CINXE.COM

<!DOCTYPE html> <html class="no-js" lang="en" dir="ltr" prefix="og: http://ogp.me/ns#"> <head> <meta charset="utf-8"> <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1, viewport-fit=cover"> <meta http-equiv="X-UA-Compatible" content="IE=edge"> <script> document.documentElement.className = document.documentElement.className.replace('no-js', 'has-js'); function downloadJSAtOnload() { var element = document.createElement("script"); element.src = "/WAI/assets/scripts/main.js?1739541174349523255"; document.body.appendChild(element); } window.addEventListener("load", downloadJSAtOnload, false); </script> <link rel="stylesheet" href="/WAI/assets/css/style.css?1739541174349523255"> <title> Evaluation Standards Overview - ACT & EARL | Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI) | W3C</title> <meta name="generator" content="Jekyll v4.3.3" /> <meta property="og:title" content="Evaluation Standards Overview - ACT & EARL" /> <meta name="author" content="W3C Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI)" /> <meta property="og:locale" content="en" /> <meta name="description" content="Accessibility resources free online from the international standards organization: W3C Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI)." /> <meta property="og:description" content="Accessibility resources free online from the international standards organization: W3C Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI)." /> <link rel="canonical" href="https://www.w3.org/WAI/standards-guidelines/evaluation/" /> <meta property="og:url" content="https://www.w3.org/WAI/standards-guidelines/evaluation/" /> <meta property="og:site_name" content="Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI)" /> <meta property="og:type" content="website" /> <meta name="twitter:card" content="summary_large_image" /> <meta property="twitter:title" content="Evaluation Standards Overview - ACT & EARL" /> <meta name="twitter:site" content="@w3c_wai" /> <meta name="twitter:creator" content="@W3C Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI)" /> <script type="application/ld+json"> {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"WebPage","author":{"@type":"Person","name":"W3C Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI)"},"description":"Accessibility resources free online from the international standards organization: W3C Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI).","headline":"Evaluation Standards Overview - ACT & EARL","url":"https://www.w3.org/WAI/standards-guidelines/evaluation/"}</script>  <meta name="twitter:image" property="og:image" content="https://www.w3.org/WAI/assets/images/social-sharing-default.jpg"> <link rel="alternate" type="application/rss+xml" href="/WAI/feed.xml"> </head> <body id="top" class="page-evaluation-standards-overview-act-earl "> <nav aria-label="Skip Link and Language Selector" id="controls" class="default-grid"> <ul> <li><a href="#main">Skip to Content</a></li> <li class="opt"> <a href="/WAI/meta/customize/">Change Text Size or Colors</a> </li> <li class="opt"> <a href="/WAI/translations/">All Translations <svg focusable="false" aria-hidden="true" class="icon-translations "><use xlink:href="/WAI/assets/images/icons.svg#icon-translations"></use></svg></a> </li> </ul></nav> <header id="site-header" class="default-grid with-gap"> <div class="logos"> <a lang="en" class="home w3c" href="https://www.w3.org/"> <svg role="img" aria-label="W3C" viewBox="0 0 68 34" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg"><g><path d="m16.117 1.006 5.759 19.58 5.759-19.58h4.17 11.444v1.946l-5.879 10.128c2.065.663 3.627 1.868 4.686 3.615 1.059 1.748 1.589 3.799 1.589 6.155 0 2.914-.775 5.363-2.324 7.348s-3.555 2.978-6.017 2.978c-1.854 0-3.469-.589-4.845-1.767-1.377-1.178-2.396-2.773-3.058-4.786l3.256-1.35c.477 1.218 1.106 2.178 1.887 2.879.781.702 1.701 1.052 2.76 1.052 1.112 0 2.052-.622 2.82-1.866.768-1.245 1.152-2.74 1.152-4.489 0-1.933-.411-3.429-1.231-4.488-.954-1.244-2.45-1.867-4.489-1.867h-1.588v-1.906l5.56-9.612h-6.712l-.382.65-8.163 27.548h-.397l-5.958-19.937-5.957 19.937h-.397l-9.53-32.168h4.17l5.759 19.58 3.892-13.185-1.906-6.395z"/><path d="m64.92 1.006c-.819 0-1.554.295-2.111.861-.591.6-.92 1.376-.92 2.178s.313 1.545.887 2.128c.583.591 1.334.912 2.145.912.793 0 1.562-.321 2.161-.903.574-.557.887-1.3.887-2.136 0-.811-.321-1.57-.878-2.136-.584-.592-1.344-.904-2.171-.904zm2.643 3.065c0 .701-.271 1.351-.768 1.832-.524.507-1.174.777-1.892.777-.675 0-1.342-.278-1.84-.785s-.777-1.157-.777-1.849.287-1.368.802-1.891c.481-.49 1.131-.751 1.84-.751.726 0 1.376.271 1.883.785.49.489.752 1.147.752 1.882zm-2.559-1.807h-1.3v3.445h.65v-1.469h.642l.701 1.469h.726l-.769-1.57c.498-.102.785-.439.785-.929 0-.625-.472-.946-1.435-.946zm-.118.422c.608 0 .886.169.886.591 0 .405-.278.549-.87.549h-.549v-1.14z"/><path d="m59.807.825.676 4.107-2.391 4.575s-.918-1.941-2.443-3.015c-1.285-.905-2.122-1.102-3.431-.832-1.681.347-3.587 2.357-4.419 4.835-.995 2.965-1.005 4.4-1.04 5.718-.056 2.113.277 3.362.277 3.362s-1.452-2.686-1.438-6.62c.009-2.808.451-5.354 1.75-7.867 1.143-2.209 2.842-3.535 4.35-3.691 1.559-.161 2.791.59 3.743 1.403 1 .854 2.01 2.721 2.01 2.721z"/><path d="m60.102 24.063s-1.057 1.889-1.715 2.617c-.659.728-1.837 2.01-3.292 2.651s-2.218.762-3.656.624c-1.437-.138-2.772-.97-3.24-1.317s-1.664-1.369-2.34-2.322-1.733-2.859-1.733-2.859.589 1.91.958 2.721c.212.467.864 1.894 1.789 3.136.863 1.159 2.539 3.154 5.086 3.604 2.547.451 4.297-.693 4.73-.97s1.346-1.042 1.924-1.66c.603-.645 1.174-1.468 1.49-1.962.231-.36.607-1.092.607-1.092z"/></g></svg> </a> <a lang="en" class="home" href="/WAI/"> <span class="wai"><span class="wa">Web Accessibility</span> <span class="i"><span class="initieative">Initiative</span> <span>WAI</span></span></span> </a> <div class="claim"> <span>Strategies, standards, resources to make the Web accessible to people with disabilities</span> </div> <button class="button button-menu" aria-haspopup="true" aria-expanded="false" id="openmenu"><span><svg focusable="false" aria-hidden="true" class="icon-menu "><use xlink:href="/WAI/assets/images/icons.svg#icon-menu"></use></svg> Menu</span></button> </div> <div class="navigations"> <nav class="metanav" aria-label="Meta & Search" lang="en"> <ul> <li><a href="/WAI/about/participating/">Get Involved</a></li> <li><a href="/WAI/about/">About W3C WAI</a></li> <li> <form action="/WAI/search/" role="search"> <div> <label for="header-search"> <span class="visuallyhidden">Search:</span> <input id="header-search" type="search" name="q" placeholder="Search" aria-label="Search"> </label> <button class="button button-icon button-nobg button-noborder"><span><svg focusable="false" aria-label="Submit Search" class="icon-search "><use xlink:href="/WAI/assets/images/icons.svg#icon-search"></use></svg></span></button> </div> </form> </li> </ul> </nav> </div> </header><nav class="mainnav" aria-label="Main" lang="en"><ul><li><a lang="en" href="/WAI/fundamentals/"><span>Accessibility