WAI Style Guide – Single Page Version

Follow these guidelines when writing materials for W3C WAI.

About this style guide

The purpose of the guide is to support readability, consistency, and easier translations.

This is a living document. For the list of substantive changes, see the changelog.

This style guide is for US English. Translators can use conventions in their language.

Structure and presentation

Structure

Logical flow and order

Using structural elements

Related information can be presented using:

Default approach: separate sentences

In most cases, use separate sentences. This is usually best for readability.

You can use a transition such as “For example”, “That is”, “See”, or others.

Examples:

  • Forms are commonly used to provide user interaction. For example, forms are used for logging in, registering, commenting, and purchasing.
  • Is there enough space in the main audio for the description? That is, are there sufficient pauses throughout the narration or speaking where the relevant description will fit?
  • WCAG 3 will have a different structure, different conformance model, and broader scope. See WCAG 3 Introduction.

If dividing a complex sentence into two sentences, you might need to add words to make complete sentences.

Optional approach: one sentence

In some cases described below, you can use one sentence with a semicolon, parentheses, or em dash. Avoid long or complex sentences.

Semicolon (optional)

If the information is short and simple, you can use one sentence with a semicolon. The text before and the text after the semicolon should both be grammatically complete sentences.

Example:

Parentheses (optional)

For a short clarification within a simple sentence, you can use parentheses within the sentence. Be aware that the parenthetical information will break up the sentence flow.

Example:

  • Captions (called “subtitles” in some areas) provide content to people who are deaf and hard-of-hearing.
Em dash (optional)

If you want to convey emphasis or a sharp break in thought, you can use an em dash with simple clauses. (Be aware that em dashes are associated with AI writing.)

The first part should be a complete sentence. The part after the dash does not need to be a complete sentence.

Example:

  • The W3C mission is to make the web work — for everyone.

Related: The grammar section covers em dashes for list items.

Formatting

Bold

Use bold sparingly to highlight important or urgent information, such as names, dates, deadlines, or key actionable points.

Avoid bolding text in whole paragraphs or sections.

Italics

Use italics to indicate foreign words that are not common in English.

Example:

The Japanese aesthetic of wabi-sabi values simplicity and imperfection.

Use italics sparingly to emphasize a word or phrase if it helps make the meaning clearer, especially to show differences between ideas.

Example:

This policy applies to new staff, not existing staff.

Avoid italicizing text in whole paragraphs and sections.

Tone, language, and words

Tone

Language

Disability language

People-first language, identity-first language

Use both people-first and identify-first language.

Example:

Accessibility is about ensuring that digital technology is usable by people with disabilities. The fundamental goal of accessibility is meeting the needs of disabled people in the real world.

Exception: Always use “autistic people”, not “people with autism”.

People-first language

People-first language puts the person before the disability.

Examples:

  • people with disabilities
  • people who are blind
  • people who are hard-of-hearing
Identity-first language

Identity-first language puts the disability before the person.

Examples:

  • disabled people
  • blind people
  • hard-of-hearing people
Disability-specific terms
Blind
Color blind
Deaf
“Loss”:
Terms to avoid

Avoid terms that are negative, derogatory, dehumanizing, or patronizing; euphemisms; and terms that suggest suffering, helplessness, or weakness.

Examples:

  • burn victim
  • confined to a wheelchair, wheelchair bound
  • deaf-mute
  • differently abled, different abilities
  • “the disabled”, “the blind”, etc.
  • handicapped
  • high-functioning, low-functioning
  • special needs, specially abled

Gender-inclusive language

Use gender-neutral language, where possible.

Example:

Use “chair”, not “chairman”.

Avoid assumptions about gender.

Example:

Not all builders are male.

Pronouns: Gender inclusivity and translation considerations

Use pronouns that are inclusive and easy to translate for W3C’s global audience.

Use a plural noun to avoid (he/she, his/her)

Avoid assuming gender by skipping “he/she” and “his/her”, where possible. Use a plural noun instead.

Example:

Using the noun “developer”:

  • Avoid: A developer should test his code before release.
  • Use: Developers should test their code before release.
Use a noun instead of singular “they”

Singular, “they” can be:

To avoid using singular “they”, use a noun instead.

Example:

  • Avoid: If an author can avoid jargon, they should do so.
  • Use: If an author can avoid jargon, the author should do so.

Exceptions: Use:

Plain language

Plain language uses clear wording, structure and design. It helps readers easily:

Techniques for writing in plain language
Abbreviations

Provide the full term with the abbreviation on first use — see Expanding abbreviations.

Contractions

Avoid negative contractions.

