Highlights Drafts May 2008 - November 2009

WAI IG email:

Call for Review and Participation: WAI-AGE Literature Review and Task Force

Dear WAI Interest Group Participants,

The Web Accessibility Initiative: Ageing Education and Harmonisation (WAI-AGE) Project is a European Commission-funded project that focuses on education and outreach regarding the requirements of people with Web accessibility needs related to ageing. See:
     WAI-AGE Project page
     http://www.w3.org/WAI/WAI-AGE/

As part of the WAI-AGE project, today the WAI Education and Outreach Working Group Working Group (EOWG) published a literature review as a First Public Working Draft:
     Web Accessibility for Older Users: A Literature Review
      http://www.w3.org/TR/2008/WD-wai-age-literature-20080514/
This draft document reviews and analyzes guidelines and articles covering the requirements of people with Web accessibility needs related to ageing. The purpose of the literature review is to inform education and outreach to better promote accessibility solutions for older Web users, and potentially develop profiles or extensions to WAI guidelines.

We welcome your comments on the literature review by 4 June 2008 if possible. The e-mail address for sending comments, which is publicly archived, is:
      public-comments-wai-age@w3.org

To learn about participating in the WAI-AGE Task Force, contact Andrew Arch <andrew@w3.org>. WAI-AGE work is being conducted in cooperation with EOWG:
      Education and Outreach Working Group (EOWG)
      http://www.w3.org/WAI/EO/

Feel free to circulate this message to other lists; please avoid cross-postings where possible.

Regards,
~Shawn Lawton Henry
On behalf of:
Andrew Arch, WAI-AGE Web Accessibility and Ageing Specialist
Shadi Abou-Zahra, WAI-AGE Web Accessibility Specialist for Europe
Judy Brewer, WAI-AGE Project Coordinator

WAI IG email:

Updated WAI-ARIA Editors' Drafts Now Publicly Available

Dear WAI Interest Group Participants,

Previously WAI's Accessible Rich Internet Applications (WAI-ARIA) documents were periodically published as a Public Working Drafts, and the in-progress "Editors' Drafts" were available only to W3C members. As of today, the Editors' Drafts are available publicly, so that anyone can follow how issues are being addressed in the developing WAI-ARIA documents.

The following drafts are now available:
- WAI-ARIA 1.0 Editors' Draft
<http://www.w3.org/WAI/PF/Group/aria/>
- WAI-ARIA Primer Editors' Draft
<http://www.w3.org/WAI/PF/aria-primer/>
- WAI-ARIA Best Practices Editors' Draft
<http://www.w3.org/WAI/PF/aria-practices/>
- WAI-ARIA Roadmap Editors' Draft
<http://www.w3.org/WAI/PF/Group/roadmap/>

Unlike Public Working Drafts, the in-progress Editors' Drafts:
* Do not necessarily represent Working Group consensus, that is, the drafts may include proposals that the Working Group has not agreed on
* May change frequently without public notification
* May not yet be up-to-date with recent Working Group decisions
* Include internal "Todo" notes and areas that are not ready for review or comment

When the documents are published as Public Working Drafts and are ready for more detailed review, we will announce a Call for Review. For now, the Protocols and Formats Working Group invites comments on host language embedding and other technical issues under discussion in W3C Working Groups.

WAI-ARIA, the Accessible Rich Internet Applications Suite, defines a way to make Web content and Web applications more accessible to people with disabilities. It especially helps with dynamic content and advanced user interface controls developed with Ajax (also known as AJAX), HTML, JavaScript, and related technologies. For an introduction to WAI-ARIA and the problems that it addresses, see:
- WAI-ARIA Overview
<http://www.w3.org/WAI/intro/aria>

For more information, see:
- WAI-ARIA FAQ
<http://www.w3.org/WAI/aria/faq>
- Protocols and Formats Working Group
<http://www.w3.org/WAI/PF/>
- How WAI Develops Accessibility Guidelines through the W3C Process
<http://www.w3.org/WAI/intro/w3c-process>

Feel free to circulate this message to other lists; please avoid cross-postings where possible.

Regards,
~Shawn Lawton Henry
On behalf of:
Michael Cooper - W3C Team Contact for PFWG
Al Gilman - Chair of PFWG

WAI IG e-mail:

Call For Review: WCAG 2.0 at a Glance

Dear WAI Interest Group Participants,

WAI invites you to comment on a new draft resource:
* Web Accessibility: WCAG 2.0 at a Glance
   http://www.w3.org/WAI/WCAG20/glance/

We plan to provide this resource in a print version and incorporate it into WCAG 2.0 presentations, such as the "About WCAG 2.0" presentation at <http://www.w3.org/WAI/presentations/WCAG20_about/>

In order to make this available soon, we would like to receive comments by:
* 15 July 2008 * at the publicly-archived mailing list:
   wai-eo-editors@w3.org

WCAG 2.0 at a Glance is developed with the Education and Outreach Working Group (EOWG) <http://www.w3.org/WAI/EO/> and Web Content Accessibility Guidelines Working Group (WCAG WG) <http://www.w3.org/WAI/GL/>.

Note: Feel free to circulate this message to other lists; please avoid cross-postings where possible.

Thank you in advance for your comments,

Shawn Lawton Henry, WAI EOWG Chair

WAI IG email:

Call for Review: Shared Web Experiences: Barriers Common to Mobile Device Users and People with Disabilities

Dear WAI Interest Group Participants,

The Education and Outreach Working Group and the Mobile Web Best Practices Working Group invite you to comment on the following updated draft published 28 July 2008:
* Shared Web Experiences: Barriers Common to Mobile Device Users and People with Disabilities
   http://www.w3.org/WAI/mobile/experiences

This WAI resource is particularly useful for demonstrating the overlap between accessible and mobile-friendly Web content, for developing a business case for accessibility, and for more efficiently developing your Web site for both accessibility and mobile devices.

The document provides examples of how people with disabilities (using desktop or laptop computers) and people without disabilities who are using mobile devices experience similar barriers when interacting with Web sites. It links to recommendations from the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) and the Mobile Web Best Practices (MWBP) for designing Web content that is both accessible and mobile-friendly.

The overlap between design goals and guidelines covering accessibility for people with disabilities, and design goals and best practices for mobile devices is introduced in:
* Web Content Accessibility and Mobile Web: Making a Web Site Accessible Both for People with Disabilities and for Mobile Devices
   http://www.w3.org/WAI/mobile/

The Working Groups particularly seek feedback on:
- Is it clear what information is provided in each document, and where to get other related information?
- In the "Shared Web Experiences" document, is the detailed information clear yet succinct?
- Are there other examples that we might want to include in the "Shared Web Experiences" document?

Please send comments on these documents by 20 August 2008 if possible, to the publicly-archived mailing list:
   wai-eo-editors@w3.org

For more information on the Working Groups, see:
* Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI) Education and Outreach Working Group
   http://www.w3.org/WAI/EO/
* Mobile Web Best Practices Working Group
   http://www.w3.org/2005/MWI/BPWG/

Note: Feel free to circulate this message to other lists; please avoid cross-postings where possible.

Thank you in advance for your comments.

