This page introduces WCAG 2.0 Working Draft documents. For general information about Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) and WCAG 1.0, see Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) Overview.
Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 1.0 was approved in May 1999 and is the stable and referenceable version.
WCAG 2.0 is being developed to more broadly apply to different technologies and to be easier to use and understand, as documented in Requirements for WCAG 2.0. WAI anticipates WCAG 2.0 may be completed in the first half of 2005. Because of the nature of the W3C specification development process, WAI cannot be certain when the final version of WCAG 2.0 will be available. Therefore, WCAG 1.0 will remain the latest approved version at least through the beginning of 2005.
The main WCAG 2.0 document applies broadly to all Web content; it is not specific to any one technology.
WCAG 2.0 is organized around four design principles for Web accessibility:
Under each principle are guidelines that define how the principle applies in a specific area.
Under each guideline are success criteria, definitions, benefits, and examples. Success criteria are testable statements to further define the guideline and to determine conformance.
General Techniques for WCAG 2.0 applies broadly to all Web content; it is not specific to any one technology. The General Techniques document provides implementation guidance, explanations, and strategies.
Each technology-specific techniques document provides implementation guidance, preferred approaches, and markup examples for a specific technology.
The techniques documents are organized by topic; for example, HTML Techniques includes sections on forms, images, lists, links, tables, etc.
The checklists are lists of testable statements that define what is required to meet WCAG 2.0 in a specific technology.
Customized checklists can be generated based on selected technologies, elements, and other criteria.
Test suites provide sample files that can be used for testing accessibility implementations for a specific technology.
Specific test paths are generated based on selected technologies, elements, and other criteria.
Throughout the documents are links to related information in other documents. Navigation between documents may change in future designs of WCAG 2.0.
WCAG 1.0 is organized around guidelines that have checkpoints, which are priority 1, 2, or 3. The basis for determining conformance to WCAG 1.0 are the priority checkpoints.
The current WCAG 2.0 Working Draft is organized around four design principles of Web accessibility. Each principle has guidelines, and each guideline has success criteria at level 1, 2, or 3. The basis for determining conformance to WCAG 2.0 Working Draft are the level success criteria.
There are also some differences in the WCAG 1.0 and WCAG 2.0 related documents:
Mapping Between WCAG 1.0 and the WCAG 2.0 Working Draft is a draft document that shows the relationship between WCAG 1.0 checkpoints and WCAG 2.0 Working Draft guidelines.
WAI will provide additional resources to help organizations that are currently using WCAG 1.0 transition to WCAG 2.0.