World Wide Web Consortium (W3C)
"Leading the Web to its full potential"
- International, vendor-neutral consortium
- Multi-stakeholder, consensus process
- Open and royalty-free Web standards:
- HTML, CSS, XML, SVG, SMIL, ...
- Operates from MIT, ERCIM, and Keio
W3C Members
Currently nearly 400 organizations from:
- Web industry
- Technology adopters
- Research organizations
- Government organizations
- User organizations
Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI)
WAI develops strategies, guidelines, resources to make the Web accessible:
- Operates fully under the W3C Process
- Additional funding from public grants
- Mostly publicly open Working Groups
- Makes use of Invited Expert modality
- Aim is to balance multi-stakeholders
Illustration of the Components
ATAG
Authoring Tool Accessibility Guidelines (ATAG):
- Producing content that is accessible for people with disabilities
- Prompting the author for accessibility-related information
- Providing ways of checking and correcting inaccessible content
- Integrating accessibility in the overall "look and feel," help, and documentation
- Making the authoring tool itself accessible to people with disabilities
UAAG
User Agent Accessibility Guidelines (UAAG):
- Access to all content, including content tied to events triggered by the mouse or keyboard
- User control over how content is rendered
- User control over the user interface, with documentation of accessibility features
- Standard programming interfaces, to enable interaction with assistive technologies
WCAG
Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.0
Internationally recognized standard for web accessibility:
- Agnostic to any particular technology
- Requirements are testable statements
- Flexible to apply to different contexts
- Provides more support for developers
WCAG 2.0 Adoption
WCAG 2.0 is being increasingly adopted by policies internationally:
- Drafts for updated US Section 508 (ANPRM)
- Drafts for EC Mandate 376 (EN 301 549)
- Proposed EC Directive on Web Accessibility
- Australia, Canada, Japan, New Zealand, ...
WCAG2ISO
WCAG 2.0 is now also ISO/IEC 40500:
- Referenceable international ISO/IEC standard
- Unmodified version of WCAG 2.0 with cover page
- Continues to be freely available from W3C/WAI
- WCAG 2.0 Translations available from W3C/WAI
WCAG2ICT
Applying WCAG 2.0 to Non-Web ICTs (WCAG2ICT):
- Describes how WCAG can be applied to non-web ICT
- Does not make statements about what should be applied
- Does not necessarily address all requirements
- Supports uniform accessibility requirements across ICTs
WCAG 2.0 - Structure
- Principles (4)
- Guidelines (12)
- Success Criteria - Level A (25)
- Success Criteria - Level AA (13)
- Success Criteria - Level AAA (23)
- Conformance
Supported by WCAG 2.0 Techniques
WCAG 2.0 - Principles
Functional principles of WCAG 2.0:
- P - Perceivable
- O - Operable
- U - Understandable
- R - Robust
WCAG 2.0 - Guidelines
Examples of WCAG 2.0 Guidelines:
WCAG 2.0 - Success Criteria
Examples of WCAG 2.0 Success Criteria:
- 1.1.1 Non-text Content: All non-text content that is presented to the user has a text alternative that serves the equivalent purpose - Level A
- 2.2.4 Interruptions: Interruptions can be postponed or suppressed by the user, except interruptions involving an emergency - Level AAA
Educational Resources
W3C/WAI also develops educational resources such as:
Get Involved in WAI
Using WAI resources and contributing to WAI:
- Getting WAI highlights and updates
- Engaging with WAI Interest Group (IG)
- Contributing comments and feedback
- Participating in WAI Working Groups
- Sponsoring WAI and W3C Membership
At: http://w3.org/WAI/participation