Regards,

Shawn Lawton Henry, EOWG Chair

WAI IG email:

Call for Review: Updated WAI-ARIA Specification

Dear WAI Interest Group Participants

The Protocols and Formats Working Group invites you to comment on the following updated document published 6 August 2008:
* Accessible Rich Internet Applications (WAI-ARIA) 1.0 Working Draft
   http://www.w3.org/TR/wai-aria/

WAI-ARIA defines a way to make Web content and Web applications more accessible to people with disabilities. It especially helps with dynamic content and advanced user interface controls developed with Ajax (also known as AJAX), HTML, JavaScript, and related technologies.

For an introduction to WAI-ARIA and links to related documents for Web site developers, please see:
* WAI-ARIA Overview
   http://www.w3.org/WAI/intro/aria
* WAI-ARIA FAQ
   http://www.w3.org/WAI/aria/faq

The Working Group particularly seeks feedback on host language embedding, that is, how ARIA is implemented in HTML, XHTML, SVG, and other host languages. This is defined in section 6 "Implementation in Host Languages" and section 7 "Quality Assurance". Please send any comments
* by 3 September 2008 to
   public-pfwg-comments@w3.org

For more information, see:
* How WAI Develops Accessibility Guidelines through the W3C Process
   http://www.w3.org/WAI/intro/w3c-process
* Protocols and Formats Working Group
   http://www.w3.org/WAI/PF/

Note: Feel free to circulate this message to other lists; please avoid cross-postings where possible.

Thank you in advance for your comments.

Regards,
Shawn Henry, W3C WAI
On behalf of:
Al Gilman, Chair of PFWG

WAI IG email:

subject: Upcoming WAI Presentations in 2008 and SXSW voting

Dear WAI Interest Group Participants,

WAI staff will be presenting the following sessions in the upcoming months and would enjoy meeting with those of you who attend the conferences:

* HCI and the Older Population 2008 in Liverpool, United Kingdom on 1 September: "Web Accessibility and the Older Population", Andrew Arch
<http://www-edc.eng.cam.ac.uk/~jag76/hci_workshop08/>

* Accessible Design in the Digital World in York, United Kingdom on 23 September: "How web accessibility guidelines apply to design for the ageing population", Andrew Arch
<http://www.addw08.org/>

* Web Builder 2.0 in Las Vegas, NV, USA on 13 and 14 October: "Getting Real with Accesibility" and "Accessibility in a Web 2.0 World", Shawn Henry
<http://webbuilderconference.com/2008/>

* User eXperience Ru 2008 in Moscow, Russia on 30 and 31 October: "Web Accessibility Standards: A Foundation for International Cooperation and Local Implementation" and "Making the Web Accessible to All", Shawn Henry
<http://userexp.ru/>, English: <http://userexp.ru/en/>

* UPA Europe 2008, Usability and design: cultivating diversity in Turin, Italy on 5 and 6 December: "Overlapping User Experiences: Mobile Web Usability and Accessibility for People with Disabilities" and "How New Web Accessibility Standards Impact User Experience Design", Shawn Henry
<http://www.upaeurope2008.org/>

Additional presentations will be announced soon. For an updated list of WAI presentations, see the WAI home page, under "Events, Meetings, Presentations" at:
<http://www.w3.org/WAI/#announce>
You can search for upcoming and past W3C presentations at:
<http://www.w3.org/Talks/>

---

SXSW <http://sxsw.com/interactive/> is a conference where we would particularly like to engage in discussions about Web accessibility with developers and designers. SXSW uses community input to help choose which session proposals to accept.

Please consider taking a couple of minutes to vote for accessibility sessions, before the deadline of 29 August. They are listed at:
<http://panelpicker.sxsw.com/ideas/index/3/q:accessibility>

---

Feel free to circulate this message to other lists; please avoid cross-postings where possible.

Regards,
~Shawn Lawton Henry, W3C WAI Education and Outreach

WAI IG email:

Call for Review: EARL Companion Documents

Dear WAI Interest Group Participants,

The W3C WAI Evaluation and Repair Tools Working Group (ERT WG) invites you to comment on two documents published @@ Month 2008:
- Representing Content in RDF (Resource Description Framework), First Public Working Draft
<http://www.w3.org/TR/@@/>
- HTTP (HyperText Transfer Protocol) Vocabulary in RDF, updated Working Draft
<http://www.w3.org/TR/HTTP-in-RDF/>

These documents are of particular interest to Web developers and researchers who are interested in software-supported evaluation and validation of Web sites, and in Semantic Web technologies to support evaluations. The ERT Working Group is particularly looking for feedback on [[@@shadi]]. Specific questions are also highlighted within the documents.

Please send comments by @@ Month 2008 to:
- ERT WG public mailing list
<public-wai-ert@w3.org>

"Representing Content in RDF" and "HTTP Vocabulary in RDF" are companion documents to Evaluation and Report Language (EARL). EARL is a format to exchange, combine, and analyze results from different Web accessibility evaluation tools in a vendor-neutral and platform-independent format. It also provides a vocabulary that can be used for other Web quality assurance testing and validation. For more details on EARL and companion documents, see:
- Evaluation and Report Language (EARL) Overview
<http://www.w3.org/WAI/intro/earl.php>

The two documents published today are intended to become W3C Working Group Notes (as opposed to W3C Recommendations Web standards). For a description of the different types of W3C documents, milestones, and opportunities to contribute to this work, see:
- How WAI Develops Accessibility Guidelines through the W3C Process
<http://www.w3.org/WAI/intro/w3c-process>

Please let us know if you have any questions. Thank you in advance for your comments.

Feel free to circulate this message to other lists; please avoid cross-postings where possible.

Regards,
~Shawn Henry
On behalf of:
Shadi Abou-Zahra - W3C ERT WG Chair

WAI IG email:

Update on WCAG 2.0: Need a few more implementations

Dear WAI Interest Group Participants,

Since publishing Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.0 as a Candidate Recommendation, the WCAG Working Group has been collecting and evaluating implementations (that is, examples of how real Web sites meet WCAG 2.0). We have implementations for almost all success criteria, and need a few more.

We currently need implementations of at least the following WCAG 2.0 Success Criteria:

* 1.2.1 Audio-only and Video-only (Prerecorded) <http://www.w3.org/TR/2008/WD-UNDERSTANDING-WCAG20-20080430/media-equiv-av-only-alt.html>

* 1.2.7 Audio Description (Extended) <http://www.w3.org/TR/2008/WD-UNDERSTANDING-WCAG20-20080430/media-equiv-extended-ad.html>

* 2.2.5 Re-authenticating <http://www.w3.org/TR/2008/WD-UNDERSTANDING-WCAG20-20080430/time-limits-server-timeout.html>

For a comprehensive, updated list of implementations needed, see the WCAG 2 FAQ update at
<http://www.w3.org/WAI/WCAG20/wcag2faq.html#update1>

If you are able to provide implementations of these success criteria, please e-mail <team-wcag2-implementations@w3.org> and Loretta Guarino Reid at <lorettaguarino@google.com>.

Next Steps:

The WCAG Working Group is meeting face-to-face 1-3 October 2008 to address remaining issues. They are still hoping to complete WCAG 2.0 in 2008. We will provide another status update in October or November.

