WCAG Techniques for Specific Technologies - Archived

Summary

EOWG and WCAG WG participants tentatively agreed on the following wording on 30 May, pending review by the rest of the Working Groups' participants.

Publication of techniques for a specific technology does not imply that the technology can be used in all situations to create content that meets WCAG 2.0 success criteria and conformance requirements. Developers need to be aware of the limitations of specific technologies and provide content in a way that is accessible to people with disabilities.

(one correction from the wording agreed upon in the teleconference: "conformance criteria" changed to "conformance requirements")

The issue of where this wording will be included is pending. Notes are in #Location below.

More info:

EOWG comment submitted 14 Feb
WCAG reply 19 Feb
EOWG reply 21 Feb
EOWG discussion and links to minutes are below
EOWG-WCAG WG minutes 30 May

Background from Feb 2014

In Understanding Techniques for WCAG Success Criteria add a new section:

<h3>Techniques for Specific Technologies
Publication of techniques for a specific technology does not imply that the technology can be used in all cases to create accessible content that meets WCAG 2.0. Developers need to be aware of the limitations of specific technologies and ensure that they provide content in a way that is accessible to all potential users.
- fyi, we've been putting this in the announcements and blogs for some time. {Shawn}
- Should we suggest that this goes right under the Techniques are Informative section? Or at the end after the Using the Techniques section? Or somewhere else? {Shawn}
- Agree - can we put it in multiple place? Otherwise I'm in favour of up-front. {Andrew}
- Discussion in EOWG telecon minutes 14 Feb
  - Sharron: +1
  - <paulschantz> +1
  - <Bim> +1
  - <Jan> +1
  - <yatil> +1
  - Andrew: ok
  - Vicki: +1

EOWG comment to WCAG WG

Notes

WCAG has techniques for technologies that are not currently accessible for some users, e.g., Flash for Mac users, PDF for tablet/smart-phone users, some WAI-ARIA functionality with less-than-modern AT, etc.
While we do want to focus on WCAG, we also want people to think broadly about accessibility. Accessibility is more than WCAG, user agent & AT support for accessibility are also important factors.
- WCAG 2.0 conformance requires "Only Accessibility-Supported Ways of Using Technologies" - this relates to user agent and AT support and needs highlighting. See also Understanding Accessibility Support.

Additional Discussion on Wording

WCAG reply 19 Feb with proposed modified wording:
Publication of techniques for a specific technology does not imply that all uses of that technology will meet WCAG 2.0. Developers need to be aware of the limitations of specific technologies and provide content in ways that meets WCAG 2.0 success criteria.
EOWG telecon minutes 21 Feb
- Andrew: I see a change in the sense of what we meant. Their response is similar but not quite the same. It doesn't say quite the same thing.
- Sharron: The way they they phrase it seems more wide open and easier to misinterpret.
- Shawn: One of the examples is the fact that Flash is still not accessible with IOS. In our wording, the first sentence covers a situation like that. Their rewrite does not.
EOWG reply 21 Feb with Shawn possible wording (pending EOWG approval):
Publication of techniques for a specific technology does not imply that the technology can be used in all situations to create accessible content that meets WCAG 2.0. Developers need to be aware of the limitations of specific technologies and ensure that they provide content in a way that is accessible to potential users.
A further edit (to take out "ensure that they"):

Publication of techniques for a specific technology does not imply that the technology can be used in all situations to create accessible content that meets WCAG 2.0. Developers need to be aware of the limitations of specific technologies and provide content in a way that is accessible to potential users.
EOWG thoughts:
- I think the last one says what it needs to say a little more succinctly {Shawn}
- I agree with Shawn, and like this wording, it gives the right message. {Bim, 2 April}
- The rewording of the first sentence is a significant improvement over the WCAG proposal - the key is "used in all situations to create accessible content" highlighting that there is more to accessibility than just "technology will meet WCAG 2.0" and that the use context needs to be considered. {Andrew, 03.April.2014}
- +1 {Eric, 2014-04-03}
- +1 {Liam, 2014-04-04}
- comment {name}

Minutes from join meeting with EOWG & WCAG WG on 30 May 2014

Location

WCAG WG suggested it be added to the existing General and Technology-specific Techniques section, instead of being a new section.

OK, though not ideal - I think it's important enough that it should have it's own section; however, I don't feel strongly enough to object. {Shawn}
Agree that a separate section would be preferred, but isn't essential. {Bim, 2 April}
+1 to Shawn {Eric, 2014-04-03}

New location question (March 2014)

New issue: Should it be included on technology-specific techniques pages of those for which this is a particular issue, such as WAI-ARIA, PDF, Flash? (Others listed in TOC?) At the top (before the TOC), or in the Technology Notes, or elsewhere?

Yes. I think it should go at at the top before the TOC, and in the Technology Notes section. {Shawn}
+1{Bim, 2 April}
yes, agree that both places is preferable approach {Andrew, 03.April.2014}
+1 {Eric, 2014-04-03}

Notes:

People who are already familiar with the techniques will likely not read the introductory information in the "Understanding Techniques for WCAG Success Criteria".
People do go to the technology-specific pages as stand alone pages, especially when they are focusing on a specific technology and when new techniques are announced.
Need to maximize likelihood that people will see it, at the same time being cognizant of unnecessary repetition.
2 points made in the current General and Technology-specific Techniques section:

General techniques describe basic practices that apply to all technologies. Technology-specific techniques apply to a specific technology.

Some success criteria do not have technology-specific techniques and are covered only with general techniques. Therefore, both the general techniques and the relevant technology-specific techniques should be considered.

Publication of techniques for a specific technology does not imply that all uses of that technology will meet WCAG 2.0. Developers need to be aware of the limitations of specific technologies and provide content in ways that meets WCAG 2.0 success criteria.

Current intros to Tech-Spec pages:

This Web page lists [technology] Techniques from Techniques for WCAG 2.0: Techniques and Failures for Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.0. Technology-specific techniques do not supplant the general techniques: content developers should consider both general techniques and technology-specific techniques as they work toward conformance.

For information about the techniques, see Introduction to Techniques for WCAG 2.0. For a list of techniques for other technologies, see the Table of Contents.

Location June proposal

1. For each individual Technique page (e.g., <http://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG20-TECHS/ARIA1>), update as follows:

Add a new section at the top entitled "Important information about Techniques" with content:

See Understanding Techniques for WCAG Success Criteria for important information about the usage of these informative techniques and how they relate to the normative WCAG 2.0 success criteria. The Applicability section explains the scope of the technique, and the presence of techniques for a specific technology does not imply that the technology can be used in all situations to create content that meets WCAG 2.0.

Delete the section "Techniques are Informative" from the bottom of those pages, since it is made redundant by the above addition at the top of the pages.

2. For each technology-specific page (e.g., <http://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG20-TECHS/aria.html>, in the info at the top, add the middle paragraph below (wording that WCAG WG & EOWG already agreed upon):

This Web page lists [technology] Techniques from Techniques for WCAG 2.0: Techniques and Failures for Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.0. Technology-specific techniques do not replace the general techniques: content developers should consider both general techniques and technology-specific techniques as they work toward conformance.
Publication of techniques for a specific technology does not imply that the technology can be used in all situations to create content that meets WCAG 2.0 success criteria and conformance requirements. Developers need to be aware of the limitations of specific technologies and provide content in a way that is accessible to people with disabilities.
For additional important information about the techniques, see Introduction to Techniques for WCAG 2.0. For a list of techniques for other technologies, see the Table of Contents.