Its Time to Start Using WCAG 2.0
In May, 1999 the W3C (World Wide Web Consortium) released WCAG (Web Content Accessibility Guidelines) 1.0 onto a world where the Web was primarily focused on basic HTML content and a static user experience. As developers, many of us have almost learned WCAG 1 by rote and can quote chapter and verse to the irreverent many who didn’t get the big picture of web accessibility. But we all knew all along that WCAG 1.0 wasn’t perfect. It was just the best we had at the time
A few years ago, when the very first glimpses came out of WCAG 2.0, my voice was among the many who shouted it down as an impractical load of rubbish. There were key areas of that document which were outrageous and which inspired condemnation by Joe Clark in his May, 2006 article on A List Apart titled To Hell with WCAG 2. Shortly afterwards we saw the WCAG Sumurai and their WCAG 1 errata, a set of interim fixes that made the original WCAG 1 Specification at least more contemporary.
But that was two long years ago and the WCAG 2 Specification is now a Candidate Recommendation which is expected to be finalised by the end of 2008. Further, the uproar of 2006 caused a rethink of many contentious areas in that original document so it has significantly improved. In short, as professional web developers we need to get on top of WCAG 2 now and wrap our heads around the new concepts of this technology agnostic approach which focuses more on the user experience rather than stating a list of specific ways to fix issues.
My advice is to first run across to Boagworld podcast number 20 (wcag 2) as soon as possible and listen to the feature on WCAG 2 as discussed between Paul Boag and Patrick Lauke. In this interview Patrick gives the most user friendly explanation of this specification, its changes and how it affects the way we work, that I’ve heard to date. Some document highlights include the reduction of the tome provided to us in 2006 is now reduced to 19 normative pages (WCAG 2 proper), other non-normative pages that advise on Techniques for WCAG 2 which provide ways we might employ to achieve these guidelines using various technologies, and an overview document titled Understanding WCAG 2. Its the Understanding WCAG 2 document that Patrick recommends you use to begin your journey.
I won’t go into any more detail than this but suffice it to summarise that WCAG 2 is expected to be finalised by the end of this year. We should be looking at it now and using it in current projects. This has a different approach than WCAG 1 because now the Web has changed to include all kinds of multimedia experiences not envisioned in the original guidelines - 1999 was an epoch ago in terms of available technologies.
And, I have to admit, the thing I do like about it is that instead of providing us with rote solutions that have to be applied for problems, its written in a way that defines the expectation from the user perspective so as developers its up to us to search for new and innovative techniques that provide that accessible user experience. Under WCAG 1.0 anything not a W3C specification was bad. Under WCAG 2.0 anything not accessible is bad. Yes there will be some teething problems, and no there is never going to be a perfect document because technologies will keep changing and we’ll always be learning new things.
But its time to start using WCAG 2.0 and if you’re not learning about it now you might be late to the party. Don’t throw out your old WCAG 1.0 though, its got some great advice. Its just not as relevant anymore, its just not the gospel according to the W3C anymore. There is life after HTML.
June 8th, 2008 at 5:24 pm
The Pickards have an excellent rundown of WCAG 2.0 in five parts.
June 10th, 2008 at 2:24 am
Thanks, Steven, for spreading the word about WCAG 2.0!
Suggested starting point for WCAG 2.0 is Overview of WCAG 2.0 Documents which includes links to an FAQ, “How to Meet WCAG 2.0: A customizeable quick reference…”, a mapping/comparison between WCAG 1.0 and 2.0, presentations about WCAG 2.0 and such.
We’re currently working on other short presentations, “quick tips”-like handouts, and such. We’d really appreciate feedback on existing resources, and ideas for new material, to make WCAG 2.0 easier to use and understand. wai-eo-editors@w3.org is a limited distribution, publicly-archived list. wai@w3.org goes only to WAI staff and is not publicly archived.
June 10th, 2008 at 9:58 am
Hi Shawn, thanks. Yes I think the main push that needs to be done at this point (as I’ve said from the beginning) is in the marketing to developers and organisations. I think that will be hard but its where WCAG 1.0 fell somewhat short - people who cited WGAG 1.0 often instantly outcast themselves as “taking the web too seriously” (as one public sector IT manager here said about me a few years ago, and therefore didn’t hire me).
So quick tips and handouts are a brilliant idea. Nobody (practically) reads specs or understands verbose wording so anything that can be put to a manager in ROI or other simple terms are brilliant.
And, I think, web standardistas need to be informed not to wave this one at people like the police (I guess we all go through that stage) with a black and white attitude. The key to adoption is education not abuse. Very few people adopt new ideas if they’re called an idiot, for example.
Anyway, I’m hopeful that with this retrospect marketing knowledge WCAG 2.0 will be marketed this time much more effectively. Its not that we’re overzealous as much as we’re concerned about producing quality software.
People like to think they are building quality or enhancing software. They don’t like to think they build crap.
Anyway, early morning rant in my own comments.
Thanks for dropping us more information Shawn, always useful.
June 11th, 2008 at 12:43 pm
Another good resource…
WIPA has published Migrating from WCAG 1.0 to WCAG 2.0 by Roger Hudson.