See How WAI Develops Accessibility Guidelines through the W3C Process for the steps needed to complete WCAG 2.0.

Feel free to circulate this message to other lists; please avoid cross-postings where possible.

Regards,
~Shawn Lawton Henry
On behalf of:
@@

WAI IG email:

WCAG 2.0 moves to last stage for expected final publication in December 2008

Dear WAI Interest Group Participants,

The Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) Working Group announces the publication of WCAG 2.0 as a W3C Proposed Recommendation on 03 November 2008. WCAG 2.0 explains how to make Web sites, applications, and other content accessible to people with disabilities, and older users.
     http://www.w3.org/TR/2008/PR-WCAG20-20081103/

This means that the technical material of WCAG 2.0 is complete and it has been implemented in real sites. Information about implementations and changes since the last publications are available in the "Status of this Document" section at:
     http://www.w3.org/TR/2008/PR-WCAG20-20081103/#status

During this "Proposed Recommendation" stage, WCAG 2.0 is submitted to the W3C membership for final review and endorsement. The W3C Process stages are described in:
     How WAI Develops Accessibility Guidelines through the W3C Process
     http://www.w3.org/WAI/intro/w3c-process
*The next step is the final publication; which we expect in December 2008.*

W3C WAI encourages you to start implementing WCAG 2.0 now; see:
     "What are the benefits of using WCAG 2.0?" in the WCAG 2 FAQ
     http://www.w3.org/WAI/WCAG20/wcag2faq-update.html#start

The different WCAG 2.0 documents that the WCAG Working Group updated with this publication are introduced in:
     Overview of Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.0 Documents
     http://www.w3.org/WAI/intro/wcag20.php

A key tool for using WCAG 2.0 documents, which was previously called the "Quick Reference", is:
     How to Meet WCAG 2.0: A customizable quick reference to WCAG 2.0 requirements...
     http://www.w3.org/WAI/WCAG20/quickref/

While the focus of this stage is review by W3C Members, anyone can submit comments using the form or email address provided in:
     Instructions for Commenting on WCAG 2.0 Documents
     http://www.w3.org/WAI/WCAG20/comments/

WCAG 2.0 is part of a series of accessibility guidelines/standards developed by WAI, which are listed in:
     WAI Guidelines and Techniques
     http://www.w3.org/WAI/guid-tech.html

Feel free to circulate this message to other lists; please avoid cross-postings where possible.

Please let us know if you have any questions.

Regards,
~Shawn Lawton Henry and Judy Brewer
On behalf of:
Loretta Guarino Reid, Co-chair of WCAG WG, and Computer Scientist, Google Inc.
Gregg Vanderheiden, Co-chair of WCAG WG, and Director of Trace R&D Center, University of Wisconsin-Madison
Michael Cooper, W3C Team Contact for WCAG WG

W3C AC email:

"Announcement: The Director MUST announce the Call for Review to the Advisory Committee." - http://www.w3.org/2005/10/Process-20051014/tr.html#cfr

- Michael drafted.

WAI IG email:

Call for Review: ATAG 2.0 Working Draft updated

Dear WAI Interest Group participants,

The Authoring Tool Accessibility Guidelines Working Group invites you to comment on the updated Authoring Tool Accessibility Guidelines (ATAG) 2.0 Working Draft published 24 November 2008 at:
     http://www.w3.org/TR/ATAG20/

ATAG defines how authoring tools should help Web developers produce Web content that is accessible and conforms to the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines. It also defines how to make authoring tools accessible so that people with disabilities can use the tools. ATAG is introduced in the ATAG Overview at:
     http://www.w3.org/WAI/intro/atag.php
ATAG is part of a series of accessibility guidelines/standards developed by WAI, which are listed in
WAI Guidelines and Techniques at:
     http://www.w3.org/WAI/guid-tech.html

The group has refocused Part A, which addresses authoring tool user interface accessibility, and restructured Part B to replace the concept of "Web Content Accessibility Benchmark" with a more straightforward relationship with WCAG 2.0. The group welcomes feedback on these changes.

WAI encourages you to review the update ATAG 2.0 documents and submit comments on any issues that you think could present a barrier to future adoption and implementation of ATAG 2.0. Please send comments by 6 January 2008 to the comment list, which is publicly archived:
public-atag2-comments@w3.org

For more information, see:
* How WAI Develops Accessibility Guidelines through the W3C Process
     http://www.w3.org/WAI/intro/w3c-process
* Authoring Tool Accessibility Guidelines Working Group (AUWG)
     http://www.w3.org/WAI/AU/

Please let us know if you have any questions. Thank you in advance for your comments.

Feel free to circulate this message to other lists; please avoid cross-postings where possible.

Regards,
~Shawn Lawton Henry and Judy Brewer
On behalf of:
Jutta Treviranus, Chair of AUWG, and Director of the Assistive Technology Research Center, University of Toronto)
Jeanne Spellman, W3C Staff Contact for AUWG

WAI IG email:

Call for Review: UAAG 2.0 Working Draft updated

Dear WAI Interest Group participants,

The User Agent Accessibility Guidelines Working Group invites you to comment on an updated Working Draft of User Agent Accessibility Guidelines (UAAG) 2.0, published 30 September 2008 at:
     http://www.w3.org/TR/UAAG20/

UAAG provides guidance on designing Web browsers, media players, and other user agents to be accessible to people with disabilities, and to work better with assistive technologies. UAAG is introduced in the UAAG Overview at:
     http://www.w3.org/WAI/intro/uaag.php
UAAG is part of a series of accessibility guidelines/standards developed by WAI, including Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) and Authoring Tool Accessibility Guidelines (ATAG). These are listed in WAI Guidelines and Techniques at:
     http://www.w3.org/WAI/guid-tech.html

[[ @@ section on current status and what to focus on for this round of review and comment @@ ]]

WAI encourages developers of browsers, assistive technologies, plug-ins, extensions, and accessibility APIs (application programming interfaces), and people with disabilities, to provide feedback on this draft, and to consider more active participation in the development process. Please send comments by @@ Month 2008 to the comment list, which is publicly archived:
     public-uaag2-comments@w3.org

UAAG 2.0 is currently informative only. After the UAAG Working Group is rechartered to produce W3C Recommendations under the W3C Patent Policy, the group expects to advance UAAG 2.0 through the Recommendation track. For more information, see:
* How WAI Develops Accessibility Guidelines through the W3C Process
     http://www.w3.org/WAI/intro/w3c-process
* User Agent Accessibility Guidelines Working Group (UAWG)
     http://www.w3.org/WAI/UA/

Please let us know if you have any questions. Thank you in advance for your comments.

Feel free to circulate this message to other lists; please avoid cross-postings where possible.

