Success Criteria

WCAG 1.3.4 Orientation

Success Criterion 1.3.4 requires that content doesn't restrict its view and operation to a single display orientation (portrait or landscape), unless a specific orientation is essential. It's a Level AA criterion under Guideline 1.3 (Adaptable), added in WCAG 2.1.

Who this protects

Many people mount their mobile device or tablet in a fixed orientation — a wheelchair-mounted device, a tablet clamped to a bed frame or a walker, a phone in a fixed dock — often in whichever orientation best suits their physical setup, which may not match what the site's developer assumed. A site that force-locks to portrait-only breaks completely for someone whose device is mounted in landscape, with no way for them to rotate their own body or device to compensate.

The narrow exception: "essential"

WCAG allows orientation-locking only where a specific orientation is genuinely essential to the content or function itself — a piano-keyboard app, a check-deposit camera view calibrated to a bank check's dimensions, or a video genuinely intended to be watched a specific way. This is a narrow, functionally-justified exception, not a general excuse for "the design looks better this way."

How this is typically implemented (and violated)

CSS media queries (@media (orientation: portrait)) or JavaScript's Screen Orientation API can both force a single-orientation layout — hiding content, showing a "please rotate your device" message, or CSS-transforming the whole page to fight against the device's actual orientation. Any of these patterns fails 1.3.4 unless the content genuinely requires that orientation to function.

The fix

Build responsive layouts that adapt to both orientations rather than locking to one — the same reflow/responsive-design discipline that satisfies mobile usability generally also tends to satisfy this criterion, since a layout that genuinely adapts to any viewport width and height doesn't need to lock orientation in the first place.

Official references

• Deque University: css-orientation-lock

Common questions

What is WCAG 1.3.4?

A Level AA criterion: content must work in both portrait and landscape orientation and not force one, unless a particular orientation is essential.

Why does orientation matter?

Users with a device mounted to a wheelchair or with motor limitations may not be able to rotate their device, so locking orientation excludes them.

What is an exception to 1.3.4?

When a specific orientation is essential, such as a piano keyboard app or a check-scanning feature that genuinely requires landscape.