rgaa-information-presentation

name

rgaa-information-presentation

description

Audit a web page for RGAA v4.1.2 Theme 10 – Information presentation accessibility compliance. Checks that CSS controls presentation, content remains visible without CSS, information is preserved without CSS, text resizes to 200% without loss, background/foreground colors are paired, link distinction is visible, focus is visible, hidden content is properly managed, information is not conveyed by shape/size/position alone, responsive reflow works at 320px, text spacing is adjustable, and hover/focus additional content is dismissible/hoverable/persistent. Use this skill when someone asks to check CSS accessibility, responsive design, focus visibility, zoom compliance, or RGAA Theme 10.

RGAA Information Presentation Accessibility Audit (Theme 10)

Audits a web page against the 14 criteria of RGAA v4.1.2 Theme 10: Information Presentation.

Audit procedure

Step 1: Gather presentation data

(() => {
  const data = {};

  // Check CSS usage for presentation
  data.inlineStyles = document.querySelectorAll('[style]').length;

  // Focus visibility check
  data.focusElements = [];
  document.querySelectorAll('a[href], button, input, select, textarea, [tabindex]').forEach(el => {
    const style = getComputedStyle(el);
    data.focusElements.push({
      tag: el.tagName.toLowerCase(),
      type: el.type || null,
      outlineStyle: style.outlineStyle,
      outlineWidth: style.outlineWidth,
      outlineColor: style.outlineColor,
      text: el.textContent.trim().substring(0, 40)
    });
  });

  // Hidden content
  data.hiddenContent = [];
  document.querySelectorAll('[aria-hidden="true"], [hidden], .sr-only, .visually-hidden').forEach(el => {
    data.hiddenContent.push({
      tag: el.tagName.toLowerCase(),
      ariaHidden: el.getAttribute('aria-hidden'),
      hidden: el.hasAttribute('hidden'),
      display: getComputedStyle(el).display,
      visibility: getComputedStyle(el).visibility,
      hasText: !!el.textContent.trim(),
      classes: el.className?.toString().substring(0, 60)
    });
  });

  // Check for content visible only via CSS (::before/::after with content)
  data.cssContentCount = 0;
  // This requires stylesheet inspection, flagging for manual review

  // Viewport meta
  const viewport = document.querySelector('meta[name="viewport"]');
  data.viewport = viewport ? viewport.getAttribute('content') : null;

  // Check horizontal scroll at narrow width
  data.bodyScrollWidth = document.body.scrollWidth;
  data.viewportWidth = window.innerWidth;

  return JSON.stringify(data, null, 2);
})()

Step 2: Evaluate criteria

Criterion 10.1 – CSS controls presentation. CSS stylesheets (not inline styles or HTML attributes) should control layout and visual presentation. Check for <font>, bgcolor, align, valign HTML attributes, and excessive inline styles.

Criterion 10.2 – Visible informative content remains present when CSS is disabled. Content generated via CSS ::before/::after with content: that carries information must also be available in the DOM. Test by disabling CSS.

Criterion 10.3 – Information remains comprehensible when CSS is disabled. Content should remain readable and logically ordered without CSS.

Criterion 10.4 – Text remains readable at 200% zoom. When browser zoom is set to 200%, text must not overflow containers, be truncated, or overlap. No horizontal scrollbar should appear for text content. The meta viewport must not set maximum-scale=1 or user-scalable=no.

Criterion 10.5 – CSS foreground and background colors are paired. If CSS sets a text color, it must also set the background color (and vice versa). This prevents invisible text with high-contrast user stylesheets.

Criterion 10.6 – Links are visually distinguishable. Links within text blocks must be distinguishable from surrounding text by more than color alone (underline, border, font-weight, icon, etc.) or have 3:1 contrast with surrounding text.

Criterion 10.7 – Focus is visible on every focusable element. Every element receiving keyboard focus must have a visible focus indicator. Check that outline: none is not used without a replacement focus style.

Criterion 10.8 – Hidden content is correctly hidden from assistive tech. Content hidden with display:none or visibility:hidden should also be hidden from screen readers (no conflicting aria-hidden="false"). Content intended for screen readers only (.sr-only) should use the clip/clip-path technique, not display:none.

Criterion 10.9 – Information not conveyed by shape or position alone. Instructions like "click the round button" or "see the sidebar" must also provide a textual alternative.

Criterion 10.10 – Information not conveyed by shape, size, or position alone. Same principle: visual-only cues need text equivalents.

Criterion 10.11 – Content reflows without loss at 320px width (or 256px height for horizontal content). At 400% zoom (equivalent to 320px viewport), content must reflow without horizontal scrolling (except for data tables, maps, diagrams, video, code blocks). Check with viewport resize.

Criterion 10.12 – Text spacing can be adjusted. Users must be able to increase: line height to 1.5×, paragraph spacing to 2× font size, letter spacing to 0.12× font size, word spacing to 0.16× font size — without loss of content or functionality.

Criterion 10.13 – Additional content on focus/hover is dismissible, hoverable, persistent. Tooltips and popovers appearing on hover/focus must be:

• Dismissible (Escape key or moving pointer without moving focus)
• Hoverable (pointer can move over the additional content)
• Persistent (stays visible until dismissed or focus/hover lost)

Criterion 10.14 – Additional CSS-only content is accessible. Content revealed purely via CSS (:hover, :focus) must be reachable and usable with keyboard.

Step 3: Visual testing

Several criteria require visual verification:

• Take a screenshot at normal zoom and at 200% zoom to compare
• Test at 320px width for reflow
• Tab through the page to verify focus visibility
• Apply text spacing overrides and verify no content is lost

Step 4: Generate report

WCAG references: 9.1.3.1 (A), 9.1.3.2 (A), 9.1.3.3 (AA), 9.1.4.4 (AA), 9.1.4.8 (AAA), 9.1.4.10 (AA), 9.1.4.12 (AA), 9.1.4.13 (AA), 9.2.4.7 (AA)