Checkpoint

A checkpoint is a specific, testable accessibility requirement in a set of guidelines — for example, 'provide a text equivalent for every non-text element' is WCAG 1.0 checkpoint 1.1. The term is strongly associated with WCAG 1.0, which was organised into 65 numbered checkpoints grouped under 14 guidelines. WCAG 2.0 and later versions renamed checkpoints to 'success criteria' and reorganised them into four principles (Perceivable, Operable, Understandable, Robust), but the underlying concept — a single atomic, measurable requirement against which a page or component can pass or fail — carries through. Conformance testing and automated accessibility tools are fundamentally organised around checkpoints: each rule in a test suite maps to one or more checkpoints or success criteria.