Regards,

WAI IG email:

[subject:] Call for Review: WAI-ARIA Last Call and New Document for Browsers

Dear WAI Interest Group Participants

The Protocols and Formats Working Group invites you to review the following documents published 24 February 2009:
* Accessible Rich Internet Applications (WAI-ARIA) 1.0 - Last Call Working Draft
   http://www.w3.org/TR/wai-aria/
* WAI-ARIA User Agent Implementation Guide - First Public Working Draft
   http://www.w3.org/TR/wai-aria-implementation/
* WAI-ARIA Best Practices - updated Working Draft
   http://www.w3.org/TR/wai-aria-practices/

WAI-ARIA defines a way to make Web content and Web applications more accessible to people with disabilities. It especially helps with dynamic content and advanced user interface controls developed with Ajax (also known as AJAX), HTML, JavaScript, and related technologies.

The WAI-ARIA User Agent Implementation Guide provides guidance on how browsers and other user agents should expose WAI-ARIA features to platform accessibility APIs.

WAI-ARIA Best Practices describes how Web content developers can develop accessible rich internet applications using WAI-ARIA.

For an introduction to WAI-ARIA and links to related documents for Web site developers, please see:
* WAI-ARIA Overview
   http://www.w3.org/WAI/intro/aria
* WAI-ARIA FAQ
   http://www.w3.org/WAI/aria/faq

Last Call Status:

The main WAI-ARIA technical specification is provided as a *Last Call Working Draft* for public review of the document now that it has all resolutions from previous comments incorporated. The Working Group hopes that it has resolved all substantive issues with this draft, and looks forward to progressing to the next stages in completing WAI-ARIA. The next stages are described in:
* How WAI Develops Accessibility Guidelines through the W3C Process
   http://www.w3.org/WAI/intro/w3c-process

Please send any comments
* by 24 March 2009 to
   public-pfwg-comments@w3.org

Note: Feel free to circulate this message to other lists; please avoid cross-postings where possible.

Thank you in advance for your comments.

Regards,
Shawn Henry and Judy Brewer, W3C WAI
On behalf of:
Janina Sajka, Chair of PFWG
Michael Cooper, W3C WAI Staff Contact for PFWG

WAI IG email:

Call for Review: ATAG 2.0 Working Draft updated

Dear WAI Interest Group participants,

The Authoring Tool Accessibility Guidelines Working Group invites you to comment on the updated Authoring Tool Accessibility Guidelines (ATAG) 2.0 Working Draft published @@ January 2009 at:
     http://www.w3.org/TR/ATAG20/

ATAG defines how authoring tools should help Web developers produce Web content that is accessible and conforms to Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.0. It also defines how to make authoring tools accessible so that people with disabilities can use the tools. ATAG is introduced in the ATAG Overview at:
     http://www.w3.org/WAI/intro/atag.php
ATAG is part of a series of accessibility guidelines/standards developed by WAI, which are listed in WAI Guidelines and Techniques at:
     http://www.w3.org/WAI/guid-tech.html

This Working Draft has minor updates to synchronize with the finalized WCAG 2.0 and to improve clarity. The Working Group is still seeking feedback on the substantive changes of the 24 November 2008 Working Draft:
* Refocused Part A, which addresses authoring tool user interface accessibility
* Restructured Part B to replace the concept of "Web Content Accessibility Benchmark" with a more straightforward relationship with WCAG 2.0.

WAI encourages you to review the update ATAG 2.0 documents and submit comments on any issues that you think could present a barrier to future adoption and implementation of ATAG 2.0. Please send comments by @@ February 2009 to the comment list, which is publicly archived:
public-atag2-comments@w3.org

For more information, see:
* How WAI Develops Accessibility Guidelines through the W3C Process
     http://www.w3.org/WAI/intro/w3c-process
* Authoring Tool Accessibility Guidelines Working Group (AUWG)
     http://www.w3.org/WAI/AU/

Please let us know if you have any questions. Thank you in advance for your comments.

Feel free to circulate this message to other lists; please avoid cross-postings where possible.

Regards,
~Shawn Lawton Henry and Judy Brewer
On behalf of:
Jutta Treviranus, Chair of AUWG, and Director of the Assistive Technology Research Center, University of Toronto)
Jeanne Spellman, W3C Staff Contact for AUWG

WAI IG email:

WCAG Authorized W3C Translations to make WCAG 2.0 official in multiple languages

Dear WAI Interest Group Participants,

W3C Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI) is pleased to announce that several Authorized W3C Translations of Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.0 are being developed. Completed and planned translations are listed in *WCAG 2.0 Translations* at:
    http://www.w3.org/WAI/WCAG20/translations

Authorized W3C Translations are reviewed by stakeholders and then designated as official translations, as defined in the *Policy for Authorized W3C Translations* at:
    http://www.w3.org/2005/02/TranslationPolicy

Draft "Candidate Authorized Translations" available for review will be announced to the WAI Interest Group (IG) mailing list, described at:
    http://www.w3.org/WAI/IG/#mailinglist

W3C encourages the translation of its specifications and resources into different languages. For information on translating documents and links to existing translations, see W3C Translations at:
    http://www.w3.org/Consortium/Translation/

WAI particularly encourages the development of W3C Authorized Translations of WCAG 2.0 and other technical specifications to facilitate their adoption and implementation internationally. For a list of translation priorities, see Translating WAI Documents at:
    http://www.w3.org/WAI/translation

Feel free to circulate this message to other lists; please avoid cross-postings where possible.

Regards,
~Shawn Lawton Henry, W3C WAI Outreach Coordinator
Shadi Abou-Zahra, W3C WAI International Program Office Activity Lead

WAI IG email:

Call for Review: French WCAG 2.0 Candidate Authorized Translation

Dear WAI Interest Group Participants,

W3C Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI) invites you to review the draft French translation of Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.0 at:
     http://www.braillenet.org/accessibilite/wcag20/wcag20_fr/fr_WCAG20_25fev09.htm

Please send your comments in French or English to:
     public-auth-trans-fr@w3.org
     by *2 April 2009*
Comments are publicly archived at http://lists.w3.org/Archives/Public/public-auth-trans-fr/

This draft translation is a "Candidate Authorized Translation" developed under the Policy for Authorized W3C Translations, which provides a process for stakeholder review and designation as an official translation, described at:
     http://www.w3.org/2005/02/TranslationPolicy

WAI encourages the development of W3C Authorized Translations of WCAG 2.0 and other technical specifications to facilitate their adoption and implementation internationally. Completed and planned WCAG 2.0 Translations are listed at:
     http://www.w3.org/WAI/WCAG20/translations

Feel free to circulate this message to other lists; please avoid cross-postings where possible.

Regards,
~Shawn Lawton Henry, W3C WAI Outreach Coordinator
Shadi Abou-Zahra, W3C WAI International Program Office Activity Lead

WAI IG email:

Call for Review: Pointer Methods in RDF (EARL Companion Document)

Dear WAI Interest Group Participants,

The W3C WAI Evaluation and Repair Tools Working Group (ERT WG) invites you to comment on a First Public Working Draft published 10 March 2009:
     Pointer Methods in RDF
     http://www.w3.org/TR/Pointers-in-RDF/>

This document provides a framework for representing pointers to identify locations in content or portions of content, using Resource Description Framework (RDF). It is of particular interest to Web developers and researchers who are interested in software-supported evaluation and validation of Web sites, and in Semantic Web technologies to support evaluations.

