Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI)

Announcements

WAI Web Accessibility Engineer position open (19 May 2006)

Events, Meetings, Presentations

At 2. Accessibility-Stammtisch (2. Accessibility Get-Together) in Vienna, Austria on 23 July: "Das Neueste vom W3C Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI)" (The Latest from the W3C Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI)) discussion with Shadi Abou-Zahra
At Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing 2007 in Orlando, Florida on 19 October: "Making the Future Web Accessible to People with Disabilities" presentation by Shawn Henry

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

Documents in Progress

Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.0 Working Draft 17 May 2007 (WCAG 2.0 Call for Review)
Accessible Rich Internet Application suite Working Drafts: WAI-ARIA Roadmap, WAI-ARIA Roles, WAI-ARIA States and Properties 1 June 2007 (WAI-ARIA Call for Review)
Evaluation and Report Language (EARL) 1.0 Schema Working Draft 23 March 2007 (EARL 1.0 Schema Call for Review )
Authoring Tool Accessibility Guidelines 2.0 Working Draft 7 December 2006 (ATAG Call for Review)

[More documents listed on the WAI IG page]

Highlights

A Video Interview with Shawn Henry, From California to Japan

As part of the Mitsue-Links "Meet the Professionals" video series, Shawn Henry of W3C WAI talks with Kazuhito Kidachi about shared responsibilities between web site developers, browsers, and assistive technologies; the importance of different types of authoring tools supporting accessibility; how WCAG 2.0 and WAI-ARIA address the more difficult aspects of Web accessibility; WAI's outreach resources; and what led Shawn to accessibility years ago. See video with English audio and Japanese subtitles, and text transcripts. (2007-07-11)

For Review: Updated WAI-ARIA Working Drafts

W3C WAI's work on accessibility of Ajax, DHTML, and other application technologies includes the Accessibility for Rich Internet Applications (WAI-ARIA) Suite. Updated Working Drafts of the WAI-ARIA Suite documents were published 1 June 2007. WAI encourages you to review these documents and submit any comments. See:

Please send comments by 6 July 2007. (2007-06-01)

For Review: Updated WCAG 2.0 Documents

Updated Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.0 (WCAG 2.0) Working Draft documents were published 17 May 2007. These documents incorporate resolutions to comments from the 2006 Last Call Working Draft. WAI encourages you to review the WCAG 2.0 Working Draft and submit any new comments. Please see the additional information in:

Please send comments by 29 June 2007. (2007-05-17)

WaSP Interview: Judy Brewer on WCAG 2

Judy Brewer discusses WCAG 2.0 status and upcoming drafts with Web Standards Project (WaSP) Accessibility Task Force member Jared Smith. See Interview with Judy Brewer. (2007-05-07)

Updates: WCAG 2.0 and WAI Resources Handouts

WCAG 2.0 primary points, current status, and Web accessibility resources from W3C WAI are topics covered in new handouts that you can use for conferences and presentations. The handouts direct readers to the updated WCAG 2 FAQ, How WAI Develops Accessibility Guidelines through the W3C Process, and other documents. See:

(2007-04-04)

For Review: EARL 1.0 Schema Last Call Working Draft

Evaluation and Report Language (EARL) is a format to exchange, combine, and analyze results from different evaluation tools and checkers. EARL 1.0 Schema Last Call Working Draft and HTTP Vocabulary in RDF Working Draft were published 23 March 2007. See:

Please send comments by 20 April 2007. (2007-03-23)

First Authorized Translation: WCAG 1.0 in Catalan

The W3C Authorized Catalan Translation of the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 1.0 is now available. See:

Directrius per a l'accessibilitat al contingut web, versió 1.0. (Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 1.0)
Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) Overview
Policy for W3C Authorized Translations

This WCAG 1.0 Catalan translation is W3C's first Authorized Translation. (2006-12-20)

WAI to Advise on 508 Standards Update

W3C WAI has been appointed to the Advisory Committee for the revision of U.S. Section 255 guidelines and Section 508 standards, which include Web accessibility. WAI looks forward to continuing to coordinate with organizations around the world to develop harmonized standards for Web accessibility. Additional information is available in the U.S. Access Board article: Board Names Advisory Committee for 508 Standards Update. (2006-07-20)

Podcast: Interview on WCAG 2

Shawn Henry discusses WCAG 2.0 with UK UPA president Giles Colborne: transcript and audio files. (2006-07-06)

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)

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)

See additional highlights in the 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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