When electronic forms are designed to be completed on-line, the form shall allow people using assistive technology to access the information, field elements, and functionality required for completion and submission of the form, including all directions and cues.

Why this is important: Visitors using assistive technology need to access form controls independently of how they are presented on the screen. They also need to receive all of the cues that normal browsers provide—for example, which fields are mandatory and what, if any, errors have been made in completing the form. Proper semantic markup (XHTML) helps assistive technology to present form information and controls accessibly.