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Re: WCAG certifications, are there any official requirements to certify a website?

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From: Lucy Greco
Date: Nov 9, 2011 4:06PM

As a screen reader user I don't thing surts are worth the bits they are written with. Because as we all know web sites are not static and a surt is. And what is a surt any way but a pat on the back of a person wanting a surt.

Lucy Greco
Assistive Technology Specialist
Disabled Student's Program UC Berkeley
(510) 643-7591
http://attlc.berkeley.edu
http://webaccess.berkeley.edu


-----Original Message-----
From: <EMAIL REMOVED> [mailto: <EMAIL REMOVED> ] On Behalf Of Birkir R. Gunnarsson
Sent: Wednesday, November 09, 2011 2:17 PM
To: WebAIM Discussion List
Subject: [WebAIM] WCAG certifications, are there any official requirements to certify a website?

Hi everyone

I know this has been brought up before, but I am wondering if there
have been changes.
In Iceland we have one company that has issued accessibility
certifications for websites.
Their certification scheme and requirements have not been updated
since 2006 or so, and are still based on WCAG 1.0, with a few
additional requirements that I don't necessarily agree with (websites
need to offer users 3 font size configurations, and at the top of
every page there has to be a link to the page's search field, if there
is one).
I've been asked to provide certification info for a company that
intends on providing web services across Europe, and are wondering if
there are international certification standards that it can use to
show accessibility (they're willing to do what needs to be done to be
compliant).
In the U.S. I'd point to Section 508 requirements, but in Europe the
Mandate 376 is still under development, and most countries have a
variation on the WCAG 2.0 level A or AA compliance, sometimes with
additions.
I can run an accessibility check for WCAG AA, there are a few out
there, but could a page be certified with any errors under that check?
I know most very navigable websites have may be up to 10 WCAG 2.0
errors from an automatic checker, and there are very workable and
accessible solutions that do not necessarily pass automatic WCAG 2.0
checks (many examples of the creative use of WAI ARIA lately, that I
feel do more for making a site accessible, than checking of WCAG
requirements).
So, this being said, are there any international certification
criteria for, say, WCAG 2.0 compliance, and is there any mechanism
around that?
I would assume that, no, a company would have to be certified under
the accessibility regulation of each country it provides sservices in.

Similarly, are there any programs to qualify someone as an
accessibility/WCAG tester?
I've never heard of one, so I assume no, but any certification in the
area might be a very useful thing.
Thanks
-B