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User Agent Accessibility Guidelines Working Group (UAWG) Charter ** Draft **

  1. Mission
  2. Scope
  3. Duration
  4. Deliverables
  5. Milestones
  6. Dependencies
  7. Confidentiality
  8. Meetings
  9. Communication
  10. Voting
  11. Patent Disclosure
  12. Participation

Information about how to join the UAWG is available on the Web.

Note. Although this charter is available publicly, some of the links in this document refer to resources that require W3C Member access. This charter is written in accordance with section 6.2.6 of the 4 February 2004 W3C Process Document.


1. Mission

The mission of the User Agent Accessibility Guidelines Working Group (UAWG) is to produce guidelines for the development of accessible user agents: software that retrieves and renders Web content, including text, graphics, sounds, video, images, etc. In particular, the UAWG seeks to support the implementation of the User Agent Accessibility Guidelines 1.0 , and to collect requirements for a subsequent version of User Agent Accessibility Guidelines.

This mission is complementary to the work of other Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI) groups within the WAI Technical Activity and the WAI International Program Office Activity. The UAWG is part of the WAI Technical Activity.

The UAWG was first chartered in December 1997 (December 1997 charter). The UAWG was rechartered on 5 November 1999 (November 1999 charter, expired 30 April 2000), rechartered 5 May 2000 (expired October 2001), and rechartered 18 December 2001 (extended through 31 August 2004).

2. Scope

The scope of the UAWG's work under this charter is to:

  1. Collect initial requirements for a subsequent version of UAAG, including but not limited to pervasive computing technologies;
  2. Evaluate user agents for conformance to the UAAG 1.0;
  3. Develop test suites for supporting the evaluation of user agents for conformance to UAAG 1.0;
  4. Track and promote implementation of UAAG 1.0 requirements;
  5. Review and comment on the work in other W3C Working Groups for dependencies with the requirements of the User Agent Accessibility Guidelines;
  6. Collect information on techniques for implementing the UAAG 1.0 for a range of user agents.

3. Duration

This Working Group is scheduled to last for 24 months, from 1 September 2004 through 31 August 2006.

4. Deliverables

The UAWG has completed work on version 1.0 of the User Agent Accessibility Guidelines (UAAG). The Working Group will continue to work on the following deliverables, which are :

  1. Techniques for (UAAG) 1.0, which provides implementation details for satisfying the requirements of the Guidelines.
  2. Test suites for user agents that render HTML and CSS.
  3. Test suites for user agents that render audio, video and animations.
  4. Test suites for Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG).
  5. Publish an updated assessment of implementation of UAAG 1.0;
  6. Requirement documents and user scenarios for additional deliverables;
  7. Minutes of UAWG meetings.

5. Milestones

3rd quarter 2004
Publish test suite for HTML
Publish UAAG 1.0 implementation report for HTML
4th quarter 2004
Develop test suite for video and audio formats (SMIL)
Continue to update test suite for HTML
Continue to update UAAG 1.0 implementation report for HTML
1st quarter 2005
Publish test suite for video and audio formats
Publish UAAG 1.0 implementation report for video and audio formats
Continue to update test suite for HTML
Continue to update UAAG 1.0 implementation report for HTML
2nd quarter 2005
Develop test suite for SVG
Continue to update test suite for video and audio formats (SMIL)
Continue to update UAAG 1.0 implementation report for video and ausio formats (SMIL)
Continue to update test suite for HTML
Continue to update UAAG 1.0 implementation report for HTML
3rd quarter 2005
Conitnue to develop test suite for SVG
Continue to update test suite for video and audio formats (SMIL)
Continue to update UAAG 1.0 implementation report for video and ausio formats (SMIL)
Continue to update test suite for HTML
Continue to update UAAG 1.0 implementation report for HTML
4th quarter 2005
Publish test suite for SVG
Publish UAAG 1.0 implementation report for SVG
Conitnue to develop test suite for SVG
Continue to update test suite for video and audio formats (SMIL)
Continue to update UAAG 1.0 implementation report for video and ausio formats (SMIL)
Continue to update test suite for HTML
Continue to update UAAG 1.0 implementation report for HTML
1st quarter 2006
Publish requirement documents and user scenarios for additional deliverables
Conitnue to develop test suite for SVG
Continue to update UAAG 1.0 implementation report for SVG
Continue to update test suite for video and audio formats (SMIL)
Continue to update UAAG 1.0 implementation report for video and ausio formats (SMIL)
Continue to update test suite for HTML
Continue to update UAAG 1.0 implementation report for HTML
2nd quarter 2006
Refine requirement documents and user scenarios for additional deliverables
Conitnue to develop test suite for SVG
Continue to update UAAG 1.0 implementation report for SVG
Continue to update test suite for video and audio formats (SMIL)
Continue to update UAAG 1.0 implementation report for video and ausio formats (SMIL)
Continue to update test suite for HTML
Continue to update UAAG 1.0 implementation report for HTML

