Validation - Addressing Failures, Warnings, & User Verifications (Desktop and Advanced Editor)

Once you have run your Validation users may find it helpful to address results one type at a time. A suggested workflow would be to fix failures, followed by warnings, and eventually user verification results.

Pro Tip: Make sure to read the status messages in the verification very carefully.  While some of them may be worded more "technically," sometimes, if you read the message carefully, you'll be able to figure out what the intent of the checkpoint is or what you need to do to address the particular issue.  Of course, some are a little more tricky and we often include articles in this Knowledge Base to explain them.  If you don't find your answer in this article, below, use the Search functionality, using some "keywords" from the error message and see if there's an article about it, here! 

Addressing Failures

Failures are results that were not compliant with one or more checkpoints within the selected standards. For example, all standards require that Figure tags have Alternative text so that all audiences can access the graphic. CommonLook would mark every graphic that lacks Alternaive text as a Failure so the remediator will fix the issue. The following instructions are relevant to managing results with the status of "Failed," but can be applied to other results in a similar fashion.

1. When the Results panel opens, near the upper left corner, click in the “Filter by” field to expand the drop-down menu options.  Click "Failed" to show only this result type.
2. Hover the mouse over the "Description" column of the first failed item (near the right side of the Results panel) to see why this element failed. Hovering will reveal a tooltip that will allow you to read the entirety of the description.

3. Click once on this first failure and, if it is related to a problem with tagging elements in the document (for example a Figure without Alternative text), the particular element will be highlighted in the document.  If the failure relates to something document-wide, such as not having a document title, nothing will be highlighted in the physical view, but the metadata window will appear on the right panel of the screen.
4. Double click the error (in the Description column) to open the Fix Wizard. Alternatively, right-clicking (or otherwise opening the context menu) and selecting "Fix" will also open the Fix Wizard.
5. Approximately halfway down the Fix Wizard panel, there is a dropdown menu with “Fix option(s)” to correct the failure.  Click the dropdown arrow to view the various options, select the best choice, and click “Next” or “Finish” as needed.  Note:  Some errors require more than one step to fix.  Follow the prompts in the Fix Wizard to resolve the failed result.
   
6. When finished with one failure, the Fix Wizard will close and the user will return to the Results panel.  Proceed through the other listed Failures to fix the issues.

What to do when the Fix Wizard is Not Available

Some errors identified in a verification may not have a solution available with the Fix Wizard.  When this is the case, right-click (or otherwise opening the context menu) on the error’s description (in the Results panel), choose “Edit Checkpoint Status” from the context menu, read the description, and manually address the issue.

Validation - Addressing Warnings

After all of the Failures have been addressed in the Verification phase, check the items marked as “Warning." A good way of understanding these results is to note that these are specific instances where CommonLook wants you to be aware of something, but that something is not a violation of the standards. For example, within some standards, tables are not required to have summaries. With that said, CommonLook will mark these results as warnings to remind the user that they can add summaries if they would like. The following instructions are relevant to managing results with the status of "Warning," but can be applied to other results in a similar fashion.

1. When the Results panel opens, near the upper left corner, click in the “Filter by” field to expand the drop-down menu options.  Click "Warning" to show only this result type.
2. Hover the mouse over the "Description" column of the first Warning item (near the right side of the Results panel) to see why this element failed. Hovering will reveal a tooltip that will allow you to read the entirety of the description.
   

3. Some results identified in a "Warning" may have a solution available with the Fix Wizard.  If so, follow the prompts to resolve the issue. Some "Warnings" are not able to be solved with the Fix Wizard.  When this is the case, right-click (or otherwise opening the context menu) on the error’s description (in the Results panel), choose “Edit Checkpoint Status” from the context menu, read the description, and manually address the issue.
   

Validation - Addressing User Verifications

After all of the Failures and Warnings have been addressed in the Verification phase, check the items marked as “User Verification." These are results that have not necessarily failed in regard to standard compliance, but cannot be automatically passed. For example, while a machine can test for the presence of color in a document, it cannot test to know whether or not color is the only way that information is being conveyed. This is the first component of the color checkpoint, so it will always result in a "User Verification." Each "User Verification" will require manual input.  The following instructions are relevant to managing results with the status of "User Verification," but can be applied to other results in a similar fashion.

1. When the Results panel opens, near the upper left corner, click in the “Filter by” field to expand the drop-down menu options.  Click "User Verification" to show only this result type.
2. Hover the mouse over the "Description" column of the first User Verification item (near the right side of the Results panel) to see why this element failed. Hovering will reveal a tooltip that will allow you to read the entirety of the description.
   
3. Click on the first User Verification item listed in the Results panel.  If applicable, the item in the physical view will also be highlighted.
4. Right-click (or otherwise open the context menu) on the Description and, from the context menu, choose “Edit Checkpoint Status.”
   
5. When the Status dialog opens, read the description for what this checkpoint is addressing, and check the document as required to verify whether or not there is an issue. These results can sometimes identify an issue, or error, that the user needs to address, but can also confirm that something was done correctly.
   

6. If an error is found in the document, click Cancel (at the lower right corner of the Status Dialog), and fix the issue.
   Note:  If an error is found and fixed, refer to the article on running an Incremental Validation Check to ensure that you do not duplicate your validation efforts.
   If there is not an error, change the "Status" of the result in the dropdown menu (above the description). Options include Passed, Not Applicable, Skipped, etc.
   Note:  Whenever changing the status of a validation result, a user may add a comment. These comments will be clearly displayed on the CommonLook Compliance Report if the user opts to create the report. For more details, refer to the article on generating a Compliance Report.
   

7. Click OK.

Didn't find what you're looking for? Navigate to our "Validation & Standard Check" section for more related articles that may help!