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The WCAG Primer is intended for use by the UK cross government accessibility community. Complete our survey here.

3.1.1 Language of Page (A)

Understanding 3.1.1 Language of Page (A)

The written language of the page must be identified in the code of the web page. This makes sure that screen readers automatically use the correct speech libraries for accent and pronunciation.

Requirements / What to do?

  • The language is identified using the lang attribute of the <html> element.

Common mistakes

  • No lang attribute is present on the <html> element.
  • The lang attribute is present on the <html> element, but it incorrectly identifies the language of the page.

Useful resources