6. Dependencies

The UAWG should ensure consistency where appropriate between the test suites and other WAI deliverables, including the "Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 1.0", the "Authoring Tool Accessibility Guidelines 1.0," the "User Agent Accessibility Guidelines 1.0,"and the "XML Accessibility Guidelines."

WAI Working Groups (e.g., Web Content Accessibility Guidelines Working Group, Authoring Tool Accessibility Guidelines Working Group, and Education and Outreach Working Group) often interact directly. The WAI Coordination Group can help facilitate those discussions.

The Protocols and Formats Working Group (Member-confidential) (PFWG public page also available) is the primary conduit for describing and resolving dependencies between WAI groups and other W3C Working Groups. Consequently, requirements for dependencies between the UAWG and other W3C Working Group's are primarily channeled through the Protocols and Formats Working Group.

The UAWG will interact with the following non-WAI W3C Working Groups via the Protocols and Formats Working Group:

7. Confidentiality

The UAWG is a public Working Group as defined by Section 4.1 of the W3C Process Document. The Working Group maintains a public mailing list at w3c-wai-ua@w3.org.

8. Meetings

The Working Group meets biweekly via teleconference, and once or twice per year face-to-face.

9. Communications

The Working Group will make use of the following communication mechanisms:

10. Voting

The primary means of decision-making in the UAWG is consensus. This charter is written in accordance with Section 3.4, Votes of the 5 February 2004 W3C Process Document and includes no voting procedures beyond what the Process Document requires.

11. Patent Disclosure

The UAWG provides an opportunity to share perspectives on Web accessibility. W3C reminds UAWG participants of their obligation to comply with patent disclosure obligations as set out in Section 6 of the 5 February 2004 W3C Patent Policy. While the UAWG does not produce Recommendation-track documents, when UAWG participants review Recommendation-track specifications from Working Groups, the patent disclosure obligations do apply.

Please note that the proceedings of UAWG (mailing list archives, minutes, etc.) are publicly visible.

12. Participation

The UAWG welcomes participation from W3C Member organizations, and also invites experts from disability organizations, accessibility researchers, assistive technology developers, government organizations, and others interested in promoting accessibility in Web-based user agents.

Member and Invited Expert participation

Participants are expected to observe the requirements of the Section 6.2.1.7 of the 4 February 2004 W3C Process Document.

For this Working Group, the following commitment is expected:

W3C Team participation

How to Join the Working Group

Information about how to join the Working Group is available on the Web.


Jon Gunderson, Division of Rehabilitation - Education Services University of Illinois at Urbana/Champaign, Working Group Chair (jongund@uiuc.edu)
Matt May, Team Contact (mcmay@w3.org)
Judy Brewer, WAI Domain Lead (jbrewer@w3.org)
Last modified: $Date: 2004/11/08 04:48:17 $
$Revision 1.23 $

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