W3C WAI Authoring Tool Guidelines Working Group

New Checkpoint 3.2 (3.1 split into alternative content and structure checkpoints again)
Change to checkpoint 2.3
Reorganisation of checkpoints 6.1, 6.2, 6.3
Checkpoints 7.3 and 7.4 merged
Checkpoint 5.2 becomes Priority 2
Checkpoint 3.3 becomes relative priority

http://www.w3.org/WAI/AU/WAI-AUTOOLS-19991009

http://www.w3.org/WAI/AU/WAI-AUTOOLS-19991008

http://www.w3.org/WAI/AU/WAI-AUTOOLS-19990908

Internal drafts

Minor editorial amendments and corrections

http://www.w3.org/TR/1999/WAI-AUTOOLS-19990903

Last Call draft (until 4 October)

Minor editorial amendments and corrections

http://www.w3.org/WAI/AU/WAI-AUTOOLS-19990901

Checkpoint 6.3 removed
Minor rewording of some checkpoints.
Rewording of introduction and some guideline introductions
reordering of guidelines

http://www.w3.org/WAI/AU/WAI-AUTOOLS-19990825

New Checkpoint 1.7 - enable searching (Priority 2)
Rewording of checkpoints 3.1 and 3.4.

http://www.w3.org/WAI/AU/WAI-AUTOOLS-19990818

New Introduction section for Guideline 4
Rewording of checkpoint 7.3, priority becomes relative.
New section (conformance of Amaya) added to sample implementations

http://www.w3.org/WAI/AU/WAI-AUTOOLS-19990811

New Introduction section for Guidelines
Reordering of checkpoints in guidelines 4 and 6
New section (Multimedia editor) added to sample implementations

http://www.w3.org/WAI/AU/WAI-AUTOOLS-19990805

Checkpoint 4.2 removed
Checkpoint 1.3 split into two checkpoints
Checkpoint 5.1 changed to priority 1 (and 5.1/5.2 swapped order)
Wording changes in checkpoints
Techniques supplemented

http://www.w3.org/WAI/AU/WAI-AUTOOLS-19990728

Checkpoint wording changes
Techniques supplemented

http://www.w3.org/WAI/AU/WAI-AUTOOLS-19990720

New checkpoint 2.3 "ensure document types enable accessibility"
Minor wording changes in some checkpoints
Techniques supplemented

http://www.w3.org/TR/1999/WAI-AUTOOLS-19990713

Public Working Draft

This is essentially the same as the 21 June working draft.

http://www.w3.org/WAI/AU/WAI-AUTOOLS-19990709

Minor wording changes to some checkpoints
Checkpoint 2.2 expanded in scope to cover all document types
Checkpoint 1.1 has relative Priority

http://www.w3.org/WAI/AU/WAI-AUTOOLS-19990624

Checkpoint 4.3 removed
New section 1.2 "How the Guidelines are Organized"
Definitions further cleaned up
Minor wording changes to some checkpoints
Major new technique added to sample implementations

http://www.w3.org/WAI/AU/WAI-AUTOOLS-19990621

Definitions and priorities cleaned up
Guidelines numbered as single digits

http://www.w3.org/WAI/AU/WAI-AUTOOLS-19990617

Checkpoint 2.1.3 rewritten
Definitions section of guidelines document revised.
New techniques added to some checkpoints

http://www.w3.org/WAI/AU/WAI-AUTOOLS-19990610

Checkpoint 2.1.6 made into a technique for 2.1.1
Checkpointsf 2.1.3 and 2.1.4 merged
Some new definitions.

http://www.w3.org/WAI/AU/WAI-AUTOOLS-19990602

Checkpoints 2.3.4 and 2.3.5 merged
Checkpoint 2.3.1 no longer restricted to W3C Recommendations
Some reordering of checkpoints
New techniques for guideline 2.1

http://www.w3.org/WAI/AU/WAI-AUTOOLS-19990527:

New Checkpoint in 2.4: "Allow the author to edit all alternative content" (to see how we like it - may be temporary feature)
Guideline 2.6 is merged - checkpoints 2.6.1 and 2.6.2 and intro text into guideline 2.3, checkpoint 2.6.3 into guideline 2.7
Guideline 2.3 title now does not refer to W3C recommendations, but checkpoint 2.3.1 does
Checkpoints with relative priorities are single checkpoints with variable priority.
Sample Implementations is now in techniques document only
New introduction for document replaces old intro for document and old intro for guidelines section

http://www.w3.org/WAI/AU/WAI-AUTOOLS-19990521:

The techniques are available as an expanded version of the document, not in the 'base' version of the document
Section 3 is moved into a single guideline - 2.1 (which changed the numbering of the rest of the guidelines
Checkpoints with relative priorities split into multiple checkpoints with single priority.

http://www.w3.org/WAI/AU/WAI-AUTOOLS-19990506

Guideline 3.4 merged into guideline 2
Checkpoint 2.7.2 upgraded to priority 1, and swapped in order with 2.7.1
Slight modification of priority definitions
New section on scope of the guidelines

http://www.w3.org/TR/1999/WAI-AUTOOLS-19990503

Public Working Draft. As per the previous group working draft Except it does not incorporate

New wording for abstract
Definition of Conformance to these guidelines
Some techniques that are new in the latest group version.

