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Language Rules

HTML Markup Details

lang attribute
The lang attribute can be used on almost all elements to define the intended langauge of content of the element.
Two-character character codes from language value registry are used as the value of lang attribute.
xml:lang attribute
The xml:lang attribute can be used on the html element to define the default language of a web page.

Accessibility Evaluation Rules

Language Evaluation Rules
no. FAE 2007 FAE 2008 Description
1 N/A Pass/Fail

The default language for a web page must be defined using the lang attribute and if an xhtml doctype is used also the xml:lang attribute.
2 N/A Pass/Fail

The lang or xml:lang attribute value starts with a valid two character language code.

Implementation Notes
3 N/A Check

If content on a web page is in a different language than the default language of the web page, the lang attribute must be used on a container element for the content and the value of the lang attribute must be set to the language of the content.

FAE Rule Implemetation

FAE 2007
The Illinois Functional Accessibility Evaluator (FAE) currently implements FAE 2007 rules.
The Illinois Firefox Accessibility Extension currently implements these rules.
FAE 2008
The FAE 2008 rules are designed to optimize the rules for implementation of Section 508, W3C Web Content Accessibility Guidelines and Illinois Information technology Accessibility Act requirements and are based on the requirements of these standards and experience with the problems of FAE 2007.
The Illinois Firefox Accessibility Extension currently implements some of these rules.

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