This section describes the status of this document at the time of its
publication. Other documents may supersede this document. The latest status
of this document series is maintained at the W3C.
This version of Techniques for Authoring Tool Accessibility is a working
draft of an update to a W3C Note, published as an informative appendix to
"Authoring Tool Accessibility Guidelines". This document is a draft for
Working Group review. It is intended that it will update the previous version
of this Note but this draft does not represent consensus within the WAI
Authoring Tools Guidelines (AUWG)
Working Group, nor within W3C. This document is likely to change and should
not be cited as anything other than "work in progress". The Working Group
expects to update this document in response to queries raised by implementors
of the Guidelines, for example to cover new technologies. Suggestions for
additional techniques are welcome.
This document represents an attempt to make it clearer how to use the
techniques for different types of tools. It begins the process of publishing
the techniques as a multi-part hypertext document. It also begins the
process, in its markup, of preparing for a techniques document to match the
"wombat" drafts of the Authoring Tool Accessibility Guidelines.
For further information about Working Group decisions, please consult the
minutes of AUWG
Meetings.
This document has been produced by the Authoring Tool Accessibility Guidelines
Working Group (AUWG)
as part of the Web Accessibility Initiative
(WAI). The goals of the
Working Group are discussed in the AUWG charter.
Please send comments about this document to the public mailing list: w3c-wai-au@w3.org (public archives).
Please note that this document may contain typographical errors. It was
published as soon as possible since review of the content itself is
important, although noting typographical errors is also helpful.
A list of current W3C Recommendations and other technical documents
including Working Drafts and Notes can be found at http://www.w3.org/TR.
This document has been divided into a multi-part hypertext document to
keep individual pages to a manageable size. There are publishing conventions
used to identify various features and parts of the document. Some of these
will be used to provide multiple views of the techniques - for example
implementation techniques for a particular kind of tool, or references for
particular techniques. Other conventions are used to ensure that this
document is compatible with ATAG version 1.0 or will be compatible with ATAG
wombat with a minimum of difficulty or change.
Note on applicability of techniques: The following
techniques are applicable to all kinds of authoring tools, including those
that are insertable components of other authoring tools. For example, if an
authoring tool for designing on-line courses (courseware) has a prefabricated
chat facility that the instructor can drag on to their page, this component
must comply with all the techniques for accessible output (guidelines 1-6)
and accessible user interface (guideline 7).
Note: For the purposes of these techniques, authoring
tools may fall into one or more of the following categories. For example, an
HTML authoring tool that allows the user to create JavaScripts will fall
under two categories, Markup Editing Tools and Programming Tools. A SMIL
editor that includes a text-only view of the markup and a preview mode would
be considered both a Markup Editing Tool and a Multimedia Creation
Tool. @@This is still tentative@@
- Markup Editing Tools: Tools that
assist authors to produce markup documents. These include text-based and
WYSIWYG markup editors for HTML, XHTML, SMIL, etc. and word processors
that save in markup formats.
- Multimedia Creation Tools: Tools that
assist authors to create multimedia Web content without the author
having control over the raw markup or code of the output format.
These include multimedia production tools outputting SMIL or QuickTime as
well as image editors, video editors, sounds editors, etc.
- Content Management Tools: Tools that
assist authors to create and organize specific types of Web content
without the author having control over the markup or programming
implementation. Good examples include courseware in which the author
is prompted to enter various information which is then displayed in a
format determined by the tool. Note: If the tool allows
the author to control the markup that is actually used to implement the
higher-order content, then that functionality would be considered to be a
Markup Editing Tool.
- Programming Tools: Tools for creating
all kinds of Web Applications, including Java applets, Flash, server and
client-side scripts, etc. Also includes tools that assist authors to
create markup languages (i.e. XML) and tools that assist authors to
create user interfaces (i.e. UIML?).
- Conversion Tools: Tools for converting
content from one format to another. This includes tools for changing the
format of images, for conversion of other document formats to XHTML, for
importing document formats and document management systems and
servers.
Implementation Techniques by
Guideline and Checkpoint
Guideline 1: Ensure that the authoring tool is accessible to authors with
disabilities:
- Techniques for checkpoint
1.1: Ensure that the authoring
interface follows all operating environment conventions that benefit
accessibility (Applies at three priority levels: [Priority 1] for
standards and conventions that are essential to accessibility; [Priority
2] for those that are important to accessibility; [Priority 3] for those
that are beneficial to accessibility).
- Techniques for checkpoint
1.2: Ensure that the authoring
interface enables accessible editing of all element and object
properties. [Priority 1]
- Techniques for checkpoint
1.3: Ensure that the authoring
interface enables the author to edit the structure of the document [Priority 2]
- Techniques for checkpoint
1.4: Allow the display preferences of the authoring
interface to be changed without affecting the document markup
[Priority 1]
- Techniques for checkpoint
1.5: Ensure that the authoring
interface enables accessible navigation of editing views via the document
structure. [Priority 1]
- Techniques for checkpoint
1.6: Ensure the authoring
interface allows the author to search within the editing views. [Priority 2]
Guideline 2: Generate standard markup:
- Techniques for checkpoint
2.1: Use the latest versions of W3C Recommendations when
they are available and appropriate for a task. [Priority 2].
- Techniques for checkpoint
2.2: Ensure that markup which
the tool automatically generates is valid for the language the tool is
generating. [Priority 1]
Guideline 3: Support accessible authoring practices:
Guideline 4: Guide the author to produce accessible content:
- Techniques for checkpoint
4.1:Prompt the author to
provide equivalent alternative information (e.g., captions, auditory
descriptions, and collated text transcripts for video). [Relative Priority]
- Techniques for checkpoint
4.2: Help the author create
structured content and separate information from its presentation. [Relative Priority]
- Techniques for checkpoint
4.3: Do not automatically
generate equivalent alternatives or reuse previously authored
alternatives without author confirmation, except when the function is
known with certainty. [Priority 1]
- Techniques for checkpoint
4.4: Provide functionality for
managing, editing, and reusing alternative equivalents for multimedia
objects. [Priority 3]
Guideline 5: Provide ways of checking for and correcting inaccessible
content:
Guideline 6: Promote accessibility in help and documentation:
Guideline 7: Integrate accessibility solutions into the overall "look and
feel":
- Techniques for checkpoint
7.1 Ensure that the functionalities for checkpoints 3.1, 3.2 and 4.1
are always clearly available to the user. [Priority 1]
- Techniques for checkpoint
7.2:Ensure that accessible
authoring practices supporting WCAG Priority 1 checkpoints are among the
most obvious and easily initiated by the author. [Priority 2]
- Techniques for checkpoint
7.3:Ensure that all
functionality (prompts, checkers, information icons, etc.) related to
accessible authoring practices is naturally integrated into the overall
look and feel of the tool. [Priority 2]
- Techniques for checkpoint 7.4: Ensure that creating accessible content is a
naturally integrated part of the documentation, including examples. [Priority 2]
Other technique documents
Contents | Tier 1 | Tier
2 | Tier 3 | Tier 4 |
Appendix A: Prompting | Glossary | References