Fundamentals</span></a></li><li><a lang="en" href="/WAI/planning/"><span>Planning & Policies</span></a></li><li><a lang="en" href="/WAI/design-develop/"><span>Design & Develop</span></a></li><li><a lang="en" href="/WAI/test-evaluate/"><span>Test & Evaluate</span></a></li><li><a lang="en" href="/WAI/teach-advocate/"><span>Teach & Advocate</span></a></li><li><a lang="en" href="/WAI/standards-guidelines/"><span>Standards/<wbr>Guidelines</span></a></li></ul></nav><nav class="default-grid breadcrumb" aria-label="Breadcrumb" lang="en"> <ul style="align-self: center;"> <li><a href="/WAI/" lang="en">Home</a></li><li><a lang="en" href="/WAI/standards-guidelines/"><span>Standards/<wbr>Guidelines</span></a></li><li><a lang="en" href="/WAI/standards-guidelines/evaluation/" aria-current="page"><span>Evaluation – ACT & EARL</span></a></li></ul> </nav> <div class="default-grid with-gap leftcol"> <div class="sidenav"><nav class="sn-contents" aria-label="Secondary"> <ul class="sidenav--list"> <li> <a lang="en" href="/WAI/standards-guidelines/" class="page-link"><span>Standards/<wbr>Guidelines</span></a></li><li> <a lang="en" href="/WAI/standards-guidelines/wcag/" class="page-link"><span>Web Content – WCAG 2</span></a><ul><li> <a lang="en" href="https://www.w3.org/WAI/WCAG21/quickref/" class="page-link"><span>How to Meet WCAG 2 (Quick Reference)</span></a></li><li> <a lang="en" href="/WAI/standards-guidelines/wcag/glance/" class="page-link"><span>At a Glance</span></a></li><li> <a lang="en" href="/WAI/standards-guidelines/wcag/docs/" class="page-link"><span>The Documents</span></a></li><li> <a lang="en" href="/WAI/standards-guidelines/wcag/non-web-ict/" class="page-link"><span>Applying to Non-Web ICT</span></a></li><li> <a lang="en" href="/WAI/standards-guidelines/wcag/new-in-22/" class="page-link"><span>New in 2.2</span></a></li><li> <a lang="en" href="/WAI/standards-guidelines/wcag/new-in-21/" class="page-link"><span>New in 2.1</span></a></li><li> <a lang="en" href="/WAI/standards-guidelines/wcag/translations/" class="page-link"><span>Translations</span></a></li><li> <a lang="en" href="/WAI/standards-guidelines/wcag/commenting/" class="page-link"><span>Commenting</span></a></li><li> <a lang="en" href="/WAI/standards-guidelines/wcag/conformance-logos/" class="page-link"><span>Conformance Logos</span></a></li><li> <a lang="en" href="/WAI/standards-guidelines/wcag/faq/" class="page-link"><span>FAQ</span></a></li></ul></li><li> <a lang="en" href="/WAI/standards-guidelines/wcag/wcag3-intro/" class="page-link"><span>WCAG 3 Draft</span></a></li><li> <a lang="en" href="/WAI/standards-guidelines/atag/" class="page-link"><span>Authoring Tool Accessibility Guidelines (ATAG) Overview</span></a><ul><li> <a lang="en" href="/WAI/standards-guidelines/atag/glance/" class="page-link"><span>At a Glance</span></a></li><li> <a lang="en" href="/WAI/standards-guidelines/atag/education/" class="page-link"><span>For LMS</span></a></li><li> <a lang="en" href="/WAI/standards-guidelines/atag/no-code/" class="page-link"><span>For No-Code Tools</span></a></li><li> <a lang="en" href="/WAI/standards-guidelines/atag/social-media/" class="page-link"><span>For Social Media Platforms</span></a></li></ul></li><li> <a lang="en" href="/WAI/standards-guidelines/uaag/" class="page-link"><span>User Agents – UAAG</span></a></li><li> <a lang="en" href="/WAI/standards-guidelines/aria/" class="page-link"><span>WAI-ARIA</span></a></li><li> <a