E-mail List Archives
Thread: The future of WCAG – maximising its strengths not its weaknesses
Number of posts in this thread: 7 (In chronological order)
From: Dr Jonathan Hassell
Date: Tue, Jan 08 2013 3:00AM
Subject: The future of WCAG – maximising its strengths not its weaknesses
No previous message | Next message →
2012 was a year of real ups and downs for the de-facto Standard for accessibility, WCAG 2.0.
Its finally become ratified as an international Standard. Its been included in legislation in Europe, Canada and the USA.
At the same time its also had its value questioned by academic research, and the achievability of its AAA level questioned by some voices in the accessibility community. Calls for it to be updated are becoming louder and louder. And frameworks like BS 8878, in which WCAG 2.0 can be more successfully integrated with the practicalities of real-world web product development, are gaining support in the commercial and academic worlds.
So, with the growing movement for WCAG 2.0 to replace national standards and thus harmonise accessibility standards globally, it's a good time to summarise WCAG 2.0's strengths and weaknesses, what strengths other national standards have that it may lack, and what will be needed to make it a much better 'harmonised Standard' for the future.
Read my blog at http://www.hassellinclusion.com/2013/01/wcag-future/
And please let me know (on the blog, or here on the webaim list) what you think...
Is WCAG overdue an update? Or is it more important to have a stable standard than keeping it up with the latest web trends?
Best regards
Jonathan
Prof Jonathan Hassell
Director, Hassell Inclusion
Blog: http://hassellinclusion.com
Twitter: http://twitter.com/jonhassell
From: Joshue O Connor
Date: Tue, Jan 08 2013 3:33AM
Subject: Re: The future of WCAG – maximising its strengths not its weaknesses
← Previous message | Next message →
Hi Jonathan,
> Is WCAG overdue an update? Or is it more important to have a stable standard than keeping it up with the latest web trends?
Both are important. Right now, just for the record this 'update' is
actually going on. We are (and have been for ~ a year now) developing a
series of WCAG techniques etc for both HTML5 and ARIA. It is admittedly
slow work, partially because the specs have been in transit, and
partially because user agent support is constantly changing - but we are
making progress.
Cheers
Josh
Follow us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ncbiworkingforpeoplewithsightloss
Follow us on Twitter: www.twitter.com/ncbi_sightloss
Check-out NCBI's Mícheál Ó Muircheartaigh appeal on the following link.
http://youtu.be/25P2tiuCi0U
********************************************************************
National Council for the Blind of Ireland (NCBI) is a company
limited by guarantee (registered in Ireland No. 26293) .
Our registered office is at Whitworth Road, Drumcondra, Dublin 9.
NCBI is also a registered Charity (chy4626).
NOTICE: The information contained in this email and any attachments
is confidential and may be privileged. If you are not the intended
recipient you should not use, disclose, distribute or copy any of
the content of it or of any attachment; you are requested to notify
the sender immediately of your receipt of the email and then to
delete it and any attachments from your system.
NCBI endeavours to ensure that emails and any attachments generated
by its staff are free from viruses or other contaminants. However,
it cannot accept any responsibility for any such which are
transmitted. We therefore recommend you scan all attachments.
Please note that the statements and views expressed in this email
and any attachments are those of the author and do not necessarily
represent the views of NCBI
********************************************************************
From: Dr Jonathan Hassell
Date: Tue, Jan 08 2013 4:37PM
Subject: Re: The future of WCAG - maximising its strengths not its weaknesses
← Previous message | Next message →
Thanks for this, Joshue.
Good to see something's happening - I felt sure it must be.
Is there a way that people outside the drafting committee can see the work you're doing?
Best regards
Jonathan
--
Prof Jonathan Hassell
Director, Hassell Inclusion
Blog: http://hassellinclusion.com
Twitter: http://twitter.com/jonhassell
From: Joshue O Connor
Date: Wed, Jan 09 2013 3:22AM
Subject: Re: The future of WCAG - maximising its strengths not its weaknesses
← Previous message | Next message →
Dr Jonathan Hassell wrote:
> Thanks for this, Joshue.
>
> Good to see something's happening - I felt sure it must be.
>
> Is there a way that people outside the drafting committee can see the work you're doing?
Unfortunately, right now no. This isn't for any conspiratorial reason I
can assure you, its just that with any new techniques, to effectively
provide guidance on using HTML5 and ARIA, they need to be pretty bullet
proof before anything is released. If we did this prematurely, then
something may get incorrectly codified as best practice or indeed be
seen to have be given some kind of imprimatur from the W3C, when it's
actually a work in progress. So this work is currently ongoing and has
been for over a year, by members of both Protocols and Formats (PFWG)
and the WCAG group itself.