The ERT Working Group is particularly looking for feedback on:
* The extent to which the ERT WG is following best practices for the description and publication of new vocabularies
* The practicality of the use cases suggested in section 1.3 as well as other possible use cases not listed
* Other pointer methods not discussed by this document

Please send comments by 7 April 2009 to:
     ERT WG public mailing list
     public-wai-ert@w3.org

Pointer Methods in RDF is a companion document to Evaluation and Report Language (EARL). EARL is a format to exchange, combine, and analyze results from different Web accessibility evaluation tools in a vendor-neutral and platform-independent format. It also provides a vocabulary that can be used for other Web quality assurance testing and validation. For more details on EARL and companion documents, see:
     Evaluation and Report Language (EARL) Overview
     http://www.w3.org/WAI/intro/earl.php

Pointer Methods in RDF is intended to become a W3C Working Group Note (as opposed to a W3C Recommendation). For a description of the different types of W3C documents along with milestones and opportunities to contribute to this work, see:
     How WAI Develops Accessibility Guidelines through the W3C Process
     http://www.w3.org/WAI/intro/w3c-process>

Please let us know if you have any questions. Thank you in advance for your comments.

Feel free to circulate this message to other lists; please avoid cross-postings where possible.

Regards,
~Shawn Henry and Judy Brewer, W3C WAI
On behalf of:
Mike Squillace, IBM, ERT WG Co-Chair
Shadi Abou-Zahra, W3C, ERT WG Co-Chair

WAI IG email:

Call for Review: UAAG 2.0 Working Draft updated

Dear WAI Interest Group participants,

The User Agent Accessibility Guidelines Working Group invites you to comment on an updated Working Draft published 11 March 2009:
     User Agent Accessibility Guidelines (UAAG) 2.0
     http://www.w3.org/TR/UAAG20/

UAAG defines how browsers, media players, and other "user agents" should support accessibility for people with disabilities and work with assistive technologies. UAAG is introduced in:
     UAAG Overview
     http://www.w3.org/WAI/intro/uaag.php

UAAG is part of a series of accessibility guidelines/standards developed by WAI, including Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) and Authoring Tool Accessibility Guidelines (ATAG), which are listed in:
     WAI Guidelines and Techniques
     http://www.w3.org/WAI/guid-tech.html

Changes in the updated UAAG 2.0 Working Draft include:
* defining Web applications as user agents,
* expanded coverage of keyboard access,
* how assistive technologies interact with emerging technologies.
The Working Group is looking for feedback on these changes along with the specific questions that are listed in the Status section at:
      http://www.w3.org/TR/UAAG20/#status

WAI encourages people with disabilities and developers of browsers, assistive technologies, plug-ins, extensions, and accessibility APIs (application programming interfaces) to provide feedback on this draft, and to consider more active participation in developing UAAG 2.0. Please send comments to the publicly archived list:
     public-uaag2-comments@w3.org
     by 22 April 2009

UAAG 2.0 is currently informative only. After the UAAG Working Group is rechartered to produce W3C Recommendations under the W3C Patent Policy, the group expects to advance UAAG 2.0 through the Recommendation track. For more information, see:
     How WAI Develops Accessibility Guidelines through the W3C Process
     http://www.w3.org/WAI/intro/w3c-process
     User Agent Accessibility Guidelines Working Group (UAWG)
     http://www.w3.org/WAI/UA/

Please let us know if you have any questions. Thank you in advance for your comments.

Feel free to circulate this message to other lists; please avoid cross-postings where possible.

Regards,
~Shawn Henry and Judy Brewer, W3C WAI
On behalf of UAAG Working Group Chairs

WAI IG email:

Referencing and Linking to WCAG and other WAI technical documents

Dear WAI Interest Group Participants,

Ever wonder which URI (Web address) you should use for links to WCAG, ATAG, UAAG, WAI-ARIA, or other WAI technical documents? What if you want to reference the latest version? What if you want to point to a specific section within a technique?

To learn which URI to use for what, which have stable content, and which give you the latest version, see:
     *Referencing and Linking to WAI Guidelines and Technical Documents*
     http://www.w3.org/WAI/intro/linking.html

Let us know if you have any questions.

Feel free to circulate this message to other lists; please avoid cross-postings where possible.

Regards,
~Shawn Henry, W3C WAI Outreach Coordinator, EOWG Chair

WAI IG email:

New page introduces How People with Disabilities Use the Web

Dear WAI Interest Group Participants,

The W3C WAI Education and Outreach Working Group (EOWG) has published:
     Introduction to "How People with Disabilities Use the Web"
     http://www.w3.org/WAI/intro/people-use-web

The main "How People with Disabilities Use the Web" draft document provides detailed examples of people with different disabilities using websites, applications, browsers, and authoring tools. The document will soon be updated to reflect current best practice. The Introduction page linked above provides a stable reference link to get to the latest version of the main document.

Please do not link to, reference, or quote the draft of the main document because it is currently an unapproved internal draft and some of the techniques and terminology are out-of-date; for example, WCAG 2.0 is now recommended instead of WCAG 1.0.
Instead, please link to the _Introduction to "How People with Disabilities Use the Web"_ page <http://www.w3.org/WAI/intro/people-use-web>, which will always point to the latest version of the main document.

We expect to have an updated draft of the main document in 2009.

Please feel free to circulate this message, avoiding cross-postings where possible.

Regards,
~Shawn Lawton Henry, EOWG Chair

[]

WAI IG email:

Call for Review: Evaluation and Report Language (EARL) 1.0 Schema

Dear WAI Interest Group Participants,

The W3C WAI Evaluation and Repair Tools (ERT) Working Group invites you to comment on an updated Working Draft published on 28 April 2009:
Evaluation and Report Language (EARL) 1.0 Schema
http://www.w3.org/TR/EARL10-Schema/

This document provides the formal schema of the Evaluation and Report Language (EARL) 1.0, a vocabulary to express test results. It is of particular interest to Web developers and researchers who are interested in software-supported evaluation and validation of Web sites, and in Semantic Web technologies to support evaluations.

The ERT Working Group is particularly looking for feedback on:
Adoption of foaf:Document external link as a further refinement for earl:TestSubject (see Editor's note 1)
Providing subclasses for earl:TestMode, similarly to the approach taken by earl:OutcomeValue (see Editor's note 2)
Replacing or partially replacing earl:Software with terms from the DOAP vocabulary (see Editor's note 3)
Structure and clarity of the entire conformance section (see Editor's note 4, 5, and 6)

Please send comments by 26 May 2009 to:
ERT WG public mailing list
public-wai-ert@w3.org

EARL is a format to exchange, combine, and analyze results from different Web accessibility evaluation tools in a vendor-neutral and platform-independent format. It also provides a vocabulary that can be used for other Web quality assurance testing and validation. For more details on EARL and its companion documents, see:
Evaluation and Report Language (EARL) Overview
http://www.w3.org/WAI/intro/earl.php

EARL 1.0 Schema is intended to become a W3C Recommendation after further refinement. For a description of the different types of W3C documents, milestones and opportunities to contribute to this work, see:
How WAI Develops Accessibility Guidelines through the W3C Process
http://www.w3.org/WAI/intro/w3c-process

Please let us know if you have any questions. Thank you in advance for your comments.