lang="en" href="/WAI/standards-guidelines/evaluation/" aria-current="page" class="page-link"><span>Evaluation – ACT & EARL</span></a><ul><li> <a lang="en" href="/WAI/standards-guidelines/act/" class="page-link"><span>Accessibility Conformance Testing – ACT</span></a></li><li> <a lang="en" href="/WAI/standards-guidelines/earl/" class="page-link"><span>Evaluation and Report Language – EARL</span></a></li></ul></li><li> <a lang="en" href="/WAI/adapt/" class="page-link"><span>WAI-Adapt</span></a></li><li> <a lang="en" href="/WAI/pronunciation/" class="page-link"><span>Pronunciation</span></a></li><li> <a lang="en" href="/WAI/standards-guidelines/harmonization/" class="page-link"><span>Standards Harmonization is Essential</span></a></li><li> <a lang="en" href="/WAI/standards-guidelines/w3c-process/" class="page-link"><span>W3C Process for Developing Standards</span></a></li><li> <a lang="en" href="/WAI/standards-guidelines/linking/" class="page-link"><span>Referencing and Linking to Standards</span></a></li><li> <a lang="en" href="/WAI/cognitive/" class="page-link"><span>Cognitive Accessibility at W3C</span></a></li><li> <a lang="en" href="/WAI/standards-guidelines/mobile/" class="page-link"><span>Mobile Accessibility at W3C</span></a></li></ul></nav> </div> <main id="main" lang="en"> <header> <h1> Evaluation Standards Overview - ACT & EARL </h1></header> <p>This page links to resources that support the development of web accessibility evaluation tools and methodologies. They are primarily for evaluation tool developers.</p> <h2 id="act">Accessibility Conformance Testing (ACT)</h2> <p>Accessibility Conformance Testing (ACT) establishes and documents rules for testing the conformance of web content to accessibility standards.</p> <p>ACT Rules Format info:</p> <ul> <li><a href="/WAI/standards-guidelines/act/">ACT Overview</a></li> <li><a href="https://www.w3.org/TR/act-rules-format/">Accessibility Conformance Testing (ACT) Rules Format (Standard)</a></li> </ul> <p>Test Rules use the ACT Rules Format:</p> <ul> <li><a href="/WAI/standards-guidelines/act/rules/about/">About ACT Rules</a></li> <li><a href="/WAI/standards-guidelines/act/rules/">All ACT Rules List</a></li> </ul> <h2 id="earl">Evaluation and Report Language (EARL)</h2> <p>Evaluation and Report Language (EARL) is a machine-readable format for expressing test results.</p> <p>EARL info:</p> <ul> <li><a href="/WAI/standards-guidelines/earl/">Evaluation and Report Language (EARL) Overview</a> includes links to EARL documents.</li> </ul> <aside class="box box-icon box-space-above" id="helpimprove" aria-label="feedback"><header class="box-h box-h-icon box-h-space-above box-h-icon"> <svg focusable="false" aria-hidden="true" class="icon-comments "><use xlink:href="/WAI/assets/images/icons.svg#icon-comments"></use></svg> <h2> Help improve this page </h2></header><div class="box-i"><p>Please share your ideas, suggestions, or comments via e-mail to the publicly-archived list <a href="mailto:wai@w3.org?body=%5Binclude%20a%20relevant%20email%20Subject%5D%0A%0A%5Bput%20comment%20here...%5D%0A%0AI%20give%20permission%20to%20share%20this%20to%20a%20publicly-archived%20e-mail%20list.">wai@w3.org</a> or via GitHub.</p> <div class="button-group"> <a href="mailto:wai@w3.org?body=%5Binclude%20a%20relevant%20email%20Subject%5D%0A%0A%5Bput%20comment%20here...