1.
Web Accessibility Initiative
2014/15 Update
Andrew Arch - @amja
Member, WAI Education & Outreach Working Group
24 March 2015
Canberra Web Accessibility & Inclusive Design meetup

2.
Integrated Accessibility Guidelines
 As a reminder, the next slide introduces the
three WAI standards and how they relate:
• WCAG
• UAAG
• ATAG
 The slide also includes W3C technologies –
HTML, CSS, etc plus WAI-ARIA and IndieUI
 The graphics are drawn from:
• Essential Components of Web Accessibility
Developed with material from W3C Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI) www.w3.org/WAI/

3.
Integrated Accessibility Standards

4.
W3C process
 How WAI Develops Accessibility Guidelines
through the W3C Process
• Working Draft(s)
• Last Call Working Draft
• Candidate Recommendation
• Proposed Recommendation
• W3C Recommendation (Web Standard)
Developed with material from W3C Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI) www.w3.org/WAI/

5.
2014-15 activity
What has the W3C and WAI done
this past year?

6.
HTML5
 Became a Technical Recommendation in
October 2014
 Includes MathML – Browser support is
increasing
 HTML 5.1 is under active development
Developed with material from W3C Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI) www.w3.org/WAI/

7.
HTML5 accessibility
 Using WAI-ARIA in HTML (June 2014)
 HTML5: Techniques for providing useful text
alternatives - draft updated (Oct 2014)
 HTML5 Image Description extension
(longdesc) – W3C Rec (Feb 2015)
 HTML5 feature accessibility support in
Windows Browsers (Nov 2014)
Developed with material from W3C Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI) www.w3.org/WAI/

8.
WCAG 2.0 clarifications
 Techniques for WCAG 2.0
 Understanding WCAG 2.0
• Both last updated February 2015
• Understanding Techniques for WCAG
Success Criteria
• “Techniques are informative — that means
they are not required.” However, many
organisations require them, and most tools
use them as the basis for testing.
Developed with material from W3C Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI) www.w3.org/WAI/

9.
WCAG 2.0 Quick Reference
 How to Meet WCAG 2.0 quick reference
• Updated September 2014
 Redesign (mockup) of How to Meet WCAG
2.0: A customizable quick reference
• Work underway announced February 2015
Developed with material from W3C Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI) www.w3.org/WAI/

10.
WCAG 2.0 internationalisation
 Additional authorised translations released
• Estonian – December 2013
• Portuguese (PT & BR) – October 2014
• Simplified Chinese – October 2014
 WCAG 2.0 Translations has a list of other
completed and planned translations
Developed with material from W3C Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI) www.w3.org/WAI/

11.
UAAG 2.0
 User Agent Accessibility Guidelines 2.0
 UAAG 2.0 Reference: Explanations,
Examples, and Resources
• Updated working drafts released for both
in September 2014
Developed with material from W3C Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI) www.w3.org/WAI/

12.
ATAG 2.0
 Implementation testing – Candidate
Recommendation
• Ongoing since November 2013
• Call for volunteers to help test authoring tools
for conformance to ATAG success criteria
Developed with material from W3C Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI) www.w3.org/WAI/

13.
IndieUI
 Independent User
Interface (IndieUI)
• A way for user actions to
be communicated to web
applications independently
of the device
• Events for User Interface
Independence (updated
May 2014)
• User Context for web
interface preferences
(updated June 2014)
Developed with material from W3C Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI) www.w3.org/WAI/

14.
WAI-ARIA
 WAI-ARIA 1.0 finalised as Technical
Recommendation (March 2014)
 WAI-ARIA 1.0 User Agent Implementation
Guide (March 2014)
 WAI-ARIA 1.0 Authoring Practices (Editors'
Draft - April 2014)
 WAI-ARIA 1.1 commenced drafting (June
2014)
Developed with material from W3C Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI) www.w3.org/WAI/

