Glossary

Assistive Technology

Well anything that assists or enables people in doing something. On their own which wouldn't otherwise be possible for them. Not necessary "technology". Wearing glasses? That's assistive technology. Common assistive technologies relevant for digital accessibility are screen readers, magnifying utilities, specialized input devices for motor disabilities.

Braille Display

A braille display can display what's on the screen and currently active. Similar to a screen reader.

This is especially helpful for people who are deafblind, but also for various other use cases, where reading out the content is not always helpful or probably overly verbose. Such as with code.

Screen Reader

An assistive technology that can read what's on the screen. Helpful for people with vision impairments such as low vision or blindness. It doesn't necessarily read everything from top to bottom but the user navigates through the operating system or web page and it reads out the currently active element.

Keyboard-Operable

Is it operable via keyboard? Can all controls be accessed just by using the keyboard?

Focus

Currently active element

tabindex

A HTML attribute that can modify the focus behaviour of a website.

Document Outline

How is the document structured? Does it have a Headings, Sub-Headings? Are there Landmarks?

Landmarks

Waypoints on a web page, helpful for navigation.

Heading Level

Headings have a level. <h1> is a Heading Level 1, <h2> is a Heading Level 2. It's like in games: you better don't skip a level, otherwise it's confusing.