Authoring an Accessible Web

Authoring Tool Accessibility Guidelines 1.0

Overview

• What and who
• How the guidelines work
• A quick look through
• Some more resources
• Questions.

What are the guidelines about?

• Making authoring Tools Accessible
• Making Accessible Web Content
• Web Content Guidelines are about how to make pages;

  Authoring Tool Guidelines are about how to make tools

Where do they fit in WAI's work?

• One of the three major guidelines projects
• Relies on Web Content Guidelines for how to make pages accessible
• Relies on User Agent and other (non-W3C) Guidelines for general software requirements
• Close links to Evaluation and Repair

Who is involved?

• Working group:
  • IBM, Microsoft, Lotus
  • ATRC, TRACE, TSBVI
  • Disabled people
  • W3C staff
• Reviews by
  • Disability organisations
  • Software developers
  • Other working groups

What is an authoring tool?

A tool used for making Web content

• HTML source editors
• WYSIWYG editors
• XML Editors
• Image editors
• Video editors
• Word processors with "save as HTML"
• Groupware systems
• and others...

What is in the guidelines?

• Same structure as other WAI guidelines
• Seven guidelines - general principles
  1. Support accessible authoring practices
  2. Generate standard markup
  3. Support the creation of accessible content.
  4. Provide ways of checking and correcting inaccessible content
  5. Integrate accessibility solutions into the overall "look and feel"
  6. Promote accessibility in help and documentation
  7. Ensure that the authoring Tool is accessible to users with disabilities
• 28 Checkpoints - specific requirements

A simple checkpoint:

7.2 Allow the author to change the presentation within editing views without affecting the document markup. [Priority 1]

This allows the author to edit the document according to personal requirements, without changing the way the document is rendered when published.

Techniques for checkpoint 7.2

• Automatic in a source-editing tool
• CSS user style sheet
• Zoom, colour mapping

A complex checkpoint

4.2 Assist authors in correcting accessibility problems. [Relative Priority]

At a minimum, provide context-sensitive help with the accessibility checking required by checkpoint 4.1

Techniques for checkpoint 4.2

Relative Priority: a dependence on WCAG

Techniques are implementation suggestions, issues, and language-specific details

Support accessible authoring practices

• Make sure the author can produce accessible content
• Make sure content provided by the tool is accessible
• Make sure translating doesn't lose accessibility information

Generate standard markup

• Specialised User Agents may only handle valid materials
• W3C specifications are reviewed by WAI

Support the creation of accessible content

• Prompt the author for necessary information
• Keep track of accessibility information to help the author

Provide ways of checking and correcting inaccessible content

• Check for accessibility
• Help the author to fix problems

Integrate accessibility solutions into the overall "look and feel"

• Make sure accessibility is a normal part of the tool
• Make it obvious that accessibility is important

Promote accessibility in help and documentation

• Help educate the author
• Provide help to make pages accessible
• Always give accesible examples

Ensure that the authoring tool is accessible to users with disabilities

• Provide text-friendly interfaces
• Provide shortcuts and efficient navigation
• Use standard APIs, widgets and components

Implementation: ?

• Every checkpoint is implemented in a tool today
• Commitment to implement:
  • Agfa
  • Bluestone
  • IBM
  • Microsoft
  • Sausage
• Demand from buyers of tools:
  • Boeing
  • Electricité de France
  • HTML Writers' Guild

Resources

• The Guidelines
• The Techniques
• Sample Evaluations
• Sample Tools:
  • A-prompt, Schematron, Bobby
  • WAI-ER's list of tools
• W3C Technical Reports
• Web Accessibility Initiative home page

Questions and discussion

W3C presentations archived online at http://www.w3.org/Talks