Main content

Metadata

Should

Section 508:

  • N/A

WCAG 2.0:

  • N/A

Metadata should be provided for media.

Providing metadata linking alternatives can assist users with disabilities in locating alternative versions of media for a page.

iOS

Not applicable

Android

Not applicable

HTML

Metadata can be used to associate accessible alternate versions of Web pages with pages or content that does not meet the standards and guidelines.  It can also be used to locate and describe alternative media.  Use the link element with rel and type attributes.

HTML Example

<head>
  <title>Weekend Update</title>
  <meta name="description"
        content="A multimedia guide to your weekend">
  <meta name="keywords" content="Weekend, news"> 
<link rel="alternate"
      type="application/html"
      media="screen"
      title="Weekend Update Text Version"
      href="http://www.bbc.com/mobile/weekendUpdate.html" />
</head>  

 HTML Fail

<head>
  <title>Weekend Update</title>
  <meta name="description"
        content="A multimedia guide to your weekend">
  <meta name="keywords" content="Weekend, news"> 
</head>   

Testing

Procedures Results
  1. Locate multimedia
  2. View the source of the page
  3. Verify that metadata content is indicated in the head section of the page and indicates where alternatives to the media are located

The following check is true:

  • Correct metadata is provided for multimedia