28 August 2007 - Proposed Conformance Revisions for WCAG 2.0

1.) Conformance Level: One of the following conformance levels of conformance must be met. [2220]

• Bronze: For Bronze level of conformance (the minimum level of conformance), the Web page satisfies all the Bronze success criteria, or a conforming alternate version is provided.
• Silver: For Silver level of conformance, the Web page satisfies all the Bronze and Silver success criteria, or a conforming alternate version is provided.
• Gold: For Gold level of conformance, the Web page satisfies all the Bronze, Silver and Gold success criteria, or a conforming alternate version is provided.

Note: Although conformance can only be achieved at the stated levels, authors are encouraged to satisfy and report progress toward meeting success criteria from all levels beyond the achieved level of conformance.

Statement of partial conformance

Sometimes, Web pages are created that will later have additional content added to them. For example, an email program, a blog, an article that allows users to add comments to the bottom, or applications supporting user contributed content. Another example would be a page composed of content aggregated from multiple contributors, such as in portals and news sites. Sometimes, the content from the other sources is automatically inserted into the page over time.

In both of these cases, it is not possible to know at the time of original posting what the content of the pages will be. Two options are available:

• A determination of conformance can be made based on best knowledge. If a page of this type is monitored and kept conforming (non-conforming content is immediately removed or made conforming) then a determination or claim of conformance claim can be made since, except for error periods, the page conforms. No conformance claim should be made if it is not possible to monitor or correct non-conforming content;

OR

• A "statement of partial conformance" is made. A statement that the page does not conform, but could conform if certain parts were removed can be made. The form of that statement would be, "This page would conform to WCAG 2.0 at level X if the following parts from uncontrolled sources were removed."

  1. The content that is excluded in the statement of partial conformance cannot be content that is under the author's control.

  2. The content that is excluded in the statement of partial conformance would be described in terms that users can understand. (e.g. they can't be described as "all parts that we do not have control of" unless they are clearly marked as such.)

Required components of a conformance claim

Conformance claims are not required. However, if a conformance claim is made, then the conformance claim must include the following information:

1. Date of the claim

2. Guidelines title, version and URI "Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.0 at {URI of final document}"

3. Conformance level satisfied: (Bronze, Silver or Gold)

4. Description of the product or URIs that the claim is being made for, including whether subdomains are included in the claim.

5. A list of accessibility-supported technologies that includes all of the technologies relied upon .

   Note: When citing technologies that have multiple versions, the version(s) supported must be specified.

Optional components of a conformance claim

In addition to the required components of a conformance claim above, consider providing additional information to assist users. Recommended additional information includes:

1. A list of success criteria beyond the level of conformance attained that have been met. This information should be provided in a form that consumers can use, preferably machine-readable metadata.

2. A list of the specific technologies that are "used but not relied upon ."

3. A list of user agents, including assistive technologies, that were used to test the content.

4. Information about any additional steps taken that go beyond the success criteria to enhance accessibility.

5. A machine-readable metadata version of the list of specific technologies that are relied upon.

6. A machine-readable metadata version of the conformance claim.

DEFINITIONS FROM / FOR Appendix A: Glossary that relate to CONFORMANCE

Note: Definitions that have been modified in this proposal from the latest working draft are highlighted and preceded with two asterisks (**).

** accessibility supported (Web content technologies) (Understanding accessibility support)

supported by users' assistive technologies as well as the accessibility features in browsers and other user agents.To qualify as an accessibility-supported Web content technology (or feature of a technology), both of the following must be true for a Web content technology (or feature): [2174]

1. The Web content technology must be supported by users' assistive technology (AT). This means that the technology has been tested for interoperability with users' assistive technology in the human language(s) of the content,
   AND
2. The Web content technology must have accessibility-supported user agents that are available to users. This means that at least one of the following is true:
   1. The technology is supported natively in widely-distributed user agents that are also accessibility supported (such as HTML and CSS);
      OR
   2. The technology is supported in a widely-distributed plug-in that is also accessibility supported;
      OR
   3. The content is available in a closed environment, such as a university or corporate network, where the user agent required by the technology and used by the organization is also accessibility supported;
      OR
   4. The user agent(s) that support the technology are also accessibility supported and available for download or purchase in a way that does not cost a person with a disability any more and is as easy to find and obtain as it is for people without disabilities .

