WAI DA Update, July 2002

This update provides information on activities of the World Wide Web Consortium's (W3C) Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI), for the Web Accessibility Initiative Design for All (WAI DA) Project in Europe. Please circulate to other mailing lists as appropriate, avoiding cross-postings where possible.

Contents:

1. EC Communique on adoption of Web Content Accessibility Guidelines

In September 2001 Commissioner Liikanen of the European Commission released a Communique addressing adoption of W3C/WAI's Web Content Accessibility Guidelines by the EC and by EU Member States. Information is available at:

2. Getting Started: Making a Web Site Accessible

WAI's Education and Outreach Working Group (EOWG) recently updated "Getting Started: Making a Web Site Accessible." This page has helpful links to online resources for people new to Web accessibility. Translations into Danish, Dutch, French, Portuguese, and Spanish are available, and other translations are in progress.

3. Interested in reviewing Web pages for accessibility?

Reviewing Web pages for accessibility involves more than just running a page through a semi-automated accessibility checker. The draft document "Evaluating Web Sites for Accessibility" explains how to do preliminary reviews and more comprehensive conformance evaluations of Web site accessibility. We invite you to try the recommended evaluation procedures and comment on the document; and also to contact us if you are interested in setting up review teams to evaluate Web sites.

4. Upcoming Education and Outreach Meetings (28 Feb - 1 Mar; 23-24 Mar)

WAI's Education and Outreach Working Group (EOWG) will meet on 28 February (Thursday) and 1 March (Friday) in Cannes, France. The Thursday meeting will address work of the EOWG such as further development of the implementation planning resource suite for Web accessibility, and the Friday meeting will provide an opportunity to exchange information among individuals and organizations promoting Web accessibility within Europe. Information on that meeting, and on other events including the EOWG meetings 23-24 March following the CSUN conference in Los Angeles, is available:

5. Report from Education and Outreach Working Group meeting in Amsterdam, June 2001

Individuals and organizations promoting Web accessibility within a number of European countries met together on 22 June 2001 in Amsterdam to exchange information and brainstorm about strategies to promote Web accessibility. A report from that meeting is available:

6. W3C seeks software implementations of guidelines for browsers and multimedia players

W3C's "User Agent Accessibility Guidelines 1.0" (UAAG 1.0), which explain how to make browsers and multimedia players accessible to people with disabilities, entered W3C's "Candidate Recommendation" phase in September 2001. These guidelines complement the accessibility solutions in the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 1.0 and Authoring Tool Accessibility Guidelines 1.0, which are already W3C Recommendations. Once UAAG 1.0 has at least two implementations of each checkpoint, they can become a Proposed Recommendation, and then a W3C Recommendation (the final stage of W3C's standards process).

7. About the Web Accessibility Initiative and this WAI DA Update

The Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI) is an international effort based at the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C). WAI addresses accessibility of the Web for people with disabilities through a variety of activities including technical and guidelines development, and educational work. WAI Design for All (WAI DA) is a project funded by the EC Information Society Technologies (IST) Programme, to increase outreach and localizations of Web accessibility information in Europe. Additional information is available:

SUBSCRIPTIONS: The WAI DA Update is a periodic mailing about information and opportunities relating to Web accessibility in Europe. Distribution is primarily through existing mailing lists. If you manage or can post to an electronic mailing list within Europe and would like to receive distribution of the WAI DA Update, please contact Sylvie Duchateau at <sduchate@snv.jussieu.fr> and provide information about the mailing list to which you have access.

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WAI DA Update, February 2002