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<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?> <!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"> <html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" lang="en-US" xml:lang="en-US"><head><title> Understanding Success Criterion 3.3.5 | Understanding WCAG 2.0 </title><link rel="canonical" href="https://www.w3.org/TR/UNDERSTANDING-WCAG20/minimize-error-context-help.html" /><link media="print" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" href="print.css"/><link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="additional.css"/><link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="https://www.w3.org/StyleSheets/TR/2021/W3C-NOTE"/><link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="slicenav.css"/><meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1, shrink-to-fit=no"/></head><body class="slices toc-inline"><div id="masthead"><p class="logo"><a href="https://www.w3.org/"><img width="72" height="48" alt="W3C" src="https://www.w3.org/StyleSheets/TR/2021/logos/W3C"/></a></p><p class="collectiontitle"><a href="Overview.html">Understanding WCAG 2.0</a></p></div><div id="skipnav"><p class="skipnav"><a href="#maincontent">Skip to Content (Press Enter)</a></p></div><div class="mainbody"><a name="top"> </a><ul id="navigation"><li><strong><a href="Overview.html#contents" title="Table of Contents">Contents</a></strong></li><li><strong><a href="intro.html" title="Introduction to Understanding WCAG 2.0"><abbr title="Introduction">Intro</abbr></a></strong></li><li><a title="Understanding SC 3.3.4 [Error Prevention (Legal, Financial, Data)]" href="minimize-error-reversible.html"><strong>Previous: </strong>SC 3.3.4 [Error Prevention (Legal, Financial, Data)]</a></li><li><a title="Understanding SC 3.3.6 [Error Prevention (All)]" href="minimize-error-reversible-all.html"><strong>Next: </strong>SC 3.3.6 [Error Prevention (All)]</a></li></ul><div class="navtoc"><p>On this page:</p><ul id="navbar"><li><a href="#minimize-error-context-help-intent-head">Intent</a></li><li><a href="#minimize-error-context-help-examples-head">Examples</a></li><li><a href="#minimize-error-context-help-resources-head">Related Resources</a></li><li><a href="#minimize-error-context-help-techniques-head">Techniques & Failures</a></li><li><a href="#key-terms">Key terms</a></li></ul></div> <div class="skiptarget"><a id="maincontent">-</a></div><h1><a name="minimize-error-context-help" id="minimize-error-context-help"> </a><strong>Help</strong><span class="screenreader">:</span><br/>Understanding <abbr title="Success Criterion">SC</abbr> 3.3.5</h1><blockquote class="scquote"><div> <p class="sctxt"><strong class="sc-handle"><a href="https://www.w3.org/TR/2008/REC-WCAG20-20081211/#minimize-error-context-help">3.3.5</a> Help:</strong> <a href="#context-sensitivehelpdef" class="termref">Context-sensitive help</a> is available. (Level AAA) </p></div></blockquote><div class="intent"><h2 id="minimize-error-context-help-intent-head" class="section"> Intent of this Success Criterion </h2><p>The intent of this Success Criterion is to help users avoid making mistakes. Some users with disabilities may be more likely to make mistakes than users without disabilities. Using context-sensitive help, users find out how to perform an operation without losing track of what they are doing.</p><p>Context-sensitive help only needs to be provided when the label is not sufficient to describe all functionality. The existence of context-sensitive help should be obvious to the user and they should be able to obtain it whenever they require it. </p><p>The content author may provide the help text, or the user agent may provide the help text based on technology-specific, programmatically determined information. </p><div class="benefits"><h3 id="minimize-error-context-help-242-head" class="div3head"> Specific Benefits of Success Criterion 3.3.5: </h3><ul><li><p>Assistance for text input helps individuals with writing disabilities and people with reading and intellectual disabilities who often have difficulty writing text in forms or other places that need text input.</p></li><li><p>Additionally, these kinds of assistance help people who are aging and have the same difficulty in text input and/or mouse operation.</p></li></ul></div></div><div class="div3"><h2 id="minimize-error-context-help-examples-head" class="section"> Examples of Success Criterion 3.3.5</h2><ul><li><p> <strong>on-line job application</strong> </p><p> Some of the questions may be hard for new job seekers to understand. A help link next to each question provides instructions and explanations for each question.</p></li></ul></div><div class="resources"><h2 id="minimize-error-context-help-resources-head" class="section"> Related Resources </h2><p>Resources are for information purposes only, no endorsement implied.</p><p>(none currently documented)</p></div><div class="div3"><h2 id="minimize-error-context-help-techniques-head" class="section"> Techniques and Failures for Success Criterion 3.3.5 - Help</h2><p>Each numbered item in this section represents a technique or combination of techniques that the <acronym title="Web Content Accessibility Guidelines">WCAG</acronym> Working Group deems sufficient for meeting this Success Criterion. However, it is not necessary to use these particular techniques. For information on using other techniques, see <a href="https://www.w3.org/TR/2023/NOTE-UNDERSTANDING-WCAG20-20230921/understanding-techniques.html">Understanding Techniques for WCAG Success Criteria</a>, particularly the "Other Techniques" section.