Note 1: Web technologies that are not accessibility supported can be used as long as conformance requirement 4 (Accessibility-Supported Technologies) and conformance requirement 5 (Non-Interference) are met. Note 2: When a Web Technology is "accessibility supported," it does not imply that the entire technology must be supported. Most technologies lack support for at least one feature. When referring to "accessibility support" for a technology, the support for specific aspects, features, and extensions should be cited if the technology as a whole is not accessibility supported. A profile of a technology may be used to give a name to the set of aspects, features, or extensions of a technology that are "accessibility supported." [2174] Note 3: When citing technologies that have multiple versions, the version(s) supported should be specified. Note 4: The easiest way to be sure that the technologies and features being used and relied upon are accessibility supported is to use technologies from documented lists of accessibility supported Web content technologies.(See Documented lists of Web technologies with accessibility support in Understanding WCAG 2.0.) [2273] Some authors, companies or others may wish to document and use their own lists of accessibility-supported technologies. However, all technologies on the list must meet the definition of accessibility supported content technologies above. [2219]

** alternate version

DELETE THIS DEFINITION - see conforming alternate version

conformance

satisfying all the requirements of a given standard, guideline or specification

** conforming alternate version

version that

1. conforms at the designated level, and
2. provides all of the same information and functionality in the same human language, and
3. is as up to date as the non-conforming content , and
4. that can be reached from the non-conforming page via an accessibility supported mechanism or the only way to reach the non-conforming page is from a conforming page that provides an accessibility supported mechanism to reach this conforming version

Note 1: The alternate version does not need to be matched page for page with the original (e.g. the alternative to a page may consist of multiple pages).

Note 2: If multiple language versions are available, then conforming versions are required for each language offered.

Note 3: Alternate versions may be provided to accommodate environments where different sets of Web technologies are accessibility supported. Each version should be as conformant as possible, assuming accessibility support for the technologies it uses.

Note 4: This should not be confused with supplementary information which supports the original page and enhances comprehension.

Note 5: User preferences that yield a conforming version and that meet requirement 4 of 'conforming alternate versions" can be used.

content (Web content)

information and sensory experience to be communicated to the user by means of a user agent, including code or markup that defines the content's structure, presentation, and interactions

functionality

processes and outcomes achievable through user action

informative

for information purposes and not required for conformance

Note: Content required for conformance is referred to as "normative."

mechanism

process or technique for achieving a result

Note 1: The mechanism may be explicitly provided in the content, or may be relied on to be provided by either the platform or by user agents, including assistive technologies.

Note 2: The mechanism must meet all success criteria for the conformance level attained.

normative

required for conformance

Note 1: One may conform in a variety of well-defined ways to this document.

Note 2: Content identified as "informative" or "non-normative" is never required for conformance.

process

series of user actions where each action is required in order to complete an activity

Example 1: Successful use of a series of Web pages on a shopping site requires users to view alternative products, prices and offers, select products, submit an order, provide shipping information and provide payment information.

Example 2: An account registration page requires successful completion of a Turing test before the registration form can be accessed.

programmatically determined

determined by software from author-supplied data provided in a way that different user agents, including assistive technologies, can extract and present this information to users in different modalities

Example: Determined in a markup language from elements and attributes that are accessed directly by commonly available assistive technology.

Example: Determined from technology-specific data structures in a non-markup language and exposed to assistive technology via an accessibility API that is supported by commonly available assistive technology.

relied upon (technologies that are)

the content would not conform if that technology is turned off or not supported

satisfies a success criterion

the success criterion does not evaluate to 'false' when applied to all of the content on the page

set of Web pages

collection of Web pages that share a common purpose and that are created by the same author, group or organization

Note: Different language versions would be considered different sets of Web pages .

supplemental content

additional content that illustrates or clarifies the primary content

Example 1: An audio version of a Web page.

Example 2: An illustration of a complex process.

Example 3: A paragraph describing the major outcomes and recommendations made in a research study.

technology (Web content)

mechanism for encoding instructions to be rendered, played or executed by user agents

Note 1: As used in these guidelines "Web Technology" and the word "technology" (when used alone) both refer to Web Content Technologies.

Note 2: Web content technologies may include markup languages, data formats, or programming languages that authors may use alone or in combination to create end-user experiences that range from static Web pages to multimedia presentations to dynamic Web applications.

Example: Some common examples of Web content technologies include HTML, CSS, SVG, PNG, PDF, Flash, and JavaScript.

** Web page

a non-embedded resource, that is referenced by a URI within the scope of conformance, plus any other resources that are used in the rendering or intended to be rendered together with it [begin add] by a user agent [end add]"

Note: Although any "other resources" would be rendered together with the primary resource, they would not necessarily be rendered simultaneously with each other.

Example 1: When you enter http://shopping.example.com/ in your browser you enter a movie-like interactive shopping environment where you visually move about a store dragging products off of the shelves around you and into a visual shopping cart in front of you. Clicking on a product causes it to be demonstrated with a specification sheet floating alongside.

Example 2: A Web resource including all embedded images and media.

Example 3: A Web mail program built using Asynchronous JavaScript and XML (AJAX). The program lives entirely at http://mail.example.com, but includes an inbox, a contacts area and a calendar. Links or buttons are provided that cause the the inbox, contacts, or calendar to display, but do not change the URL of the page as a whole.

Example 4: A customizable portal site, where users can choose content to display from a set of different content modules.