Feel free to circulate this message to other lists; please avoid cross-postings where possible.

Regards,
~Shawn Lawton Henry
On behalf of:
Mike Squillace, IBM, ERT WG Co-Chair
Shadi Abou-Zahra, W3C, ERT WG Co-Chair

WAI IG email:

Call for Review: ATAG 2.0 Working Draft updated

Dear WAI Interest Group participants,

The Authoring Tool Accessibility Guidelines Working Group invites you to comment on the updated Authoring Tool Accessibility Guidelines (ATAG) 2.0 Working Draft published 21 May 2009 at:
     http://www.w3.org/TR/ATAG20/

The group expects the next publication to be the Last Call Working Draft, and therefore requests that all interested parties read this draft and submit comments by 11 June so that the comments can be reviewed at the working group face to face meeting on 15 June.

ATAG defines how authoring tools should help Web developers produce Web content that is accessible and conforms to Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.0. It also defines how to make authoring tools accessible so that people with disabilities can use the tools. ATAG is introduced in the ATAG Overview at:
     http://www.w3.org/WAI/intro/atag.php
ATAG is part of a series of accessibility guidelines/standards developed by WAI, which are listed in WAI Guidelines and Techniques at:
     http://www.w3.org/WAI/guid-tech.html

This Working Draft includes substantial changes including:
* how automated tools should address alternative text (e.g. alt text for photo repository sites)
* expanded examples of authoring tools in the Introduction
* a complete revision of the Glossary

Specific changes and questions for feedback are listed in the Status section:
http://www.w3.org/TR/ATAG20/#status

WAI encourages you to review the update ATAG 2.0 documents and submit comments on any issues that you think could present a barrier to future adoption and implementation of ATAG 2.0. Please send comments by 11 June 2009 to the comment list, which is publicly archived:
public-atag2-comments@w3.org

For more information, see:
* How WAI Develops Accessibility Guidelines through the W3C Process
     http://www.w3.org/WAI/intro/w3c-process
* Authoring Tool Accessibility Guidelines Working Group (AUWG)
     http://www.w3.org/WAI/AU/

Please let us know if you have any questions. Thank you in advance for your comments.

Feel free to circulate this message to other lists; please avoid cross-postings where possible.

Regards,
~Shawn Lawton Henry and Judy Brewer
On behalf of:
Jutta Treviranus, Chair of AUWG, and Director of the Assistive Technology Research Center, University of Toronto)
Jeanne Spellman, W3C Staff Contact for AUWG

WAI IG e-mail:

http://lists.w3.org/Archives/Public/w3c-wai-ig/2009AprJun/0127.html

WAI IG email:

Business Case updated with expanded coverage of older Web users and WCAG 2.0

Dear WAI Interest Group Participants,

"Developing a Web Accessibility Business Case for Your Organization" has been updated at:
       http://www.w3.org/WAI/bcase/Overview.html
It covers the social, technical, financial, and legal and policy factors in the business case for Web accessibility. Each section presents different aspects of Web accessibility along with guidance on developing a customized business case.

Recent updates:
* Most of the updates are to more thoroughly address the overlap between making websites accessible for people with disabilities and better for older users. *Older users are an increasing market segment and an important target group for many organizations.* For some, making their website better for older users is a key aspect in their business case for Web accessibility.
* The references are updated to WCAG 2.0. (http://www.w3.org/WAI/intro/wcag) WCAG 2.0 more clearly covers the accessibility needs of older users.
* For those who would like to see what changed with this update, a change-marked version is available at: http://www.w3.org/WAI/EO/Drafts/bcase/Overview.html
* This update is part of the Web Accessibility Initiative: Ageing Education and Harmonisation (WAI-AGE) Project, supported by the European Union's 6th Research Framework Programme (FP6), described at: http://www.w3.org/WAI/WAI-AGE/

Future updates:
* Expand discussion of the overlap between making a website accessible for mobile phones and for people with disabilities, and how that impacts the business case for accessibility. (http://www.w3.org/WAI/mobile/)
* Create an Appendix that lists case studies, articles, and other supporting material.

"Developing a Web Accessibility Business Case for Your Organization" is developed within WAI's Education and Outreach Working Group (EOWG), whose home page is: http://www.w3.org/WAI/EO/

About WAI-AGE:
WAI-AGE is a European Commission IST Specific Support Action, with the goal of increasing accessibility of the Web for older people as well as for people with disabilities. http://www.w3.org/WAI/WAI-AGE/

Feel free to circulate this message to other lists; please avoid cross-postings as possible.

Regards,
~Shawn Lawton Henry, EOWG Chair
Andrew Arch, for the WAI-AGE Project http://www.w3.org/WAI/WAI-AGE

WAI IG e-mail:

W@@

Dear WAI Interest Group Participants,

Two videos with WAI staff were recently posted online that you might be interested in.

1. @@

2. @@

For more WAI Highlights, see the WAI home page:
* http://www.w3.org/WAI/
To subscribe to the WAI RSS feed, see:
* http://www.w3.org/WAI/highlights/about-rss.html

Please feel free to circulate this message, avoiding cross-postings where possible.

Regards,
Judy ?? Shadi
...

WAI IG email:

WCAG 2.0 French Authorized Translation Published

Dear WAI Interest Group Participants,

W3C WAI is pleased to announce publication of the first Authorized Translation of Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.0:

     Règles pour l'accessibilité des contenus Web (WCAG) 2.0 (French)
     http://www.w3.org/Translations/WCAG20-fr

Authorized W3C Translations are reviewed by stakeholders following the *Policy for Authorized W3C Translations* process at:
     http://www.w3.org/2005/02/TranslationPolicy

*WCAG 2.0 Translations lists other completed and planned translations* including Brazilian Portuguese, Catalan, Chinese, Czech, Danish, Dutch, German, Hindi, Hungarian, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, Swedish, and others, at:
     http://www.w3.org/WAI/WCAG20/translations

W3C encourages translation of specifications and resources into all languages. For information on translating documents and links to existing translations, see W3C Translations at:
     http://www.w3.org/Consortium/Translation/

WAI particularly encourages the development of W3C Authorized Translations of WCAG 2.0 and other technical specifications to facilitate their adoption and implementation internationally. For a list of translation priorities, see Translating WAI Documents at:
     http://www.w3.org/WAI/translation

Additional perspectives are in the "WCAG 2.0 in your mother tongue" blog post at:
     http://www.w3.org/QA/@@

Feel free to circulate this message to other lists; please avoid cross-postings as possible.

