VGAR Page Requirements

Doctype (PAG-WEB-002)

Provide a !DOCTYPE statement

Setting the correct document type allows assistive technologies to know what rules to follow while parsing. This level of formatting removes ambiguity in the parsing process and allows greater coverage across different user agents. To determine the doctype declared on the page, open the page’s source code and look for the doctype at the beginning of the HTML code.

Requirements

Doctype (PAG-WEB-002-01)

A valid doctype MUST be set for all pages.

Test Procedures

HTML Validator (PAG-WEB-002-01-T)

1. Run an HTML automated validation tool on the page
2. Check the page for the presence of a valid docypte declaration

Related Content

WCAG Success Criteria

• 4.1.1 Parsing

W3C Techniques

• G134: Validating Web Pages
• G192: Fully Conforming to Specifications
• H88: Using HTML According to Spec
• H74: Ensuring that opening and closing tags are used according to specification
• H94: Ensuring that elements do not contain duplicate attributes
• H75: Ensuring that Web pages are well-formed

Common Failures

• F70: Failure of Success Criterion 4.1.1 due to incorrect use of start and end tags or attribute markup
• F77: Failure of Success Criterion 4.1.1 due to duplicate values of type ID