W3C and WAI Overview
Daniel Dardailler
W3C Director for Europe
http://www.w3.org/2005/03/dd-cost/all.htm
W3C Exec Summary
The International Web Standardization Organization,
creator of HTML, XML, HTTP, Web Services, Semantic Web technologies, WAI
Guidelines, etc.
- Mission: Lead the Web to its full
potential
- Goals: Interoperability, Universality,
Functionalities
- How: Industry driven + Grants,
Neutral/nonforprofit, consensus based, Open participation, open
results
- ~360 members (120 in Europe), ~70 staff (25 in Europe)
- Based at MIT, ERCIM (Europe) and Keio University
(Japan) + 14 Offices
- Liaisons with 40+ other standards
bodies, Accountable to the global Public
Web technologies
- Work
- 4 Domains, 20+ Activities, 50+ Groups
- Results: 80+ Web Standards, from http, HTML and XML to Web Services
and Semantic Web
How does W3C work ?
- Provide a neutral forum for meeting
- Technical expert doing specification editing
- Achieve consensus
- Reference open source code where appropriate
End results: Working Drafts and Recommendations
WAI in Brief
- Started in 1997
- Develops accessibility solutions for the Web
- addresses functional requirements across different disabilities
- ensures solutions in core Web technologies
- develops guidelines, tools,
education
- Brings multiple stakeholders together
- industry, disability, research, government
- Receives sponsorship for activities
- USA - NIDRR, European Commission - IST, Canada - ADIO
- Fundación ONCE, HP, IBM, Microsoft, SAP, Verizon, Wells
FargoCross
Disability Design
- Visual, Auditory, Physical, Speech, Cognitive
- Important Design Principles:
- Separate presentation from structure and semantics
- Establish a clear & consistent navigation pattern
- Ensure interoperability between mainstream applications and
assistive technologies
- Design for All Benefits:
- Multi-modality (visual/auditory/tactile)
- Style sheets (maintenance, bandwidth)
- Captioning (indexing, search)
Essential Components of Web Accessibility
Activities and Groups
| AREAS |
GROUPS |
| 1. Technology |
Protocols and Formats WG |
| 2. Guidelines |
Web Content Accessibility Guidelines WG (2.0 in last
call) |
| Authoring Tool Accessibility Guidelines WG (2.0 in last
call) |
| User Agent Accessibility Guidelines WG |
| 3. Tools |
Evaluation and Repair Tools WG |
| 4. Education and Outreach |
WAI Interest Group |
| Education and Outreach WG |
| 5. Research and Development |
Research and Development IG |
Benefits of Web Accessibility Standard Harmonization
- Create a unified market demand / drive development
- Better authoring tools and more interoperable AT
- Reuse of training and education materials/technical assistance
- Guarantee of vendor independence (both software/hardware)
- Guarantee of universality (across language, culture)
- Guarantee of durability
How do we address fragmentation ?
- Increase participation from regional groups in guidelines
development
- Increase officialness of W3C standards
- Adding a new process for Authorized translations
- Foster local support/outreach vs. duplication of technical
work
- Explain the responsibility: continued evolution means continued
obligation
- Focusing on the importance of Harmonization
Public Resources