Examples:

  • Avoid: “can’t”, don’t, “won’t”
  • Use: “cannot”, “do not”, “will not”

Use positive contractions.

Examples:

Use: it’s, that’s, you’re, they’ll, we’ve, let’s

Personal pronouns

Use “you” and “your” to address the reader.

Use “we” when speaking for an organisation (like W3C), but only when it’s clear who “we” refers to.

Structure

Break up information into smaller sections to make it easier to read. See Using structural elements.

Verbs

Do not turn actions into nouns. Use verbs instead.

Examples:

Example 1:

  • Avoid: We conducted an analysis of the results.
  • Use: We analyzed the results.

Example 2:

  • Avoid: They carried out an investigation into the issue.
  • Use: They investigated the issue.
Voice

Write in the active voice; that is, the subject performs the action.

Avoid the passive voice where possible.

Example:

  • Avoid the passive voice: Additional information will be provided here when it's available.
  • Use the active voice: We’ll provide updated information here when it’s available.
Words

Example of unnecessary words:

  • Avoid: Try to write link text so that it clearly describes where the link goes.
  • Use: Write link text that describes where the link goes.

Spelling

Terms

Correct usage of key terms

Accessible

Do not use “accessible” to mean things like “convenient,” “available,” or “easy to use.” Use it to refer specifically to accessibility for people with disabilities or to places that are easy to reach or enter for disabled people.

Example:

  • Avoid: The gardens are accessible to the public.
  • Use: The gardens are open to the public.
Click (versus select)

Do not say “select” instead of “click” just to make the wording work for people who do not use a mouse.

Use “click” when activating a button or a link, because everyone understands what this means.

Examples:

  • Click the “Submit” button.
  • Click the link.

Use “select” when choosing from options.

Example:

Select from the dropdown menu.

Hand-eye coordination

Use “hand-eye coordination”, not “eye-hand coordination”.

Speech recognition, voice recognition

Speech recognition converts spoken words into text for speech-to-text (STT) transcription, virtual assistants, and other speech user interfaces.

Voice recognition identifies who is speaking by analyzing their unique vocal characteristics, such as voice biometrics to authenticate a user.

URL (Uniform Resource Locator)

URL is a string of characters that identifies a resource. It provides information on how to locate and access the resource. Use this term when referring to links to webpages.

Example:

https://www.w3.org/WAI/ — this identifies the resource, the WAI homepage, as a webpage at the w3.org domain accessed using the secure HTTP protocol.

URI (Uniform Resource Identifier)

URI is a string of characters that identifies a resource. It does not always describe how to locate the resource. Use this term when referring to a resource identifier.

Example:

mailto:wai@w3.org — this identifies an email resource.

Terms to avoid

See also Disability-specific terms.

W3C terms

Member(s)

Treat “W3C Members” as a proper noun.

Treat “members” as a common noun when used in the plural.

Examples:

  • The organization joined as a W3C Member to work with us.
  • W3C members are organizations of all sizes and all types.
Working group(s), task force(s)

Include the title of the group when referring to a specific working group or task force and treat the term as a proper noun.

Treat “working group” and “task force” as common nouns when used without the title of the group or when used in the plural.

Examples:

  • The Accessibility Guidelines Working Group is discussing the issue.
  • A new working group has been created.
  • You can join working groups and specific task forces.
WCAG terms
WCAG 2

Example of referring to a specific version:

It conforms to Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1.

WCAG 3
WCAG article and verb

Treat “Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2” and “W3C Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 3” as titles of standards, not as plural “guidelines”.

When referring to the WCAG title, it’s a proper noun: Do not put the article (“the”) in front of WCAG.

Examples:

  • Follow WCAG.
  • Follow Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG).

Use WCAG with a singular verb.

Examples:

  • Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2 is published by W3C.
  • WCAG 3.0 is not expected to become a W3C Recommendation this year.

When WCAG is used as an adjective: Use the article (“the”) in front of WCAG.

Example:

Follow the WCAG standard.

WCAG success criteria

Do not refer to success criteria by number alone. Include the title.

Example:

  • Avoid: This applies to Success Criterion 1.4.5.
  • Use: This applies to Success Criterion 1.4.5 Images of Text.

Do not use a colon between the success criterion number and title.

Example:

  • Avoid: Success Criterion 1.4.5: Images of Text.
  • Use: Success Criterion 1.4.5 Images of Text.

Style for different content types (A-Z)

Abbreviations

Expanding abbreviations

Spell out an abbreviation the first time you use it on a page. Put the short form in parentheses afterwards. After that, you can just use the abbreviation.

