The written language of the page must be identified in the code of the web page. This makes sure that screen readers automatically use the correct speech libraries for accent and pronunciation.
Accessibility Requirements for 3.1.1 Language of page (A)
- The language is identified using the
langattribute of the<span class="nt"><html</span>element.
Common mistakes for 3.1.1 Language of page (A)
- No
langattribute is present on the<span class="nt"><html></span>element. - The
langattribute is present on the<span class="nt"><html></span>element, but it incorrectly identifies the language of the page.
Techniques for 3.1.1 Language of page (A)
HTML Technique
Common Failures for 3.1.1 Language of page (A)
The following are common mistakes that are considered failures of Success Criterion 3.1.1 by the WCAG Working Group.
Human language:
Language that is spoken, written or signed (through visual or tactile means) to communicate with humans.
Programmatically determined:
Determined by software from author-supplied data provided in a way that different user agents, including assistive technologies, can extract and present this information to users in different modalities
Determined in a markup language from elements and attributes that are accessed directly by commonly available assistive technology.
Determined from technology-specific data structures in a non-markup language and exposed to assistive technology via an accessibility API that is supported by commonly available assistive technology.
FAQs for Language of page
What is the language of the page?
The default human language of the Web page is the default text-processing language as discussed in Internationalization Best Practices: Specifying Language in XHTML & HTML Content. When a Web page uses several languages, the default text-processing language is the language which is used most.
What is the language of part?
The human language of each passage or phrase in the content can be programmatically determined except for proper names, technical terms, words of indeterminate language, and words or phrases that have become part of the vernacular of the immediately surrounding text.