Accessibility Glossary: 200 Web Accessibility Terms Explained In Plain English

Clear definitions of the WCAG, ARIA, ADA, Section 508 and European Accessibility Act terms you will meet in audits, VPATs and legal letters. Reviewed by our founder, an IAAP CPACC, WAS and CPWA certified specialist with 10+ years of hands-on accessibility testing.

Start Here

Turn These Terms Into A Plan

Looked up a term? These guides answer the questions people ask next. New here and not sure what you need? Book a free 30-minute call: a first conversation to understand where you stand and scope your project. Already have scan results or audit findings to go through with your developer? The $100 one-hour technical consultation is built for that.

What Does An Audit Cost?

What drives the price of an accessibility audit, what each package includes and how to compare quotes before you buy.

Read the audit cost guide

Got An ADA Demand Letter?

What to do in the first days after a demand letter or lawsuit, and how an audit and documented fixes support your response.

Read the ADA lawsuit guide

How Remediation Works

How audit findings become code, content and design fixes, and how each fix is retested so you can show it is resolved.

Read the remediation guide

Automated Scans Vs Manual Testing

What automated accessibility testing catches, where it stops, and why a manual review with a screen reader still matters.

Read the testing guide

Selling In The EU?

What the European Accessibility Act requires, who it covers and how EN 301 549 and WCAG fit together.

Read the EAA guide

Do Overlays Make A Site Compliant?

Why accessibility widgets do not fix the underlying code, and what courts and the FTC have said about them.

Read the overlays guide

get in touch

Know where you stand. Know what to work on next.

Tell us what you’re working on and where you need support. Our accessibility specialists can help with audits, remediation, VPAT/ACR, accessible development, and ongoing compliance.

Free 30-minute consultation (opens in new tab)

Free 30-minute call: talk through where you stand, scope a project or get a quote.

Need technical answers now? Book the $100 one-hour consultation to walk through an audit, talk with a developer or review your site live.

Let’s find the barriers before your users do

Indicates a required field.


Your information is kept private and never shared with third parties.

From Definition To Fix

Accessibility Glossary Terms Buyers Ask About Most

This accessibility glossary explains 200 terms in plain English. If you are buying an audit or answering a procurement request, start with accessibility audit, WCAG, success criterion, conformance level, VPAT, ACR, accessibility remediation, tagged PDF and accessibility roadmap. For the laws behind them, see ADA Title II, ADA Title III, Section 508, the European Accessibility Act and EN 301 549. Technical definitions follow the W3C’s WCAG 2.2 text.

Accessibility Audit

A structured review of your site against WCAG 2.2 Level AA using screen readers, the keyboard and automated scans. Our Quick Audit is $500 and a complete audit is $2,000.

Accessibility Audit Services

VPAT And ACR

A VPAT is the ITI reporting template. Once it is filled in from real testing it becomes an Accessibility Conformance Report (ACR), which buyers and Section 508 reviewers ask for.

VPAT And ACR Documentation

Accessibility Remediation

Fixing the issues an audit finds in your code, content or CMS settings, then retesting each fix so you can show it is resolved.

Accessibility Remediation

ADA Demand Letter

A letter claiming your website breaks the ADA, often sent before a lawsuit. An expert audit and documented fixes are the usual first response.

ADA Lawsuit Remediation

Tagged PDF

A PDF with a tag tree that gives screen readers its headings, reading order, tables and alt text. PDF/UA (ISO 14289) is the standard for accessible PDFs.

Document Accessibility Testing

Accessibility Roadmap

A prioritised plan for fixing issues and keeping them fixed, with owners, dates and scheduled retests after each release.

Accessibility Monitoring

All Accessibility Glossary Terms From A To Z

200 definitions covering WCAG success criteria, ARIA, assistive technology, testing tools and accessibility laws around the world. Select a term to read the full definition.

Disclosure Widget

A WAI-ARIA design pattern for a control that shows or hides a section of content, such as an accordion panel or a details toggle, identified by an aria-expanded button.

Document Accessibility

Accessibility applied to documents distributed outside the browser, such as Word files, PDFs, and slide decks, covering structure, reading order, alt text, and color contrast.

Dwell Clicking

A click method where holding a pointer, cursor, or gaze still over a target for a set amount of time triggers a click, used by people who cannot physically press a mouse button.

eMAG (Brazil)

Brazil's Modelo de Acessibilidade em Governo Eletrônico, a mandatory accessibility model for federal government websites, organized into 45 recommendations across six categories.

Email Accessibility

Accessibility applied to marketing and transactional emails, covering semantic HTML structure, alt text on images, sufficient contrast, and compatibility with screen readers across email clients.

EN 301 549

EN 301 549 is the European technical standard for ICT accessibility that both EU public-sector rules and the European Accessibility Act point to for their conformance requirements.

Error Identification

Error identification is a WCAG requirement that when a form submission fails validation, the specific field and the nature of the error are clearly described in text, not just indicated by color.

European Accessibility Act (EAA)

The European Accessibility Act (EAA) is the EU directive requiring accessible digital products and services from private businesses, including e-commerce, banking, and e-books, across all 27 member states.