%5D%0A%0AI%20give%20permission%20to%20share%20this%20to%20a%20publicly-archived%20e-mail%20list." class="button"><span>E-mail</span></a><a href=" https://github.com/w3c/wai-website/edit/main/pages/standards-guidelines/evaluation/eval-standards.md " class="button"><span>Fork & Edit on GitHub</span></a><a href="https://github.com/w3c/wai-website/issues/new?template=content-issue.yml&wai-resource-id=wai-eval-standards&wai-url=https://www.w3.org/WAI/standards-guidelines/evaluation/" class="button"><span>New GitHub Issue</span></a></div></div></aside> <a class="button button-backtotop" href="#top"><span><svg focusable="false" aria-hidden="true" class="icon-arrow-up "><use xlink:href="/WAI/assets/images/icons.svg#icon-arrow-up"></use></svg> Back to Top</span></a> </main> </div> <footer id="wai-site-footer" class="page-footer default-grid" aria-label="Page"> <div class="inner"><p><strong>Updated:</strong> 6 May 2024.</p><p><strong>Editors:</strong> <a href="https://www.w3.org/People/Shawn/">Shawn Lawton Henry</a> and <a href="https://www.w3.org/People/shadi/">Shadi Abou-Zahra</a>.</p> <p>Developed with input from the Education and Outreach Working Group (<a href="https://www.w3.org/WAI/EO/">EOWG</a>).</p> </div> </footer> <footer class="site-footer grid-4q" aria-label="Site"> <div class="q1-start q3-end about"> <div> <p><a class="largelink" href="https://www.w3.org/WAI/" lang="en" dir="auto" translate="no">W3C Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI)</a></p> <p>Strategies, standards, and supporting resources to make the Web accessible to people with disabilities.</p> </div> <div class="social" lang="en" dir="auto" translate="no"> <ul> <li><a href="https://w3c.social/@wai"><svg focusable="false" aria-hidden="true" class="icon-mastodon "><use xlink:href="/WAI/assets/images/icons.svg#icon-mastodon"></use></svg> Mastodon</a></li> <li><a href="https://www.linkedin.com/company/w3c-wai/"><svg focusable="false" aria-hidden="true" class="icon-linkedin "><use xlink:href="/WAI/assets/images/icons.svg#icon-linkedin"></use></svg> LinkedIn</a></li> <li><a href="https://www.w3.org/WAI/feed.xml"><svg focusable="false" aria-hidden="true" class="icon-rss "><use xlink:href="/WAI/assets/images/icons.svg#icon-rss"></use></svg> Feed</a></li> <li><a href="https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCU6ljj3m1fglIPjSjs2DpRA/playlists/"><svg focusable="false" aria-hidden="true" class="icon-youtube "><use xlink:href="/WAI/assets/images/icons.svg#icon-youtube"></use></svg> YouTube</a></li> <li><a href="https://www.w3.org/WAI/news/subscribe/" class="button">Get News in Email</a></li> </ul> </div> <div lang="en" dir="auto" translate="no"> <p>Copyright © 2025 World Wide Web Consortium (<a href="https://www.w3.org/">W3C</a><sup>®</sup>). See <a href="/WAI/about/using-wai-material/">Permission to Use WAI Material</a>.</p> </div> </div> <div lang="en" dir="auto" translate="no" class="q4-start q4-end"> <ul style="margin-bottom:0"> <li><a href="/WAI/about/contacting/">Contact WAI</a></li> <li><a href="/WAI/sitemap/">Site Map</a></li> <li><a href="/WAI/news/">News</a></li> <li><a href="/WAI/sitemap/#archive">Archive</a></li> <li><a href="/WAI/about/accessibility-statement/">Accessibility Statement</a></li> <li><a href="/WAI/translations/"> Translations</a></li> <li><a href="/WAI/roles/">Resources for Roles</a></li> </ul> </div> </footer> <script src="/WAI/assets/scripts/details4everybody.js?1739541174349523255"></script>  <script src="/WAI/assets/scripts/svg4everybody.js?1739541174349523255"></script> <script> svg4everybody(); </script><script> var translationStrings = {}; </script> </body> </html>