Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI)

Announcements

WAI Web Accessibility Engineer position open (19 May 2006)

Events, Meetings, Presentations

At RESNA in Atlanta, GA, USA: "Web Accessibility: How to Improve Policy and Practice" keynote by Judy Brewer on 26 June
At Web Design World 2006 in Seattle, WA, USA:
- "Accessibility in a Web 2.0 World" presentation by Shawn Henry on 10 July
- "Accessibility: Better, Faster, Cheaper" presentation by Shawn Henry on 11 July

[Past WAI Events]
[Search Presentations of W3C Team]

Documents in Progress

Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.0 Last Call Working Draft 27 April 2006 (see Extending Deadline on WCAG 2.0 Last Call Review)
Authoring Tool Accessibility Guidelines 2.0 Working Draft 22 November 2005 (ATAG Call for Review)
Evaluation and Report Language (EARL) 1.0 Schema Working Draft 09 September 2005 (EARL Schema Call for Review)

[More documents listed on the WAI IG page]

Highlights

Custom View of WCAG Two: Quick Reference

WCAG 2.0 Quick Reference lists the basic requirements of WCAG 2.0, which are the success criteria. For each success criteria, it lists techniques that tell you how to meet the requirements. You can customize the Quick Reference for the Web technologies you are using and for Levels 1, 2, or 3. See also: Overview of WCAG 2.0 Documents. (2006-06-20)

Extended Deadline: WCAG 2.0 Last Call Review

Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.0 (WCAG 2.0) Last Call Working Draft and supporting documents were published 27 April 2006. WAI encourages you to review these documents and submit any comments. See:

Please send comments by 22 June 2006. (2006-05-30)

For Review: WCAG 2.0 Last Call

Please send comments by 31 May 2006. (2006-04-27)

Want to know how people with disabilities use your Web site? Ask.

Web accessibility guidelines, techniques, and tools provide the basis for Web accessibility. Including people with disabilities in the Web development process helps to understand the "why" behind accessibility. It leads to more effective accessibility solutions, developed more efficiently. See "Involving Users in Web Accessibility Evaluation". (2005-11-02)

Web Accessibility 101: The Basics and Beyond

WAI's recently updated "Introduction to Web Accessibility" addresses key issues of making the Web accessible, including:

An accessible Web is essential for equal opportunities for people with disabilities
Web accessibility benefits others, such as older people with changing abilities due to aging
Web software has a vital role in Web accessibility (2005-09-12)

W3C Replies: Single Browser Bad for Accessibility

W3C responded to a US Copyright Office notice asking about making an application work only through a single Web browser. W3C comments explain that "requiring use of a particular software product for accessing Copyright Office services... could put Web users with disabilities at a significant disadvantage." (2005-09-06)

The Business Case for Web Accessibility: Three Carrots and a Stick

"Developing a Web Accessibility Business Case for Your Organization" describes the social, technical, financial, and legal and policy factors relevant to developing a customized business case for Web accessibility for a specific organization. (2005-08-23)

Finding Your WAI: Exploring the New Web Site

WAI's new Web site has been carefully designed to make it easier for you to find information on making the Web accessible to people with disabilities.

WAI Web Site Redesign Project lists on-going development to refine the markup, design, and features. (2005-07-22)

Web Accessibility: The Fellowship of the Guidelines

Many people know about WAI's Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) and the responsibilities of Web developers in making the Web accessible to people with disabilities. But Web developers alone cannot make the Web accessible.

Web browsers, assistive technologies, and authoring tools also have a vital role in Web accessibility. Essential Components of Web Accessibility describes these roles along with the WAI guidelines. (2005-07-22)

Blogs, Wikis, CMS... Got ATAG?

Web content is created by many different types of tools these days: Web log (blog) comment features, Wikis for editing Web pages, content management systems (CMS), e-mail archivers, word processors, and more.

All of these tool are covered by WAI's Authoring Tool Accessibility Guidelines (ATAG), which explain:

how tools should help Web developers produce accessible Web content,
how to make tools accessible to people with disabilities.

Does your tool know ATAG? (2005-07-22)

[Highlights Archive] WAI home page Highlights are edited by Shawn Lawton Henry, WAI's Education and Outreach Working Group, and other WAI Team and Working Groups.

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