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Guideline 3:
Support the creation of accessible content.

Well-structured information and equivalent alternative information are cornerstones of accessible design, allowing information to be presented in a way most appropriate for the needs of the user without constraining the creativity of the author. Yet producing equivalent information, such as text alternatives for images and auditory descriptions of video, can be one of the most challenging aspects of Web design, and authoring tool developers should attempt to facilitate and automate the mechanics of this process. For example, prompting authors to include equivalent alternative information such as text equivalents, captions, and auditory descriptions at appropriate times can greatly ease the burden for authors. Where such information can be mechanically determined and offered as a choice for the author (e.g., the function of icons in an automatically-generated navigation bar, or expansion of acronyms from a dictionary), the tool can assist the author. At the same time, the tool can reinforce the need for such information and the author's role in ensuring that it is used appropriately in each instance.

Checkpoints

3.1 [relative] Prompt the author to provide equivalent alternative information (e.g., captions, auditory descriptions, and collated text transcripts for video).
3.2 [relative]Help the author create structured content and separate information from its presentation.
3.3 [relative]Ensure that prepackaged content conforms to the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 1.0.
3.4 [P1]Do not automatically generate equivalent alternatives. Do not reuse previously authored alternatives without author confirmation, except when the function is known with certainty.
3.5 [P3]Provide functionality for managing, editing, and reusing alternative equivalents for multimedia objects.
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