ACT Rule 7677a9 · proposed
Device motion based changes to the content can also be created from the user interface
Shake to undo is a nice touch until somebody cannot shake their phone, or has it mounted to a chair. This rule checks that anything device motion triggers can also be done through a control on screen.
A tool can find the places this applies and then hand you the decision. The rule is proposed, so it has not yet been implemented in full by a tool and reviewed by a W3C working group, and the wording can still change.
What passing this rule proves
When this rule fails, 2.5.4 Motion Actuation is not satisfied, and that half is certain. When it passes, W3C's own outcome mapping says the criterion still needs further testing. So a green result here is evidence that one specific thing is not broken, and it is the answer W3C gives on 59 of its 87 live rules.
W3C notes that the control you provide has to meet every Level A criterion itself, and none of that is checked here. The rule also assumes the motion is not essential and not part of an accessibility interface, which are the two exceptions the criterion allows. Deciding whether either applies is a person's call.
The criteria this rule is a test for
These are the criteria the rule names as its own conformance requirement. Each one is a far bigger question than this rule asks, and our page for it sets out what the whole criterion covers.
- 2.5.4 Motion Actuation Level A
The normative rule text lives at W3C
What the rule applies to, and exactly what it expects, is published by W3C and can change. We link to it rather than restate it, so nothing here can quietly fall out of date against the source. Read rule 7677a9 at W3C.
Content that moves automatically must be pausable
Carousels, tickers and auto-advancing content take attention whether or not you can spare it. For people with attention or reading difficulties, movement beside the text makes the text unreadable.
If it starts by itself, runs more than five seconds, and sits alongside other content, there has to be a way to pause, stop or hide it.
Hero carousels that advance every few seconds offer only dots. The dots change slides but never stop the rotation. Users cannot pause it and cannot read the text.
Fixes that satisfy it
If this rule fails on your site, these are the techniques that put it right.
Other rules W3C files under the same criteria
Each of these asks a different question about the same part of the standard. Passing all of them is still not the same as satisfying the criterion.
- Device motion based changes to the content can be disabled A tool finds candidates, you decide
All 87 ACT rules are grouped by the criteria they test, and 24 of them decide nothing about WCAG on their own. Run a free scan to see which of these your own pages trip.