Eye Gaze Control

A broader term for operating a device primarily through eye movement, encompassing both cursor control and, in communication devices, direct selection of words or symbols by gaze.

Eye-Tracking Technology

Assistive technology that lets a person control a computer or communication device by moving their eyes, tracked by a camera, instead of using a mouse or touch.

Focus Indicator

A focus indicator is the visible outline, highlight, or other visual change that shows a keyboard user which element on the page currently has focus.

Focus Order

Focus order is the sequence in which interactive elements receive keyboard focus as a user presses Tab, which should follow a logical, predictable path that matches the visual and reading order of the page.

Focus Trap

A focus trap is a technique that keeps keyboard focus contained within an open modal dialog or menu, so pressing Tab cycles through only the elements inside it rather than escaping to content behind it.

Form Label

A form label is the text identifying what a form field is for, programmatically associated with its input using the HTML label element or an ARIA labelling attribute, so screen reader users know what to enter.

GIGW (Guidelines for Indian Government Websites)

GIGW (Guidelines for Indian Government Websites) is the Indian government's official standard for how government websites and apps should be built, including a mandatory accessibility component.

Graceful Degradation

A development approach that builds the full-featured experience first, then ensures it degrades to a still-usable, if reduced, experience when a browser or assistive technology lacks full support.

Head Pointer / Head Tracking

An assistive input method that translates head movement, tracked by a camera or worn sensor, into cursor movement, giving hands-free pointer control.

Heading Hierarchy

Heading hierarchy is the logical, sequential structure of a page's h1 through h6 tags, which screen reader users rely on as a navigable outline of the page, similar to a document's table of contents.

Heuristic Accessibility Evaluation

An expert manual review of a site against established accessibility best practices and known usability patterns, rather than against a specific numbered checklist of WCAG criteria alone.

High Contrast Mode

An operating system or browser setting that overrides a site's colors with a simplified, high-contrast palette to make text and interface elements easier to distinguish.

Put The Terms To Work

Not Sure Which Of These Terms Apply To Your Site?

New here? Start with a free 30-minute call to understand where you stand and scope your project. Already have scan results or audit findings to work through with your developer? Book the $100 one-hour technical consultation. Ready for findings? Start with a $500 Quick Audit or a $2,000 complete audit.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is an accessibility glossary?

An accessibility glossary is a list of the terms used in digital accessibility, from standards such as WCAG and EN 301 549 to laws, assistive technologies and testing methods, each explained in plain language. Ours has 200 terms, written and reviewed by the web accessibility experts who run our audits.

What is the difference between WCAG, the ADA and Section 508?

WCAG is the W3C’s technical standard for accessible web content. The ADA is a US civil rights law: the Department of Justice’s Title II web rule requires state and local governments to meet WCAG 2.1 Level AA by April 26, 2027 (populations of 50,000 or more) or April 26, 2028 (smaller entities and special districts). Section 508 covers US federal agencies, and its standards incorporate WCAG 2.0 Level AA. See ADA Title II, ADA Title III and Section 508 in the glossary.

What is the difference between a VPAT and an ACR?

A VPAT (Voluntary Product Accessibility Template) is the blank reporting template published by the Information Technology Industry Council. When it is completed from real testing, the result is an Accessibility Conformance Report (ACR). We write ACRs from hands-on testing through our VPAT and ACR documentation service.

What does WCAG 2.2 Level AA mean?

WCAG 2.2 became a W3C Recommendation on 5 October 2023. It adds nine success criteria to WCAG 2.1, such as Target Size (Minimum) and Accessible Authentication, and removes 4.1.1 Parsing (W3C: What’s New in WCAG 2.2). Level AA means a page meets every Level A and Level AA success criterion. It is the level most laws and contracts ask for.

How much does an accessibility audit cost?

Our packages are fixed prices: a one-hour technical consultation (audit walkthrough, developer Q&A or live issue review) is $100, a Quick Accessibility Audit is $500, and a complete audit is $2,000, including the Shopify Accessibility Audit. Remediation and VPATs are quoted after we see the findings. See accessibility audit pricing for what each package includes.

Can an automated scanner or overlay make my website compliant?

No. Automated tools cannot check every WCAG requirement, which is why the W3C’s guidance on evaluation tools says to combine them with manual review. An accessibility overlay does not fix the underlying code either; read why in accessibility overlays and ADA lawsuits. Our audits pair scans with manual testing in NVDA, JAWS, VoiceOver and the keyboard.

Who writes and reviews these glossary definitions?

Our web accessibility experts. Reviews are led by founder Mohammad Shadab Saifi, who has 10+ years in digital accessibility and holds the IAAP CPACC, WAS and CPWA certifications. If a term on your audit report is unclear, book a $100 consultation and we will walk you through it.

I am new to accessibility. Where should I start?

Read WCAG and accessibility audit first, then the guide that fits your situation: audit cost, an ADA demand letter or the European Accessibility Act. When you want to talk it through, book a free 30-minute call. It is a first conversation to understand where you stand and scope a project. If you already have scan results or audit findings to go through with your developer, the $100 one-hour technical consultation is the better fit.