Within the HTML5/ARIA Techniques task force, where we are creating these
techniques, and to be clear our job isn't to update the core WCAG SC or
anything like that (so apologies for any confusion), we are developing a
current point of reference and guidance to give devs a much needed steer
in the right direction. To do this, we need to provide robust useful
examples, and also attempt to indicate any user agent support issues for
various element/attribute/states/properties etc. To call it a moveable
feast, would be an understatement but as specifications become more
stable, and user agent support improves, I see things ramping up.
As Gregg pointed out, WCAG itself is stable and needs to be for obvious
reasons but in terms of creating fresh techniques - we are making progress.
Cheers
Josh
Follow us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ncbiworkingforpeoplewithsightloss
Follow us on Twitter: www.twitter.com/ncbi_sightloss
Check-out NCBI's Mícheál Ó Muircheartaigh appeal on the following link.
http://youtu.be/25P2tiuCi0U
********************************************************************
National Council for the Blind of Ireland (NCBI) is a company
limited by guarantee (registered in Ireland No. 26293) .
Our registered office is at Whitworth Road, Drumcondra, Dublin 9.
NCBI is also a registered Charity (chy4626).
NOTICE: The information contained in this email and any attachments
is confidential and may be privileged. If you are not the intended
recipient you should not use, disclose, distribute or copy any of
the content of it or of any attachment; you are requested to notify
the sender immediately of your receipt of the email and then to
delete it and any attachments from your system.
NCBI endeavours to ensure that emails and any attachments generated
by its staff are free from viruses or other contaminants. However,
it cannot accept any responsibility for any such which are
transmitted. We therefore recommend you scan all attachments.
Please note that the statements and views expressed in this email
and any attachments are those of the author and do not necessarily
represent the views of NCBI
********************************************************************
From: Loretta Guarino Reid
Date: Wed, Jan 09 2013 8:17AM
Subject: Re: The future of WCAG - maximising its strengths not its weaknesses
← Previous message | Next message →
On Wed, Jan 9, 2013 at 2:22 AM, Joshue O Connor < = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = >wrote:
> Dr Jonathan Hassell wrote:
> > Thanks for this, Joshue.
> >
> > Good to see something's happening - I felt sure it must be.
> >
> > Is there a way that people outside the drafting committee can see the
> work you're doing?
>
> Unfortunately, right now no. This isn't for any conspiratorial reason I
> can assure you, its just that with any new techniques, to effectively
> provide guidance on using HTML5 and ARIA, they need to be pretty bullet
> proof before anything is released. If we did this prematurely, then
> something may get incorrectly codified as best practice or indeed be
> seen to have be given some kind of imprimatur from the W3C, when it's
> actually a work in progress. So this work is currently ongoing and has
> been for over a year, by members of both Protocols and Formats (PFWG)
> and the WCAG group itself.
>
Note that the WCAG group publishes a draft for public review before
incorporating changes or new techniques, so you will have an opportunity to
review and provide feedback before the Understanding and Techniques
documents are updated.
>
> Within the HTML5/ARIA Techniques task force, where we are creating these
> techniques, and to be clear our job isn't to update the core WCAG SC or
> anything like that (so apologies for any confusion), we are developing a
> current point of reference and guidance to give devs a much needed steer
> in the right direction. To do this, we need to provide robust useful
> examples, and also attempt to indicate any user agent support issues for
> various element/attribute/states/properties etc. To call it a moveable
> feast, would be an understatement but as specifications become more
> stable, and user agent support improves, I see things ramping up.
>
> As Gregg pointed out, WCAG itself is stable and needs to be for obvious
> reasons but in terms of creating fresh techniques - we are making progress.
>
> Cheers
>
> Josh
>
>
> Follow us on Facebook:
> https://www.facebook.com/ncbiworkingforpeoplewithsightloss
> Follow us on Twitter: www.twitter.com/ncbi_sightloss
>
> Check-out NCBI's Mícheál Ó Muircheartaigh appeal on the following link.
> http://youtu.be/25P2tiuCi0U
>
> ********************************************************************
> National Council for the Blind of Ireland (NCBI) is a company
> limited by guarantee (registered in Ireland No. 26293) .
> Our registered office is at Whitworth Road, Drumcondra, Dublin 9.
> NCBI is also a registered Charity (chy4626).
>
> NOTICE: The information contained in this email and any attachments
> is confidential and may be privileged. If you are not the intended
> recipient you should not use, disclose, distribute or copy any of
> the content of it or of any attachment; you are requested to notify
> the sender immediately of your receipt of the email and then to
> delete it and any attachments from your system.
