Accessibility
Glossary
German – English Terms
From A to Z. English technical term in small print above the German term.
All technical terms from the course from A to Z, with the English equivalent as used in standards, tools, and technical articles.
0–9
200% ZOOM
200% zoom
Text must be able to be resized up to double its original size without loss of content or functionality.
A
ALTERNATIVE TEXT
Alternative text
A brief description of an image read aloud by screen readers. Explains what the image means in context.
ARIA
ARIA
Additional attributes that communicate role, name, and state to assistive technologies where HTML alone is not enough.
B
ACCESSIBILITY
Accessibility
Design that people with and without disabilities can use equally, without external assistance.
OPERABLE
Operable
WCAG principle: All functions can be used with a variety of assistive tools, such as the keyboard.
DISABILITY DISCRIMINATION ACT (CH)
Act on Equal Opportunities for Persons with Disabilities
Swiss Federal Act on the Elimination of Discrimination against Persons with Disabilities (BehiG), which aims to prevent disadvantage and requires accessible services from the federal government.
C
KERB-CUT EFFECT
Curb-cut effect
Solutions for disabled people ultimately benefit everyone, such as dropped kerbs.
E
ECH-0059
eCH-0059
Swiss standard for accessible public-sector websites; implements WCAG.
PLAIN LANGUAGE
Plain language
Clear language with short sentences and familiar words, for a wide audience.
F
FOCUS
Focus
Highlight of the element currently receiving keyboard input. Must always be visible.
K
CONTRAST RATIO
Contrast ratio
Contrast ratio between foreground and background brightness, from 1:1 to 21:1. Body text requires at least 4.5:1.
L
EASY-READ
Easy Read
Highly simplified language following fixed rules, primarily for people with learning disabilities.
R
REDUCED MOTION
Reduced motion
System setting that allows people to reduce animations. Websites should respect it.
ROBUST
Robust
WCAG principle: Content works with current and future browsers and assistive technologies.
S
SCREEN READER
Screen reader
Software that reads out screen content or outputs it in braille, for example VoiceOver, TalkBack, or NVDA.
Skip link
'Skip to content' link at the top of the page that allows keyboard users to bypass navigation.
T
TAB ORDER
Tab order
Order in which the Tab key navigates through the controls. Follows the reading order.
KEYBOARD TRAP
Keyboard trap
A point where the keyboard focus gets trapped and you cannot navigate away.
TOUCH TARGET
Touch target
Target area that you hit with your finger. A minimum of 44 × 44 points is recommended.
U
HEADING STRUCTURE
Heading hierarchy
A logical hierarchy from H1 to H6 that screen reader users can use to skim a page.
UNIVERSAL DESIGN
Universal Design
Design that works for as many people as possible from the outset, without the need for bespoke solutions.
SUBTITLES
Subtitles
Text for spoken content and important sounds in videos.
V
SCREEN MAGNIFIER
Magnification software
A program that magnifies a portion of the screen, for instance for visually impaired people.
VERSTÄNDLICH
Understandable
WCAG principle: Content and operation are clear, predictable, and fault-tolerant.
PREDICTABLE
Predictable
Elements behave consistently throughout; nothing changes unexpectedly simply because it receives focus.
TEXT TO SPEECH
Read aloud function
Feature that converts text into spoken language, helpful for reading and visual impairments.
Perceptible
WCAG principle: Content is perceivable through more than one sense, for example with alternative text, subtitles, and sufficient contrast.
W
WCAG
WCAG
W3C's Web Content Accessibility Guidelines, the international standard for digital accessibility. Currently version 2.2.
Z
ACCESSIBLE NAME
Accessible name
Name read aloud by assistive technologies for an element, for example from a label, text or aria-label.