UAAG instructs browsers and media players -- known as user agents -- on steps to take to increase the accessibility of their interfaces and the content they render. It was made a W3C Recommendation on December 18, 2002, and received testimonials on its behalf from dozens of organizations.
UAAG is part of a series of accessibility guidelines, including the Authoring Tool Accessibility Guidelines and the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines. Components of Web Accessibility explains the relationship between the different guidelines.
Developers of browsers and media players, and developers of assistive technology (including screen readers and on-screen keyboards), should integrate UAAG in their applications to benefit users with a wide range of disabilities.
If you are a developer of a browser, media player, or assistive technology, read the guidelines and techniques documents. These documents set out the requirements to conform to UAAG at any of three different levels.
See also the UAAG test suites to evaluate your tool's conformance, and an evaluation form to add your own conformance report.
To find out how your browser or media player does on UAAG conformance, you may browse our conformance reports.
If you are a user of Web browsers or media players, and have a disability that makes it difficult to use them, contact the makers of these tools and direct them to this Recommendation.
The guidelines contain a comprehensive set of checkpoints which direct user agents on meeting the needs of users with disabilities:
UAAG 1.0 and the techniques document follow the W3C format for technical specifications which includes at the beginning: version links, editors, copyright, abstract, status, and table of contents. Most WAI specifications have a link at the top to the Table of Contents.
UAAG 1.0 was produced by the User Agent Working Group of the Web Accessibility Initiative at the W3C. The group consists of companies developing browsers, media players, and assistive technology; and invited Web accessibility experts.