>
> NCBI endeavours to ensure that emails and any attachments generated
> by its staff are free from viruses or other contaminants. However,
> it cannot accept any responsibility for any such which are
> transmitted. We therefore recommend you scan all attachments.
>
> Please note that the statements and views expressed in this email
> and any attachments are those of the author and do not necessarily
> represent the views of NCBI
>
>
> ********************************************************************
>
>
>
> > > >
From: Shawn Henry
Date: Mon, Jan 14 2013 10:02PM
Subject: Re: WCAG work public [wasThe future of WCAG ...]
← Previous message | Next message →
Hi all,
I wanted to add a bit more clarification to Loretta's.
WCAG in-progress work is publicly available. (For example, the in-progress HTML5 and WAI-ARIA Techniques that Josh mentioned are linked from the wiki page <http://www.w3.org/WAI/GL/wiki/Techniques>;) If you want to look at work in development, keep in mind that in-progress drafts can include early ideas that are not well developed, not vetted or approved, and are likely to change. You can find in-progress work from the WCAG Working Group page: <http://www.w3.org/WAI/GL/>;
When drafts are in a good state for review, we send out announcements specifically asking for review. You can get these announcements via e-mail, Twitter, or RSS feed -- see <http://www.w3.org/WAI/about/announcements.php>;.
We welcome input at any time. The best way to share your comments and suggestions is by following the instructions at <http://www.w3.org/WAI/WCAG20/comments/>; so they are logged and archived at [1].
If you have other questions on WAI work, you can e-mail WAI staff at: < = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = >
Best,
~Shawn
[1] WCAG 20 Public Comments Archive: <http://lists.w3.org/Archives/Public/public-comments-wcag20/>;
-----
Shawn Lawton Henry
W3C Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI)
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)
e-mail: = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED =
phone: +1.617.395.7664
about: http://www.w3.org/People/Shawn/
On 1/9/2013 9:17 AM, Loretta Guarino Reid wrote:
> On Wed, Jan 9, 2013 at 2:22 AM, Joshue O Connor< = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = >wrote:
>
>> Dr Jonathan Hassell wrote:
>>> Thanks for this, Joshue.
>>>
>>> Good to see something's happening - I felt sure it must be.
>>>
>>> Is there a way that people outside the drafting committee can see the
>> work you're doing?
>>
>> Unfortunately, right now no. This isn't for any conspiratorial reason I
>> can assure you, its just that with any new techniques, to effectively
>> provide guidance on using HTML5 and ARIA, they need to be pretty bullet
>> proof before anything is released. If we did this prematurely, then
>> something may get incorrectly codified as best practice or indeed be
>> seen to have be given some kind of imprimatur from the W3C, when it's
>> actually a work in progress. So this work is currently ongoing and has
>> been for over a year, by members of both Protocols and Formats (PFWG)
>> and the WCAG group itself.
>>
> Note that the WCAG group publishes a draft for public review before
> incorporating changes or new techniques, so you will have an opportunity to
> review and provide feedback before the Understanding and Techniques
> documents are updated.
>
>> Within the HTML5/ARIA Techniques task force, where we are creating these
>> techniques, and to be clear our job isn't to update the core WCAG SC or
>> anything like that (so apologies for any confusion), we are developing a
>> current point of reference and guidance to give devs a much needed steer
>> in the right direction. To do this, we need to provide robust useful
>> examples, and also attempt to indicate any user agent support issues for
>> various element/attribute/states/properties etc. To call it a moveable
>> feast, would be an understatement but as specifications become more
>> stable, and user agent support improves, I see things ramping up.
>>
>> As Gregg pointed out, WCAG itself is stable and needs to be for obvious
>> reasons but in terms of creating fresh techniques - we are making progress.
>>
>> Cheers
>>
>> Josh
...
From: Jared Smith
Date: Tue, Jan 15 2013 8:35AM
Subject: Re: WCAG work public [wasThe future of WCAG ...]
← Previous message | No next message
Shawn-
Thank you for the clarification and updates. It's wonderful that work
is continuing on techniques and supporting documentation for WCAG 2.0.
Keep up the good work!
I think, however, that the more important question is whether updates
are being considered for the guidelines themselves. Jonathan's article
(http://www.hassellinclusion.com/2013/01/wcag-future/), and the others
he cites, including my own (http://webaim.org/blog/wcag-next/), do not
really question techniques or documentation of WCAG 2.0, but are more
concerned about weaknesses and perhaps datedness of 2.0 itself.
Has there been any consideration of updating the guidelines? If not,
is it time to? I think these articles and the many positive responses
to them all indicate that it is time.
Jared Smith
WebAIM.org