Regards,
Shawn Lawton Henry, W3C WAI Outreach Coordinator
Shadi Abou-Zahra, W3C WAI International Program Office Activity Lead

WAI IG email:

Overlap between Mobile Web (MWBP) and Accessibility (WCAG) Published

Dear WAI Interest Group participants,

The Mobile Web Best Practices Working Group and the WAI Education and Outreach Working Group published the W3C Working Group Note:
*Relationship between Mobile Web Best Practices (MWBP) and Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG)* at:
     http://www.w3.org/TR/mwbp-wcag

For an introduction to the overlap between design goals and guidelines covering accessibility for people with disabilities, and design goals and best practices for mobile devices, see:
*Web Content Accessibility and Mobile Web*: Making a Web Site Accessible Both for People with Disabilities and for Mobile Devices, at:
      http://www.w3.org/WAI/mobile/

For examples of barriers that people (without disabilities) face when interacting with Web content via mobile devices, and similar barriers for people with disabilities using desktop computers, see:
*Shared Web Experiences*: Barriers Common to Mobile Device Users and People with Disabilities, at:
      http://www.w3.org/WAI/mobile/experiences

Information about the Working Groups is available from:
- Mobile Web Best Practices Working Group
   http://www.w3.org/2005/MWI/BPWG/
- Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI) Education and Outreach Working Group
   http://www.w3.org/WAI/EO/

Feel free to circulate this message to other lists; please avoid cross-postings where possible.

Regards,
Shawn Lawton Henry, WAI EOWG Chair
Jo Rabin, MWI BPWG Co-Chair
Daniel Appelquist, MWI BPWG Co-Chair

WAI IG email:

Call for Review: UAAG 2.0 Working Draft updated

Dear WAI Interest Group Participants,

The User Agent Accessibility Guidelines Working Group invites you to comment on an updated Working Draft published 23 July 2009:
     User Agent Accessibility Guidelines (UAAG) 2.0
     http://www.w3.org/TR/UAAG20/

UAAG defines how browsers, media players, and other "user agents" should support accessibility for people with disabilities and work with assistive technologies. UAAG is introduced in:
     UAAG Overview
     http://www.w3.org/WAI/intro/uaag.php

Changes in this Working Draft include:
* Operability section updated in response to comments
* Glossary rewritten

The Working Group is looking for feedback on these changes along with the specific questions listed in the Status section at:
     http://www.w3.org/TR/UAAG20/#status

UAAG is part of a series of accessibility guidelines/standards developed by WAI, including Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) and Authoring Tool Accessibility Guidelines (ATAG), which are listed in:
     WAI Guidelines and Techniques
     http://www.w3.org/WAI/guid-tech.html

WAI encourages people with disabilities and developers of browsers, assistive technologies, plug-ins, extensions, and accessibility APIs (application programming interfaces) to provide feedback on this draft, and to consider more active participation in developing UAAG 2.0. Please send comments to the publicly-archived list:
public-uaag2-comments@w3.org
by 91 September 2009

UAAG 2.0 is currently informative only. After the UAAG Working Group is rechartered to produce W3C Recommendations under the W3C Patent Policy, the group expects to advance UAAG 2.0 through the Recommendation track. For more information, see:
     How WAI Develops Accessibility Guidelines through the W3C Process
     http://www.w3.org/WAI/intro/w3c-process
     User Agent Accessibility Guidelines Working Group (UAWG)
     http://www.w3.org/WAI/UA/

Please let us know if you have any questions. Thank you in advance for your comments.

Feel free to circulate this message to other lists; please avoid cross-postings where possible.

Regards,
~Shawn Henry and Judy Brewer, W3C WAI
On behalf of UAAG Working Group Chairs

WAI IG email:

WAI-ARIA Update August 2009

Dear WAI Interest Group Participants,

The W3C WAI Protocols and Formats Working Group (PFWG) is more than halfway through resolving comments on the WAI-ARIA Last Call Working Draft published earlier this year.

Accessible Rich Internet Applications (WAI-ARIA) defines a way to make Web content and Web applications more accessible to people with disabilities. It especially helps with dynamic content and advanced user interface controls developed with Ajax (also known as AJAX), HTML, JavaScript, and related technologies. For an introduction to WAI-ARIA and links to related documents, please see the WAI-ARIA Overview at:
   http://www.w3.org/WAI/intro/aria

The Working Group will address all comments before responding to directly reviewers with the resolutions of their comments. In the meantime, reviewers can check on the general status of comments in the database at:
   http://www.w3.org/WAI/PF/comments/

The Working Group plans to publish a "stabilization draft" and then a second Last Call Working Draft with a new formal public review period, in order to ensure they did not created new issues when addressing the existing ones. As usual, the new review period will be announced on this WAI IG mailing list, the WAI home page <www.w3.org>, RSS feed <http://www.w3.org/WAI/highlights/rssfeed.rss>, and microblogs <http://twitter.com/w3c_wai>.

Please let us know if you have any questions.

Feel free to circulate this message to other lists; please avoid cross-postings where possible.

Regards,
~Shawn Lawton Henry
On behalf of:
Janina Sajka, Chair of PFWG

WAI IG email:

Tutorial: Web Applications Enabled, 16 September, London

Dear WAI Interest Group Participants:

WAI is leading "Web Applications Enabled" on 16 September 2009 in London, UK, as a Techshare pre-conference workshop.

This tutorial is for developers who want to learn more about creating accessible web applications. Participants will gain:
- An understanding of WCAG 2.0 and WAI-ARIA accessibility standards
- Practical examples of WCAG 2.0 and WAI-ARIA implementation
- Techniques for developing accessible websites and web applications
Detailed information about the tutorial is available from:
  http://www.w3.org/WAI/presentations/2009/techshare

Registration is via the Techshare 2009 website:
  http://www.techshare.org.uk/
The *registration deadline is 1 September 2009*.

This message may be circulated to other lists; however, please avoid cross-postings where possible.

Regards,
~Shawn Lawton Henry, WAI Education and Outreach

WAI IG email:

New: Perspectives on Accessibility

Dear WAI Interest Group Participants,

Along with the redesigned W3C website, we have a new Accessibility page that introduces the what, why, where, and how of web accessibility. Read what it says about how the impact of disabilities can be radically changed for people using the Web when websites, web technologies, and web tools are properly designed. See:
     Accessibility - W3C
     http://www.w3.org/standards/webdesign/accessibility

Feel free to circulate this message to other lists; please avoid cross-postings where possible.

Regards,
~Shawn Lawton Henry
WAI Outreach Coordinator, Education and Outreach Working Group (EOWG) Chair

-----
Shawn Lawton Henry
W3C Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI)
e-mail: shawn@w3.org
phone: +1.617.395.7664
about: http://www.w3.org/People/Shawn/

WAI IG email:

W3C Shares Multimedia Accessibility FAQ

Dear WAI Interest Group Participants,

In order to help the community provide accessible multimedia, W3C has made public it's internal frequently-asked-questions page:
    *Multimedia Accessibility FAQ*
     http://www.w3.org/2008/06/video-notes

The FAQ provides some practical advice on:
- What do I need to do to make audio and video accessible?
- How do I get a transcript for my media?
- How do I do audio description of visuals?
- How do I do captions?
- Where can I get more information?

W3C's formal guidance on accessible multimedia is provided in WCAG, see
     Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) Overview
     http://www.w3.org/WAI/intro/wcag
To get a list of relevant WCAG 2.0 guidelines, success criteria, and techniques, see:
     How to Meet WCAG 2.0, Time-based Media: Guideline 1.2 section
     http://www.w3.org/WAI/WCAG20/quickref/#media-equiv
For more details on WCAG 2.0's coverage of accessible mulitmedia, follow the "Success Criteria for this Guideline" links at the bottom of:
     Time-based Media: Understanding Guideline 1.2
     http://www.w3.org/TR/UNDERSTANDING-WCAG20/media-equiv.html

Please let us know if you have any questions or comments on the FAQ.

