A new era for WCAG
Sunday, November 30th, 2008
WCAG 2.0 is coming of age. On tuesday, the W3C Advisory Committee Members will no longer be invited to send formal review comments to the W3C team on these guidelines. So what does this mean? Well, it means that WCAG 2.0 will soon become a fully endorsed W3C Recommendation.
What does this mean for the web developer? Not too much at all, if you’re doing your job right that is. The standard broadly describes ways of providing the information on your site to as wide an audience as possible. Such as:
- Provide text alternatives for any non-text content so that it can be changed into other forms people need.
- Provide alternatives for time-based media (subtitles, transcripts etc).
- Create content that can be presented in different ways (for example simpler layout) without losing information or structure.
- Make it easier for users to see and hear content including separating foreground from background.
- Make all functionality available from a keyboard.
- Provide users enough time to read and use content
- Do not design content in a way that is known to cause seizures
- Provide ways to help users navigate, find content and determine where they are
- Make text content readable and understandable – Make Web pages appear and operate in predictable ways
- Help users avoid and correct mistakes
- Maximize compatibility with current and future user agents, including assistive technologies
(The above guidelines were taken directly from the guideline’s table of content.)
Because naturally, developers are forward thinking beasts, we won’t see much of a difference in the industry. In educating the new crop of developers however it will be another step forward for the web, so I look forward to this with great enthusiasm. Bravo WCAG 2.0!