</p><div class="boxed"><h3 id="minimize-error-context-help-243-head" class="div3head"> Sufficient Techniques </h3><p class="instructions"><strong>Instructions:</strong> Select the situation below that matches your content. Each situation includes techniques or combinations of techniques that are known and documented to be sufficient for that situation. </p><div><h4><a name="minimize-error-context-help-situation-59-head" id="minimize-error-context-help-situation-59-head"> </a>Situation A: If a form requires text input:</h4> <ol class="enumar"><li><p> <a href="https://www.w3.org/TR/2016/NOTE-WCAG20-TECHS-20161007/G71" class="tech-ref">G71: Providing a help link on every Web page</a> </p></li><li><p> <a href="https://www.w3.org/TR/2016/NOTE-WCAG20-TECHS-20161007/G193" class="tech-ref">G193: Providing help by an assistant in the Web page</a> </p></li><li><p> <a href="https://www.w3.org/TR/2016/NOTE-WCAG20-TECHS-20161007/G194" class="tech-ref">G194: Providing spell checking and suggestions for text input</a> </p></li><li><p> <a href="https://www.w3.org/TR/2016/NOTE-WCAG20-TECHS-20161007/G184" class="tech-ref">G184: Providing text instructions at the beginning of a form or set of fields that describes the necessary input</a> </p></li></ol></div><div><h4><a name="minimize-error-context-help-situation-60-head" id="minimize-error-context-help-situation-60-head"> </a>Situation B: If a form requires text input in an expected data format:</h4> <ol class="enumar"><li><p> <a href="https://www.w3.org/TR/2016/NOTE-WCAG20-TECHS-20161007/G89" class="tech-ref">G89: Providing expected data format and example</a> </p></li><li><p> <a href="https://www.w3.org/TR/2016/NOTE-WCAG20-TECHS-20161007/G184" class="tech-ref">G184: Providing text instructions at the beginning of a form or set of fields that describes the necessary input</a> </p></li></ol></div></div><div class="boxed"><h3 id="minimize-error-context-help-244-head" class="div3head"> Additional Techniques (Advisory) for 3.3.5</h3><p>Although not required for conformance, the following additional techniques should be considered in order to make content more accessible. Not all techniques can be used or would be effective in all situations.</p><ul><li><p> <a href="https://www.w3.org/TR/2016/NOTE-WCAG20-TECHS-20161007/H89" class="tech-ref">H89: Using the title attribute to provide context-sensitive help</a> (HTML) </p></li><li><p> Checking byte of character and auto-converting to expected byte for text input if applicable (future link) </p></li></ul></div><div class="boxed"><h3 id="minimize-error-context-help-245-head" class="div3head"> Common Failures for <abbr title="Success Criterion">SC</abbr> 3.3.5</h3><p>The following are common mistakes that are considered failures of Success Criterion 3.3.5 by the <acronym title="Web Content Accessibility Guidelines">WCAG</acronym> Working Group.</p><p>(No failures currently documented)</p></div></div><div class="div3"><h2 id="key-terms" class="terms">Key Terms</h2><dl class="keyterms"><dt class="label"><a name="context-sensitivehelpdef" id="context-sensitivehelpdef"> </a>context-sensitive help</dt><dd><p>help text that provides information related to the function currently being performed</p><div class="note"><p class="prefix"><em>Note: </em>Clear labels can act as context-sensitive help.</p></div></dd></dl></div><ul id="navigationbottom"><li><strong><a href="#top">Top</a></strong></li><li><strong><a href="Overview.html#contents" title="Table of Contents">Contents</a></strong></li><li><strong><a href="intro.html" title="Introduction to Understanding WCAG 2.0"><abbr title="Introduction">Intro</abbr></a></strong></li><li><a title="Understanding SC 3.3.4 [Error Prevention (Legal, Financial, Data)]" href="minimize-error-reversible.html"><strong>Previous: </strong>SC 3.3.4 [Error Prevention (Legal, Financial, Data)]</a></li><li><a title="Understanding SC 3.3.6 [Error Prevention (All)]" href="minimize-error-reversible-all.html"><strong>Next: </strong>SC 3.3.6 [Error Prevention (All)]</a></li></ul></div><div class="footer"><p class="copyright">This Web page is part of <a href="Overview.html">Understanding WCAG 2.0: A guide to understanding and implementing WCAG 2.0</a> (see the <a href="https://www.w3.org/TR/UNDERSTANDING-WCAG20/minimize-error-context-help.html">latest version of this document</a>). The entire document is also available as a <a href="complete.html">single HTML file</a>. See the <a href="https://www.w3.org/WAI/intro/wcag20">The WCAG 2.0 Documents</a> for an explanation of how this document fits in with other Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.0 documents. To send public comments, please follow the <a href="https://www.w3.org/WAI/WCAG20/comments/">Instructions for Commenting on WCAG 2.0 Documents</a>. </p><p class="copyright"><a href="https://www.w3.org/Consortium/Legal/ipr-notice#Copyright">Copyright</a> 漏 2023 <a href="https://www.w3.org/">World Wide Web Consortium</a>. <abbr title="World Wide Web Consortium">W3C</abbr><sup>庐</sup> <a href="https://www.w3.org/Consortium/Legal/ipr-notice#Legal_Disclaimer">liability</a>, <a href="https://www.w3.org/Consortium/Legal/ipr-notice#W3C_Trademarks">trademark</a> and <a href="https://www.w3.org/Consortium/Legal/copyright-documents">document use</a> rules apply.</p></div></body></html>