Feel free to circulate this message to other lists; please avoid cross-postings where possible.

Regards,
~Shawn Lawton Henry
WAI Outreach Coordinator, Education and Outreach Working Group (EOWG) Chair

WAI IG email:

Call for Review: EARL 1.0 Last Call Working Draft

Dear WAI Interest Group Participants,

The Evaluation and Repair Tools Working Group invites you to comment on a series of Working Draft documents published @@ October 2009:
* Evaluation and Report Language (EARL) 1.0 Schema - Last Call Working Draft
   http://www.w3.org/TR/EARL10-Schema/
* Evaluation and Report Language (EARL) 1.0 Guide - First Public Working Draft
   http://www.w3.org/TR/EARL10-Guide/
* HTTP Vocabulary in RDF 1.0 - updated Working Draft
   http://www.w3.org/TR/HTTP-in-RDF10/
* Representing Content in RDF 1.0 - updated Working Draft
   http://www.w3.org/TR/Content-in-RDF10/
* Pointer Methods in RDF 1.0 - updated Working Draft
   http://www.w3.org/TR/Pointers-in-RDF10/
* Requirements for the Evaluation and Report Language (EARL) 1.0 - updated Working Draft
   http://www.w3.org/TR/EARL10-Requirements/

EARL is a machine-readable format for expressing test results. It is an RDF vocabulary, the terms of which are defined by the specifications listed above. The primary motivation for developing EARL is to facilitate the processing of test results, such as those generated by Web accessibility evaluation tools, using a vendor-neutral and platform-independent format. EARL is introduced in:
     EARL Overview
     http://www.w3.org/WAI/intro/earl.php

Only EARL 1.0 Schema is currently intended to become a W3C Recommendation, the remaining five documents are planned to become W3C Notes. The difference between W3C Recommendations and W3C Notes, and the development stages for these publications is described in:
     How WAI Develops Accessibility Guidelines through the W3C Process
     http://www.w3.org/WAI/intro/w3c-process

The Working Group believes is has addressed all comments received so far and is looking for final feedback, especially on the EARL 1.0 Schema document before promotion and publication as a Candidate Recommendation Working Draft. The "Status of this Document" sections of the publications include specific questions and guidance for providing comments. The main changes in this publication include:
* updated conformance model for EARL
* revised EARL vocabulary definitions
* added an explanatory EARL 1.0 Guide

WAI encourages feedback from developers and researchers who are interested in software-supported evaluation and validation of websites, and by those who are interested in Semantic Web technologies for content description, annotation, and adaptation. Please send comments to the publicly-archived list:
     public-earl10-comments@w3.org
     by 30 November 2009

Please let us know if you have any questions. Thank you in advance for your comments.

Feel free to circulate this message to other lists; please avoid cross-postings where possible.

Regards,
~Shawn Henry and Judy Brewer, W3C WAI
On behalf of Shadi Abou-Zahra, ERT WG
with thanks to Michael A Squillace

WAI IG email:

Call for Review: ATAG 2.0 Working Draft updated

Dear WAI Interest Group Participants,

The Authoring Tool Accessibility Guidelines Working Group invites you to comment on the updated Authoring Tool Accessibility Guidelines (ATAG) 2.0 Working Draft published 29 October 2009 at:
     http://www.w3.org/TR/ATAG20/

The draft integrates revisions in response to the comments of the 21 May draft as well as a substantially revised document, Implementing ATAG 2.0 which replaces Techniques for ATAG 2.0.

Substantial changes in this working draft include:
* The working group revised how authoring tools should support authors in making choices that improve accessibility
* The working group revised the former Techniques document to better serve developers, changing its title to Implementing ATAG 2.0.

Specific changes and questions for feedback are listed in the Status section:
http://www.w3.org/TR/ATAG20/#status

ATAG defines how authoring tools should help Web developers produce Web content that is accessible and conforms to Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.0. It also defines how to make authoring tools accessible so that people with disabilities can use the tools. ATAG is introduced in the ATAG Overview at:
     http://www.w3.org/WAI/intro/atag.php
ATAG is part of a series of accessibility guidelines/standards developed by WAI, which are listed in WAI Guidelines and Techniques at:
     http://www.w3.org/WAI/guid-tech.html

WAI encourages you to review the update ATAG 2.0 documents and submit comments on any issues that you think could present a barrier to future adoption and implementation of ATAG 2.0. Please send comments by 30 November 2009 to the comment list, which is publicly archived:
public-atag2-comments@w3.org

For more information, see:
* How WAI Develops Accessibility Guidelines through the W3C Process
     http://www.w3.org/WAI/intro/w3c-process
* Authoring Tool Accessibility Guidelines Working Group (AUWG)
     http://www.w3.org/WAI/AU/

Please let us know if you have any questions. Thank you in advance for your comments.

Feel free to circulate this message to other lists; please avoid cross-postings where possible.

Regards,
~Shawn Lawton Henry
On behalf of: Jutta Treviranus, Chair of AUWG, and Director of the Assistive Technology Research Center, University of Toronto
Jeanne Spellman, W3C Staff Contact for AUWG

WAI IG email:

Involve Users in Your Web Projects for Better, Easier Accessibility

Dear WAI Interest Group Participants,

Want to better understand accessibility issues and implement more effective accessibility solutions?
The W3C WAI Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI) today published documents to help:
* Involving Users in Web Projects for Better, Easier Accessibility
   http://www.w3.org/WAI/users/involving
* Involving Users in Evaluating Web Accessibility
   http://www.w3.org/WAI/eval/users

The documents provide guidance on including real users, covering:
* How involving users early helps
* Getting a range of users
* Working with users
* Analyzing accessibility issues
* Drawing conclusions and reporting
* Note for usability professionals
* Combine user involvement with standards

We encourage project managers, designers, and developers of the following to read these documents:
* websites and web applications
* browsers, media players, and assistive technologies
* authoring tools such as content management systems (CMS), blog software, and WYSIWYG editors
* standards and policies on accessibility
* web technologies and technical specifications

See also the blog post:
* Discover new ways of thinking about accessibility
   http://www.w3.org/QA/2009/12/discover_new_ways_of_thinking.html

These documents were developed and updated by Education and Outreach Working Group (EOWG) <http://www.w3.org/WAI/EO/> as part of the WAI-AGE Project. WAI-AGE is a European Commission IST Specific Support Action, with the goal of increasing accessibility of the Web for older people as well as for people with disabilities. See: http://www.w3.org/WAI/WAI-AGE/

Please let us know if you have any questions or suggestions.

Feel free to circulate this message to other lists; please avoid cross-postings where possible.

Regards,
~Shawn Lawton Henry, EOWG Chair

WAI IG email:

Call for Review: @@

Dear WAI Interest Group Participants,

The W3C WAI @@ Working Group (@@WG) invites you to comment on...

Please let us know if you have any questions. Thank you in advance for your comments.

Feel free to circulate this message to other lists; please avoid cross-postings where possible.

Regards,
~Shawn Lawton Henry
On behalf of:
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