World Wide Web Consortium (W3C)
"Leading the Web to its full potential"
- International, vendor-neutral consortium
- Multi-stakeholder, consensus process
- Open and royalty-free Web standards:
- HTML, CSS, XML, SVG, SMIL, ...
- Operates from MIT, ERCIM, and Keio
W3C Members
Currently more than 350 W3C Members:
- Web Industry
- Technology Adopters
- Research & Development
- User Organizations
List of current W3C Members
W3C Process
Governs W3C work and processes:
- Consensus-based process
- Single vote per Member
- Roles and responsibilities
- Transparancy and openess
- Public accountability
W3C Process is publicy available
W3C Work Areas
W3C Offices
Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI)
Making the Web accessible for people with disabilities:
- Operates fully under the W3C Process
- Additional funding from public grants
- Mostly publicly open Working Groups
- Makes use of Invited Expert modality
- Aim is to balance multi-stakeholders
WAI Work Areas
WAI develops strategies, guidelines, resources to make the Web accessible:
- Accessibility support in W3C technologies
- Guidelines for implementing accessibility
- Methods for evaluating accessibility
- Conducting education and outreach
- Coordinating with Research and Development
Scope of Web Accessibility
Web accessibility is supported by several key components:
- Base Format - technologies such as (X)HTML, CSS, SVG, SMIL, PDF, Flash, Silverlight, ...
- Authoring Tools - code editors, CMS, blog, wiki, save-as tools, conversion tools, ...
- User Agents - Web browsers, media players, browser plug-ins, assisitive technology, ...
- Web Content - text, images, audio, video, code, markup, structure, presentation, ...
Components of Web Accessibility
WAI Accessibility Guidelines
W3C Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI) develops and maintains:
Introducing WCAG 2.0
Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.0
- W3C web standard since 11 December 2008
- Technology-independent
- Objectively testable
- Flexible for situations
- Support for developers
Web Applications
Accessible Rich Internet Applications (WAI-ARIA) 1.0:
- Adds semantics to base technologies such as HTML
- Is a technique to help meet WCAG 2.0 Success Criteria
- Does not replace WCAG, ATAG, or UAAG
