Draft Reformulation of Web Content Accessibility Guidelines
W3C Working Draft 26 July 2000
- This version:
- http://www.w3.org/WAI/GL/WCAG20/WD-WCAG20-20000726
- Latest version:
- http://www.w3.org/WAI/GL/WCAG20
- Editors:
- Jason White, University of Melbourne
Wendy Chisholm, W3C
Status
This document is prepared by the W3C
Web Content Accessibility Guidelines Working Group (WCAG WG) to show how
more generalized (less HTML-specific) WCAG checkpoints might
read. This draft is not based on consensus of the working group nor
has it gone through W3C process thus it in no way supersedes the checkpoints
in WCAG 1.0. This draft derived from the following materials:
Based on feedback about the application of WCAG 1.0 to emerging XML
applications and other Web trends the WCAG WG wants to investigate how more
generalized checkpoints might read. Therefore, this draft has been
produced.
This is a draft document and may be updated, replaced, or obsoleted by
other documents at any time. It is inappropriate to use W3C Working Drafts as
reference material or to cite them as other than "work in progress". A list of
current W3C Recommendations and other technical documents can be found at http://www.w3.org/TR/.
Please send comments on this document to w3c-wai-gl@w3.org. The archives for this
list are publicly available.
Introduction
The following new terminology is proposed in this draft:
- 1: Principles
- Principles are the most fundamental strategies for ensuring
that content is accessible for individuals with a variety of
constraints. They correspond to what are called "Guidelines" in WCAG 1.0.
- 2: Guidelines
- Guidelines are more detailed than Principles.
However, Guidelines do not provide technology-specific guidance
(see the definition for Checkpoints). Some Guidelines
may apply only to a certain range of technologies, such as Guideline XX
which only applies to YY. Guidelines in this document may
sometimes correspond to Checkpoints in WCAG1.0 as some of those
checkpoints are not technology-specific.
- 3: Checkpoints [not shown in this draft]
- Checkpointsare strategies for making accessible Web content
using a specific technology or combination of technologies. If the
Checkpoints for a technology are met, then the
Guideline and Principle should also have been
satisfied. The lists of Checkpoints are not an exhaustive lists
of all possible accessible strategies for all technologies and
combinations of technologies. Therefore, to conform to WCAG 2.0 the
Guidelines must be met, and Guidelines should be
easiest to meet by following the Checkpoints.
Checkpoints in this document may sometimes correspond to
Checkpoints in WCAG 1.0 as some of those checkpoints are
technology-specific.
Principles and Guidelines
Principle 1: Ensure that all content can be presented in any medium or
combination of media that may be required by the user.
Guidelines
- 1.1 Provide a textual equivalent for every non-text (auditory or
graphical) component or multimedia presentation.
- 1.2 Provide an auditory description of the important information of the
visual track of a multimedia presentation.
- 1.3 For any time-based multimedia presentation (e.g., a
movie or animation), synchronize equivalent alternatives
(e.g., captions or auditory descriptions of the visual track)
with the presentation.
Principle 2: Separate both content and structure from presentation and
ensure that all significant structural or semantic distinctions are captured
explicitly in markup or in a data model.
Guidelines
- 2.1 Use markup languages and data models properly and in accordance with
specification.
- 2.2 Use style languages, where available, to control layout and
presentation.
- 2.3 Where presentation is used to communicate distinctions of meaning or
structure within the content, ensure, if possible, that semantic markup is
also provided which conveys these distinctions equivalently. Note that the
semantic and presentational markup corresponding to a
document need not reside in the same file or logical resource; these
guidelines mandate only that both must exist and be available to the user
agent.
- 2.4 Do not rely on presentation alone (E.G. color or font
changes) to express semantic distinctions (this is a corollary of the
preceding guideline).
- 2.5 Ensure that distinctions which are necessary or beneficial to the
rendering of the content in different media (E.G. auditory or
tactile) are reflected in the markup. For instance, use markup to identify
changes in the natural language of a document, or to distinguish fragments
of mathematical notation or computer program code from the surrounding
text.
Principle 3: Permit user modification of author-supplied presentations, if
any
Guidelines
- 3.1 Specify one or more default presentations of the content,
for example with style sheets, or by supplying pre-formatted versions
which can be selected via content negotiation or explicit user requests.
Where practicable, offer a variety of alternative presentations suited to
different output devices. For example, provide style sheets relevant to
high and low-resolution displays, printers and speech output systems.
- 3.2 To facilitate the application of user-supplied transformations and
style rules, ensure that documents validate to the formal grammars of
markup languages which are defined in published specifications, and which
support the application of these guidelines.
Principle 4: Design for ease of comprehension, browsing and
navigation
Guidelines
- 4.1 Use a consistent style of presentation in which the structural and
semantic distinctions expressed in the markup, are associated with
appropriate formatting conventions that enhance the readability and
intelligibility of the content.
- 4.2 Provide clear and consistent navigation mechanisms throughout a web
site.
- 4.3 Supply an overview of the general organization of a site or of a
document which has been split into multiple, independent resources
(E.G. in a map or table of contents).
- 4.4 Divide large blocks of information into groups where natural and
appropriate. This includes the use of headings, labels, and title to
identify structural divisions within the content.
- 4.5 If search functions are provided, enable different types of searches
for different skill levels and preferences.
- 4.6 Place distinguishing information at the beginning of headings,
paragraphs, lists, etc.
- 4.7 Use the clearest and simplest language appropriate for a site's
content.
- 4.8 Supplement text with graphic or auditory presentations where they
will facilitate comprehension of the content.
- 4.9 Provide an overview or summary of highly structured materials, such
as tables.
- 4.10 Define key terms, and provide expansions for abbreviations and
acronyms, which should be identified using appropriate markup.
Principle 5: Design user interfaces for device independence
Guidelines
These need to be reworked to take account of the separation between user
interface logic and presentation which is provided by X-Forms.
- 5.1 Associate an explicit label with each user interface control.
- 5.2 Ensure that user interface controls are grouped logically.
- 5.3 Ensure that event handlers are device-independent.
- 5.4 Design user interfaces to be compatible with assistive
technologies.
Principle 6: Compensate for older technologies and missing or incompletely
implemented features of user agents
Guidelines
- 6.1 Make sure that web sites which use newer technologies transform
gracefully.
- 6.2 Avoid causing content to blink or flicker.
- 6.3 Avoid causing pages to be refreshed or updated automatically.
Any other interim measures which are considered to be of vital importance
may be included here.
Checkpoints without an obvious place in this scheme
Checkpoint 2.2 from WCAG 1.0 doesn't seem to fit:
2.2 Ensure that foreground and background color combinations provide
sufficient contrast when viewed by someone having color deficits or when
viewed on a black and white screen.
Most other checkpoints can be subsumed under the HTML/CSS
technology-specific checklists, or have been incorporated within the
generalized guidelines as presented above.
Glossary
@@need definitions
- Content
- Equivalent
- Markup
- Presentation
- Semantics
$Date: 2000/11/08 08:27:40 $