http://www.w3.org/WAI/AU/WAI-AUTOOLS-19990430

New checkpoint 2.6.5
New wording for Abstract
Added definition of Conformance to these Guidelines
New techniques for many checkpoints
Modified definition of conformance to other documents

http://www.w3.org/WAI/AU/WAI-AUTOOLS-19990421

New Checkpoints 2.5.1 and 2.5.2 replace old checkpoint 2.5.1
Wording change for old checkpoint 2.5.2 (now 2.5.3)
Checkpoint 3.4.2 moved to techniques
Priorities assigned to all checkpoints

http://www.w3.org/WAI/AU/WAI-AUTOOLS-19990413

Checkpoints 2.6.5 and 2.6.6 moved to techniques
Conformance to other WAI guidelines defined
Priorities assigned to checkpoints up to 2.7.2
New checkpoints for 2.4
some minor wording changes for 2.1.2 and 2.6.3
Techniques listed for each checkpoint rather than for each guideline

http://www.w3.org/WAI/AU/WAI-AUTOOLS-19990331

Grammar clarified for 2.3.5, minor typographical and layout changes.

http://www.w3.org/WAI/AU/WAI-AUTOOLS-19990326

Introductions for sections 2 and 3 to summarise as well as refer to guidelines for accessibility of software and Markup
New Guideline 3.1 - make tools accessible, with checkpoints use system conventions and follow User Agent Guidelines where applicable
Generalisation of checkpoint 3.3.1 (now 4.3.1)
Checkpoints for guideline 3.3 - Navigation: allow navigation via the structure, and allow editing of the structure
Checkpoint 2.3.4 clarified
Clarification of definitions, update of references

http://www.w3.org/WAI/AU/WD-WAI-AUTOOLS-19990304

Major reordering following face to face meeting.

Section 3 collapsed into sections 2 and 4
Merger of guidelines 2.2 and 2.3, 2.4 and 3.5 and 3.7, 3.2 and 3.3 and 3.4
New Guideline in Accesssibility of Tool section: Navigation
Most checkpoints rewritten
Redundant checkpoints removed.

http://www.w3.org/TR/1999/WD-WAI-AUTOOLS-19990301

Public Working Draft

Three checkpoints reinstated: 3.2.2, 3.2.3, 3.2.4
Order of checkpoints and techniques reversed (checkpoints first).
Minor typo corrections ("user agent" to "authoring tool")

http://www.w3.org/WAI/AU/WD-WAI-AUTOOLS-19990225

Added checkpoints to 2.1: Use a published standard DTD, validate imported markup, use a w3c recommendation where possible, do not use a DTD which interferes with access.
Clarified Checkpoint 2.6.1
Added definitions of Guideline, Checkpoint, Technique. Expanded definitions of priorities

http://www.w3.org/WAI/AU/WD-WAI-AUTOOLS-19990216

Subsumed Guideline 4.3 'Provide text representations of Site maps' into an expanded Guideline 4.2 (currently 'Provide text representations of element') which explicitly mentions tags
Merged checkpoints 2.5.8 and 2.5.9 dealing with insertion of default ALT text.
Moved checkpoints 2.5.2, 2.5.3, 3.2.1, 3.2.2, 3.2.3, 4.2.2 to techniques
Add techniques for accessible site-maps, and alternative content
Changed ordering

http://www.w3.org/TR/1999/WD-WAI-AUTOOLS-19990128

Public Working Draft

Ceated 2.1.1 and 2.2.1;
Removed 3.1.3
Changed Guideline 2.6 from 'Ensure that conversion tools produce and retain accessible markup and content' to 'Never remove existing accessible structure'
Changed Guideline 2.3 from 'Identify inaccessible markup' to 'Identify and allow the author to correct inaccessible markup'
Changed 'Guiding Principles' into prose introductions.
Removed Priorities from Guidelines
All checkpoints expressed in imperative voice

http://www.w3.org/WAI/AU/WD-WAI-AUTOOLS-19990112

Moved Section 4 (Promote Accessibliity) up to section 3, named it 'Encourage Authors to create accessible documents'
Moved Guideline 3.1 'Ensure that users may configure accessibility mechanisms', 3.2 'Integrate accessibility solutions naturally' from Old Section 3 (Ensure an accessible authoring environment), 2.6 'Provide comprehensive accessibility help to authors' and 2.3 'Emphasize accessible authoring practice' from section 2 (Ensure Content Produced by the Tool is Accessible) into new section 3.
Moved Guideline 2.8 'Offer text representations of site map' into new section 4 'Ensure the Authoring Tool is Accessible to Users with Disabilities'
Merged guidelines 2.5 'Provide mechanisms for authors to add missing alternative representations for the content of converted documents' and '2.7 Package multimedia files with pre-written descriptions' into new guideline 2.5 'Provide mechanism for managing alternative content'
New introduction to section 4: http://lists.w3.org/Archives/Public/w3c-wai-au/1998OctDec/0111.html
Removed Guidelines 2.9 'Integrate accessibility solutions into relevant automated tools and wizards' and 2.10 'Allow the user to check for and correct accessibility problems automatically'

http://www.w3.org/WAI/AU/WD-WAI-AUTOOLS-19990101

Reordered document into three areas: Generating accessible content; User Interface; Promoting accessibility
Removed examples
Removed several guidelines which were redundant and discursive

http://www.w3.org/TR/1998/WD-WAI-AUTOOLS-19981112

Initial Public working draft

Last updated 8 April, 2002 by Jan Richards (jan.richards@utoronto.ca)

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