What is Fragmentation?
Conflicting, divergent technical standards occur through:
- Changing the wording of individual provisions
- Combining two or more different accessibility provisions
- Omitting or adding accessibility provisions
Fragmentation Drivers
Frequent causes for the development of competing standards:
- Restriction on the types of recognized standards
- Belief that W3C is not an official standards body
- Only standards in local language(s) can be adopted
- Belief that local standards better meet the needs
- Belief that it is easier to manage local standards
More examples of fragementation drivers
Effects of Fragmentation
Conflicting technical standards reduces the implementation:
- Unmanageable requirements for Web developers
- Slows down support by Web software, including:
- Authoring tools
- Evaluation tools
- Browsers, media players
- Assistive Technologies
- Information repositories, courses, know how, ...
A Convergence Target?
WCAG 2.0 could be a potential convergence target:
- New milestone in the field of Web accessibility
- Possibility for language or localized Techniques
- Contribution to longer-term WCAG developments
- Opportunity for Authorized W3C Translations
WCAG 2.0 Techniques
Techniques provide flexibility for localization:
- Specifics of a natural or written language
- Assistive technology support in a language
- Cultural aspects and local community norms
Authorized Translations
Several recognized WCAG 2.0 Translations in progress:
- In progress: Danish, French, Italian, Spanish
- Announced: Catalan, Chinese, German, Japanese, Korean
- In discussion: Arabic, Dutch, Greek, Hindi
- Unofficial: Hungarian, Portuguese, Portuguese/Brazil
...still need many more authorized translations!
Conclusions
- Fragmentation has already done a lot of harm
- WCAG 2.0 is a good opportunity for convergence
- Several mechanisms for localization available
- Let's work together to make the Web accessible
