p>
		Not being able to use your computer because your mouse doesn't work, is frustrating. Many people use only the
		keyboard to navigate websites. Either through preference or circumstance. This is solved by keyboard compatibility.
		Keyboard compatibility is described in WCAG. See the video below to watch the same information again in video form.
	</p>
	<video src="/test-assets/perspective-video/perspective-video.mp4" controls></video>
</html>

Failed

Failed Example 1

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A video element with an incorrect audio description.

<html lang="en">
	<video controls>
		<source src="/test-assets/rabbit-video/video-with-incorrect-voiceover.mp4" type="video/mp4" />
		<source src="/test-assets/rabbit-video/video-with-incorrect-voiceover.webm" type="video/webm" />
	</video>
</html>

Failed Example 2

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A video element with a link to a text transcript.

<html lang="en">
	<video controls>
		<source src="/test-assets/rabbit-video/video.mp4" type="video/mp4" />
		<source src="/test-assets/rabbit-video/video.webm" type="video/webm" />
	</video>
	<a href="/test-assets/rabbit-video/transcript.html">Transcript</a>
</html>

Failed Example 3

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A video element with a description track element. The description track is not supported.

<html lang="en">
	<video controls>
		<source src="/test-assets/rabbit-video/video.mp4" type="video/mp4" />
		<source src="/test-assets/rabbit-video/video.webm" type="video/webm" />
		<track kind="descriptions" src="/test-assets/rabbit-video/descriptions.vtt" />
	</video>
</html>

Inapplicable

Inapplicable Example 1

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A video element without audio.

<html lang="en">
	<video controls>
		<source src="/test-assets/rabbit-video/silent.mp4" type="video/mp4" />
		<source src="/test-assets/rabbit-video/silent.webm" type="video/webm" />
	</video>
</html>

Inapplicable Example 2

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A video element that is not visible.

<html lang="en">
	<video controls style="display: none;">
		<source src="/test-assets/rabbit-video/video.mp4" type="video/mp4" />
		<source src="/test-assets/rabbit-video/video.webm" type="video/webm" />
	</video>
</html>

Glossary

Non-streaming media element

A non-streaming media element is an HTML Media Element for which the duration property is not 0.

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:

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.

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.

Rule Versions

This is the first version of this ACT rule.

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.

Implementation Type Consistency Report
Alfa (semi-automated) 0.80.0 Semi-automated tool Consistent Alfa (semi-automated) Report
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This is an unpublished draft preview that might include content that is not yet approved. The published website is at w3.org/WAI/.