First Step Ruleset

The “First Step” Ruleset is designed to help people new to accessibility and identifies 27 rules as a stating point for meeting WCAG requirements.

Rule ID Summary Level Conformance SC Result Values
Audio 1 Audio-only (Prerecorded) A Required 1.2.1 F MC P H
Bypass 1 Skip to main content link A Required 2.4.1 F MC P
Color 1 Color contrast of text: Minimum AA Required 1.4.3 F MC P H
Color 2 Use of color A Required 1.4.1 MC
Control 1 Form controls must have labels A Required 3.3.2 F MC P H
Control 2 Image button must have alt. content A Required 3.3.2 F P H
Control 3 Radio buttons must have grouping label A Required 3.3.2 F P H
Control 10 Accessible name must be unique AA Required 2.4.6 F MC P H
Control 12 Forms submitted using buttons A Required 3.2.2 F MC P H
Heading 1 Page should have h1 element A Recommended 2.4.1 F P H
Image 1 Images must have alt text A Required 1.1.1 F P H
Keyboard 1 ARIA widget keyboard support A Required 2.1.1 MC H
Keyboard 2 Sequential tab order of focusable elements must be meaningful A Required 2.4.3 MC P H
Keyboard 3 No keyboard trap A Required 2.1.2 MC H
Landmark 1 main landmark: at least one A Required 2.4.1 F P H
Table 1 Data cells must have row/column headers A Required 1.3.1 F MC P H
Table 2 Data tables must have name AA Required 2.4.6 F P H
Table 5 Identify table markup as data or layout A Required 1.3.1 F MC P H
Timing 1 Control time limits A Required 2.2.1 MC
Video 2 Captions (Prerecorded) A Required 1.2.2 MC P H
Widget 1 Accessible name is required A Required 4.1.2 F MC P H
Widget 3 role must be valid A Required 4.1.2 F MC P H
Widget 4 Values must be valid A Required 4.1.2 F P H
Widget 5 Attributes that start with aria- must be defined. A Required 4.1.2 F P H
Widget 12 Accessible name is descriptive AA Required 2.4.6 F MC H