15.
Video
 Timed Text Working Group
• Part of the Video in the Web Activity
• WebVTT: The Web Video Text Tracks Format -
First Public Working Draft published (Nov 2014)
• WebVTT files provide captions or subtitles for
video content
• Used for marking up external text track
resources in connection with the HTML5 <track>
element
Developed with material from W3C Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI) www.w3.org/WAI/

16.
Web Accessibility Testing
 Website Accessibility Conformance
Methodology (WCAG-EM)
• Finalised – August 2014
• Five steps:
1. Define the scope
2. Explore the target website
3. Select a representative sample
4. Audit the selected sample
5. Report the evaluation findings
Developed with material from W3C Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI) www.w3.org/WAI/

17.
Testing cont …
 WCAG-EM Report Tool: Accessibility
Evaluation Report Generator
• V1.0 released March 2015
• Helps generate website accessibility evaluation
reports according to WCAG-EM
• Does not undertake testing – enables recording
of your testing activities
Developed with material from W3C Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI) www.w3.org/WAI/

18.
Testing cont …
 Easy Checks – A first review of web
accessibility
• Finalised December 2014
• Nine easy things for non-experts to check
 Web Accessibility Evaluation Tools List
• Call for tool information – December 2014
• Updated database of tools
• 48 tools and growing 
• 38 WCAG2 specific tools listed
Developed with material from W3C Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI) www.w3.org/WAI/

19.
Training resources
 Tutorials for developers
• Published
• Images
• Tables
• Forms
• In development
• Carousels
• Menus
• Page Structure
Developed with material from W3C Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI) www.w3.org/WAI/

20.
WAI groups
 Digital Publishing interest group
• part of the Digital Publishing Activity
• Bridging the Web and Digital Publishing -
presentation (October 2014)
• Bridging the Web and Digital Publishing:
EPUBWEB (November 2014)
Developed with material from W3C Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI) www.w3.org/WAI/

21.
WAI groups cont …
 Mobile Accessibility Task Force
• Develop specific mobile guidance related to
WCAG and UAAG
• Mobile a11y resources
• iOS, Android, Windows 8 Phone, Microsoft Surface,
Blackberry, Firefox OS
• Mobile Accessibility - How WCAG 2.0 and Other
W3C/WAI Guidelines Apply
• Call for review February 2015
Developed with material from W3C Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI) www.w3.org/WAI/

22.
WAI groups cont …
 Cognitive Accessibility Task Force
• Develop specific guidance related to cognitive
and learning disabilities
• First Public Working Draft of Cognitive
Accessibility User Research
• Published January 2015
Developed with material from W3C Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI) www.w3.org/WAI/

23.
WAI groups cont …
 SVG Accessibility Task Force
• Identification of the accessibility requirements
and management of the progress of accessibility
solutions in SVG2
• First Public Working Draft of SVG Accessibility
API Mappings
• Published February 2015
Developed with material from W3C Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI) www.w3.org/WAI/

24.
WAI groups cont …
 W3C Community Groups
• open forums … to connect with W3C's
international community of Web experts
• Colour Blindness Accessibility (Nov 2014)
• Existing accessibility groups:
• Accessible Infographics
• Accessible SVG
• CSS Accessibility
• Mobile Accessibility
• WAI-Engage: Web Accessibility
Developed with material from W3C Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI) www.w3.org/WAI/

25.
R&D Symposiums
 Accessible e-Learning
• 16 December 2013
 Accessible Way-Finding Using Web
Technologies
• 3 December 2014
 Previous Symposia Reports
• WAI Research and Development Working Group
Developed with material from W3C Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI) www.w3.org/WAI/

26.
Keeping up-to-date
 WAI home page
 WAI Highlights Archives
 WAI Interest Group
• A public group with a mailing list for
general discussion on Web accessibility
• WAI-IG mailing list archives
Developed with material from W3C Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI) www.w3.org/WAI/