Example:

  • First use: World Wide Web Consortium (W3C)
  • Later use: W3C

There are a few ways you can do this — see techniques for expanding abbreviations.

Exception: If a term is widely known by its abbreviation, you do not need to spell it out.

Examples:

ARIA, CAPTCHA, GIF, HTML, PDF, WiFi

Re-expanding abbreviations

Capitalization in expanded terms

Use title case for proper nouns.

Examples:

  • Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG)
  • Framework for Accessible Specification of Technologies (FAST) Task Force

Use lowercase for common nouns.

Examples:

  • real-time communication (RTC)
  • augmentative and alternative communication (AAC)

Abbreviations to avoid

Dates

Put the day first:

Example:

1 January (instead of January 1)

Do not use letter suffixes after the day:

Example:

30 April (instead of 30th April)

Use numbers for the day and year, words for the month:

Example:

31 May 2022

If numbers only are required, use YYYY-MM-DD:

Example:

2025-10-21

Headings

Correct heading hierarchy

Nest headings properly — for example, <h1> should not be followed by <h3> or lower.

See also the guidance on structuring headings.

Capitalization in headings

Use sentence case, not title case.

Exception: Capitalize any terms in the heading that are proper nouns.

Punctuation in headings

Use no terminal punctuation for headings, unless a question mark is required.

Link text

Link text should describe the destination.

Example:

To write link text for a link that takes the user to a page titled “WAI Resources”:

  • Avoid: “Click here”, “Learn more”, “Read more”
  • Use: “WAI Resources”

On a given page, do not use the same link text for links that go to different destinations.

Place links at the end of sentences, if possible.

Example:

Include the file format so the user knows what to expect.

Example:

  • Avoid: To download the full report, see Annual Report 2025.
  • Use: To download the full report, see Annual Report 2025 (PDF).

Add a full stop after the linked text if it ends a sentence.

Do not add a full stop after a raw URL.

Lists

Parallel structure

Keep the same grammatical form for each list item: all noun phrases, all verb phrases, or all full sentences.

Long list items

When items in a list have several sentences, consider if the list structure is particularly useful for conveying the information. If not, use regular paragraphs instead of a list.

Capitalization and punctuation in lists

Text that introduces a list

End with a colon.

Example:

Web accessibility means that people can:

  • perceive, understand, navigate, and interact with the web
  • contribute to the web
List items are complete sentences

Capitalize the first letter.

End with a full stop or a question mark.

Example:

  • In spring I mulch the roses.
  • In summer I grow vegetables.
  • In autumn I sow and repair the lawn.
List items are fragments or not complete sentences

Start with a lowercase letter (except for proper nouns).

End each item with no punctuation.

Example:

Shopping list:

  • bread
  • milk
  • eggs
List items complete the introductory phrase or sentence in the body text

Treat all the items in the list as a grammatical part of the introductory phrase or sentence.

Start with a lowercase letter, even if the list is a numbered list.

End each item with no punctuation.

Examples:

To give your day structure, use the 1-3-5 Rule and focus on:

  • one big task
  • three medium tasks
  • five small tasks

To prepare for a productive day:

  1. wake up early
  2. review goals
  3. prioritize the most important tasks
List items that are a mix of complete sentences and fragments

If you must mix sentences and fragments, start with a capital letter and end with a full stop or question mark for all items.

Numbers

When to write as digits

Ages, measurements, percentages, and ratios

Always use a digit:

Examples:

  • She is 5 years old.
  • They run 5 kilometres every day.
  • He is 6 feet tall.
  • We drink 2 litres of water a day.
  • I bought 2 kilos of tomatoes.

Digits versus words

Numbers showing quantity or order

Numbers up to nine: use words.

Examples:

  • He invited nine friends.
  • She came first.
  • It was the ninth time this happened.

Numbers 10 and above: use digits.

Examples:

  • They bought 10 plants.
  • I was 12th in the queue.

Exceptions:

Examples of writing very large numbers:

1 million, 2.2 billion, 3.5 trillion

Start of a sentence

Avoid starting a sentence with a digit. Use words or reword.

Examples:

  • Avoid: 10 of the 25 participants had issues completing the task.
  • Use:
    • Ten of the 25 participants had issues completing the task.
    • Of the 25 participants, 10 had issues completing the task.

With related numbers, where one number is usually written in digits and the other not, use digits for both.

Example:

We bought 1 bag containing 500 seeds.

Adjacent numbers

With adjacent numbers that express different categories of numbers, use a mixture of words and digits.

Example:

The cook needs twelve 2-pound bags of flour.

Punctuation in numbers

Use commas in numbers with more than three digits.

