11. Glossary
Plain-English definitions of every term that appears in the dashboard. Alphabetical.
Alt text: a short written description of an image, so people who cannot see the image still get the information. Required for every image that carries information. Decorative images (a divider line, a background swirl) should have empty alt text so the screen reader skips them.
ARIA: Accessible Rich Internet Applications. Extra labels in the HTML code that tell screen readers what an element is and what it does. When a developer makes a button out of a <div> instead of a real <button>, ARIA is what tells the screen reader "this is actually a button."
Code Fix: a fix that needs a developer to change the HTML, CSS, or JavaScript. Examples: adding labels to form fields, fixing keyboard focus order, repairing a modal that traps keyboard users.
Color contrast: how distinct the text color is from its background, measured as a ratio. The minimum is 4.5 to 1 for normal text and 3 to 1 for large text. Pale gray text on a white background is one of the most common findings on government sites.
Content Fix: a fix your communications or web team can make without touching code. Writing better alt text, replacing "click here" with descriptive link text, updating headings.
Critical severity: a barrier that blocks people from using a page at all. A form with no labels a screen reader can read, or a keyboard trap. These should be fixed first.
Design Fix: a fix that needs a design or brand decision before code can change. The most common one is color contrast: the brand palette has to change before a developer can update the stylesheet.
Deferred finding (documented exception): an issue your team has reviewed and decided not to fix right now, with a documented reason. A deferred finding moves out of your active finding counts, and every report preserves the reason alongside who deferred it and when.
DOJ deadline: the date your government has to meet WCAG 2.1 Level AA for its website and apps. April 26, 2027 for governments with 50,000 or more residents. April 26, 2028 for smaller governments.
Form labels: every input on a form needs a visible label that says what to put in it. A form with placeholder text instead of real labels is unusable for anyone who cannot see the placeholder.
Heading order: section headings on a page should go in order, like a book outline. Screen-reader users navigate by jumping between headings; if your page skips from H1 to H4, they lose the table of contents.
Keyboard trap: a part of a page that traps focus so a keyboard user cannot leave with the Tab key. Often caused by modal dialogs or embedded widgets that capture focus and never release it.
Letter grade: a simple A through F translation of the Readiness Score for non-technical readers. Same caveat as the score: not a legal determination, a progress indicator.
Minor severity: a polish issue that does not block anyone but should still be cleaned up. Redundant alt text, unused ARIA attributes, viewport zoom locked off on mobile.
Moderate severity: a barrier that creates friction but workarounds usually exist. A heading skipped from H2 to H4, or a list visually styled with <div> instead of real list markup.
Ready for rescan: a finding that has been fixed but is waiting for the next scan to confirm. AuditAble moves it to Verified fixed automatically once the next scan no longer detects the issue.
Quick Wins: the smallest content fixes you can knock out today without a developer. Usually one to three findings with the lowest effort and highest visible impact.
Readiness Score: a 0 to 100 score that estimates how ready your site is for the Title II rule. Higher is better. Recalculated every time a scan completes. Not a legal compliance grade.
Verified fixed: a finding that has been confirmed fixed by a re-scan. Stays in your audit trail and stops affecting your score.
Screen reader: software that reads what is on the screen out loud so people who cannot see the screen can use it. Common ones are NVDA, JAWS, and VoiceOver. Screen-reader compatibility is the single most common reason a municipal website gets named in an ADA complaint.
Serious severity: a barrier that makes a page very hard to use, even if not totally impossible. Missing alt text on a key image, or color contrast so low someone with low vision has to squint and guess.
Skip navigation link: a hidden link at the top of every page that lets keyboard users jump past the menu straight to the content. Without it, a keyboard user has to Tab through 30 to 50 menu items on every page.
Title II of the ADA: the part of the Americans with Disabilities Act that applies to state and local governments. It says your residents have a legal right to access your services, programs, and activities. The 2024 DOJ rule extends that to your website and mobile apps.
Vendor Fix: a fix that requires your CMS vendor (CivicPlus, Granicus, Bang the Table, Tyler Tech, etc.) to make a change. Documented exceptions with this reason category document that the issue is outside your unilateral control.
WCAG 2.1 Level AA: the technical accessibility checklist your website needs to follow. 50 specific rules covering color contrast, form labels, keyboard navigation, headings, alt text, and more. Level AA is the middle of three levels and the one the DOJ rule requires.