Instructions don't rely on visual cues or sound
What this criterion checks
Evaluates whether instructions and prompts throughout the application avoid relying solely on sensory characteristics — such as shape, colour, size, visual location, orientation, or sound — to convey meaning. Assesses whether the intended meaning is communicated through text and not just through visual cues, and whether state or status information such as success, warning, required, and active states is also communicated through text or accessible labels. Corresponds to WCAG 1.3.3 Sensory Characteristics (Level A).
How it's assessed
The agent navigates through the application following realistic user journeys, capturing screenshots at each step. Using AI-powered vision analysis, it evaluates all instructions and prompts throughout the application. It checks whether the intended meaning is communicated through text rather than relying solely on color, shape, or position. It verifies that instructions can still be understood if a user were to ignore visual elements entirely, and checks whether state or status information such as success, warning, required, and active states is communicated through text or accessible labels in addition to visual cues.
How reliable it is
This criterion agrees strongly with expert review, so you can rely on its findings and spot-check as you see fit. See Accuracy & confidence for how the confidence tags are set.