Sensory Characteristics
Instructions provided for understanding and operating content do not rely solely on sensory characteristics of components such as shape, color, size, visual location, orientation, or sound.
In plain language
Instructions shouldn't rely only on how something looks or sounds (like "the round green button" or "the beep"). There must also be a way to identify it that doesn't depend on shape, color, size, position, or sound.
Why it matters
Someone who is blind can't see "the button on the right," and someone who is colorblind might not tell "the red one" from "the green one." If instructions only reference sensory traits, these people can't figure out what to do.
In practice
Fails this criterion
"Click the green circle to continue" — with no other identifier. A colorblind or blind user can't find it.
Meets this criterion
"Click the green 'Continue' button in the lower right corner" — the text label makes it findable even without seeing color, shape, or position.
Test it yourself
Read through the instructions on the site. If any of them only reference shape, color, size, position, or sound without a text label or name, this criterion is failing.