Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI)
Announcements
- Open position: Web Accessibility Specialist (Europe)
- Open position: Web Accessibility Engineer
- WAI-ACT Project
- Get WAI Announcements
Events, Meetings, Presentations
- At MobileHCI Workshop on Mobile Accessibility in San Fransisco, CA, USA on 21 September: "Web Accessibility in the Mobile Context" presentation by Shadi
- At W3C
TPAC 2012 in Lyon, France
- On 19 November, online: Text Customization for Readability Symposium
- On 3 December, online: Easy-to-Read on the Web Symposium
[WAI
Presentations]
[Past WAI Events]
Documents in Progress
The WAI Interest Group (WAI IG) page lists documents in progress, such as accessibility guidelines WAI-ARIA 1.0, UAAG 2.0, and ATAG 2.0.
Highlights
Mobile Accessibility: Resources Updated
See the Mobile Accessibility Resources e-mail for links to updated information on how mobile web accessibility is addressed in existing W3C standards/guidelines, and how the overlap between mobile web design/development and accessibility strengthens the business case. (2012-Sept-10)
Call for Papers: Easy-to-Read on the Web Symposium
The Research and Development Working Group (RDWG) will hold an online symposium to explore easy-to-read language to meet the needs of people with cognitive disabilities or low language skills. See the Easy-to-Read on the Web Symposium page. The Call for Papers is open until 12 October 2012. (2012-Sept-06)
For Review: Web Accessibility Metrics Research Report
The First Public Working Draft of Research Report on Web Accessibility Metrics, a W3C Working Group Note, is now available for review. See the Call for Review: Web Accessibility Metrics Research Report e-mail for more information. Comments are welcome through 30 September 2012. (2012-Aug-30)
Call for Papers: Text Customization for Readability Symposium
The Research and Development Working Group (RDWG) will hold an online symposium to explore the needs of people with low vision, dyslexia, and other conditions and situations that impact reading. See the Text Customization for Readability Symposium page. The Call for Papers is open until 24 September 2012. (2012-Aug-21)
For Review: WAI-ARIA 1.0 User Agent Implementation Guide
We invite you to review an updated Working Draft of WAI-ARIA 1.0 User Agent Implementation Guide, which describes how browsers and other user agents should support WAI-ARIA (the Accessible Rich Internet Applications specification); specifically, how to expose WAI-ARIA features to platform accessibility APIs. See the Call for Review: WAI-ARIA 1.0 User Agent Implementation Guide e-mail for more information. Please send comments by 21 September 2012. (2012-Aug-16)
Applying WCAG 2.0 to Non-Web ICT: First Draft Published
The First Public Working Draft of Applying WCAG 2.0 to Non-Web Information and Communications Technologies (WCAG2ICT) is now available for review. Please see important background information in the Call for Review: Applying WCAG 2.0 to Non-Web ICT e-mail. Comments are welcome through 7 September 2012. (2012-July-27)
Understanding WCAG 2.0: Updates in progress
The WCAG Working Group is updating a supporting document for WCAG 2.0 and a draft is available for review: Understanding WCAG 2.0 (Editors' Draft). (This is not an update to WCAG 2.0, which is a stable document.) To learn more about the updates, see Understanding WCAG 2.0: Updates in progress e-mail. (2012-July-27)
Role Attribute Implementation and Testing
Role Attribute 1.0 is published as a Candidate Recommendation. Role Attribute allows authors to add semantic information to documents, which is a requirement of WAI-ARIA. Please see additional information in:
- Role Attribute 1.0 Candidate Recommendation in Implementation and Testing e-mail
- How WAI Develops Accessibility Guidelines through the W3C Process
Comments are welcome through 24 August 2012. (2012-July-12)
Indie UI: New Independent User Interface Working Group
Today W3C WAI launched the new Independent User Interface (Indie UI) Working Group to develop a way for user actions to be communicated to web applications. This will make it easier for web applications to work with a wide range of devices, including assistive technologies (AT). To learn more, see the Indie UI e-mail. (2012-May-22)
Calling All Authoring Tool Developers: ATAG 2 for You
WAI encourages developers of web authoring tools (content management systems, HTML editors, social networking apps, and more) to start using Authoring Tool Accessibility Guidelines ATAG 2.0 Working Draft. It's in Last Call Working Draft stage, which means we think it's stable, yet it might change somewhat based on feedback and implementation experience. See:
- ATAG 2.0 Last Call Working Draft published e-mail
- ATAG Overview
- How WAI Develops Accessibility Guidelines through the W3C Process
Please send any comments on this Last Call Working Draft by 5 June 2012. (2012-April-10)
Accessibility Evaluation Methodology First Draft
WAI invites you to review the First Public Working Draft of Website Accessibility Conformance Evaluation Methodology (WCAG-EM) that was published today. For more information, see the WCAG-EM Website Accessibility Conformance Evaluation Methodology Draft Published e-mail. Please send any comments on this early draft by 27 April 2012. (2012-March-27)
Share the news: How to Make Your Presentations Accessible to All is updated
How to Make Presentations Accessible to All helps you make presentations, meetings, conferences, etc. accessible to all of your potential audience, including people with disabilities and others. We welcome your help telling others about this resource. See more in the blog post: Make Your Presentations Accessible to All updated - share the news. (2012-Feb-20)
BAD to Good Updated: Demo shows web accessibility barriers fixed
The Before and After Demonstration (BAD) shows an inaccessible website and a retrofitted version of the same website with the accessibility barriers fixed. BAD is especially useful for presentations. See more in the BAD accessibility demo updated - share the news e-mail. (2012-Jan-31)
First Draft of Media Accessibility User Requirements
We invite you to comment on the First Public Working Draft of Media Accessibility User Requirements that describes the accessibility requirements of people with disabilities with respect to audio and video on the Web, particularly in the context of HTML5. See Call for Review: Media Accessibility User Requirements email. Please send comments by 9 March 2012. (2012-Jan-03)
WAI-ACT: Cooperation, Implementation, Evaluation, Research
WAI invites you to participate in the new WAI-ACT Project to help develop:
- An expanded framework for open cooperation among individuals and organizations,
- Technical guidance on implementing web accessibility,
- A harmonized methodology for evaluating website accessibility,
- Coordinated contribution to an eAccessibility research agenda.
See WAI-ACT Project: Accessibility Cooperation, Implementation, Evaluation, and Research e-mail and WAI-ACT Project page to learn about this European Commission (EC)-funded project. (2011-Nov-16)
Eval Task Force: Guidance on evaluating web accessibility
WAI is starting a WCAG 2.0 Evaluation Methodology Task Force to develop more comprehensive guidance on evaluating web accessibility. The Evaluation Task Force will develop an internationally harmonized methodology for evaluating websites' conformance to WCAG 2.0. Learn more about it from the Web Accessibility Evaluation and Testing e-mail. (2011-July-13)
WAI-ARIA On the Move: Implementation Testing Underway
We are excited to announce that Accessible Rich Internet Applications (WAI-ARIA) 1.0 was published as a W3C Candidate Recommendation on 18 January 2011. The Candidate Recommendation stage means that there is broad consensus on the technical content, and we are gathering WAI-ARIA implementations. Please see additional information in:
- WAI-ARIA 1.0 Candidate Recommendation in Implementation and Testing e-mail
- Accessible Rich Internet Applications (WAI-ARIA) moves to Candidate Recommendation (CR) blog post
- How WAI Develops Accessibility Guidelines through the W3C Process
- WAI-ARIA Overview
If you are interested in sharing implementation experience, please let us know before 25 February 2011. (2011-Jan-18)
Working Together for Better Accessibility
To help and encourage developers and users working together, WAI has updated the following documents:
- Contacting Organizations about Inaccessible Websites (primarily for users)
- Involving Users
in Web Projects for Better, Easier Accessibility (primarily
for project managers, designers, developers, editors, and others involved
in all types of web projects)
- Involving Users in Evaluating Web Accessibility (for those evaluating accessibility)
See Updated Resources Encourage Working Together for Better Accessibility e-mail for more information. (2010-April-22)
See additional highlights in the Highlights Archive.
WAI home page Highlights are edited by Shawn Henry, WAI's Education and
Outreach Working Group, and other WAI Team and
Working Groups.
Sponsors
WAI is supported in part by:
- IBM Corporation
- Hewlett Packard Development Company
- European Commission Information Society Technologies Programme, project IST 287725 (WAI-ACT)
- US Department of Education, National Institute for Disability and Rehabilitation Research, contract ED-OSE-10-C-0067