Examples:

  • 9,000
  • 9,990,900

Exceptions: Use no punctuation for years, addresses, page numbers, or code line numbers.

Symbols

Except where there is a lack of space (for example, in a table or chart), use words for the following symbols:

Examples:

  • Number 3 is correct.
  • Statement 2 is true.

Times

Examples:

  • The meeting is from 09:00 to 10:30.
  • They agreed to meet between 13:00 and 15:00.

Grammar

Capitalization

Abbreviations

See Capitalization in abbreviations.

All caps

Avoid using all capital letters for words (except acronyms).

Braille

Use lowercase for “braille” (unless you are referring to Louis Braille).

Glossaries

Use lowercase for glossary terms (except for proper nouns).

Headings

See Capitalization in headings.

Lists

See Capitalization and punctuation in lists.

Proper nouns

Capitalize proper nouns.

If a proper noun is singular, it becomes a common noun in the plural — use lower case.

Examples:

  • Proper noun is capitalized: The goal of Success Criterion 2.5.8 Target Size (Minimum) is to make controls easier to activate.
  • Common noun uses lowercase: WCAG 2.2 provides nine additional success criteria since WCAG 2.1.
Proper nouns that have become common nouns

Use lowercase for the following nouns, unless these are part of a name or title:

That versus which

That: Introduces essential information needed to understand the sentence

Example:

The time is essential to identify specific meetings: “The meeting that starts at 10:00 is online. The other meetings are in-person.”

Which: Introduces extra information that is not essential.

Example:

The time is not essential: “The meeting, which starts at 10:00, is online.”

Punctuation

Semicolon

See Semicolon (optional) in Related information in sentences.

Commas

In a phrase listing three or more items, place a comma before the final conjunction (“Oxford comma”).

Example:

I bought apples, oranges, and bananas.

Dashes and hyphens

Em dash (—)

Put a space before and after an em dash.

For em dashes in sentences, see Em dash (optional) in Related information in sentences.

Em dashes for list items

Use em dashes when list items have a short phrase followed by an explanation or clarification.

Example:

Users of this curricula include:

  • faculty lecturer — selects topics from the foundation, developer, and designer modules to teach accessibility to computer science students
  • employee training coordinator — compares the course content offered by different providers based on the modules provided in this resource
  • procurer — includes requirements in a training Request for Proposals (RFP) based on the modules provided in this resource
En dash (–)

Examples:

  • The years 1990–2000 were transformative.
  • Read pages 10–15.
  • They defeated the defending champions 106–76.
Hyphen (-)

Use a hyphen to join compound adjectives.

Examples:

  • peer-to-peer connection
  • short-term memory
  • well-known technique

Do not hyphenate:

Examples:

  • They are two closely related concepts.
  • The technique is well known.

Use a hanging hyphen when two compound adjectives modify the same noun.

Example:

The pre- and post-deployment stages are equally important.

For guidance on terms we no longer hyphenate and are written as one word, see the section on Spelling.

Ellipsis (…)

Use an ellipsis to show:

Add a space before and after an ellipsis.

Example:

I was wondering … but it’s probably not important.

Headings

See punctuation in headings.

See punctuation in links.

Lists

See punctuation in lists.

Numbers

See punctuation in numbers.

Parentheses

See Parentheses (optional) in Related information in sentences.

Quotation marks

Use double quotation marks to reference a term.

Example:

This accessibility requirement is sometimes called “sufficient color contrast”; however, the technical term is “luminosity contrast”.

Slashes

Forward slash

Generally, only use a forward slash in dates, fractions, and URLs.

Do not use a forward slash to indicate an optional plural. Use parentheses instead.

Example:

  • Avoid: Test/s
  • Use: Test(s)

Try not to use a forward slash to show two things that have a close relationship or that are in opposition. Use a hyphen or words like “and” or “or” instead.

Example 1:

  • Avoid: The issue was part of the larger nature/nurture debate.
  • Use: The issue was part of the larger nature-nurture debate.

Example 2:

  • Avoid: The project examines cause/effect relationships.
  • Use: The project examines cause-and-effect relationships.

Example 3:

  • Avoid: If/when I have a dog, I’ll need a fenced yard.
  • Use: If or when I have a dog, I’ll need a fenced yard.

Example 4:

  • Avoid: Add a potato and/or an onion.
  • Use: Add a potato, or an onion, or both.

Exception: You can use a forward slash if it shows a relationship or contrast better than when using words.

Example:

  • Avoid: In inclusive writing, avoid gender pronouns (she or her, he or his).
  • Use: In inclusive writing, avoid gender pronouns (she/her, he/his).
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