June 23, 2008
Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.0 Attains W3C Candidate Recommendation Status
On April 30, 2008, the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) published the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG 2.0) as a W3C Candidate Recommendation. This is an important milestone, indicating that there is now a broad consensus in the WCAG Working Group and among public reviewers on the technical content.
"The community is eager for WCAG 2.0 to become a final W3C Recommendation, and this takes us one step closer," said Loretta Guarino Reid, Co-Chair of the WCAG Working Group. "Advancing WCAG 2.0 to Candidate Recommendation provides a stable document that developers can use for trial implementations in their Web sites."
WCAG 2.0 Meets Today's Needs
WCAG addresses accessibility of Web content for people with disabilities and many elderly users, and is one of three Web accessibility guidelines produced by W3C’s Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI). WCAG 2.0 provides a stable foundation for accessibility of Web content and Web applications.
The guidelines are not technology-specific. Therefore WCAG 2.0, along with extensive supporting documents, should provide flexibility across the broad range of Web technologies and environments in today’s Web and also into the future. WCAG 2.0 is designed to be easier to use than WCAG 1.0 and is more precisely testable, using a combination of automated testing and human evaluation.
Extensive Community Feedback Incorporated
"WCAG 2.0 has been developed with extensive community input," said Gregg Vanderheiden, Chair of the WCAG Working Group and Director of the Trace Center. "We've worked very hard, including publishing twelve Working Drafts and addressing more than 3,000 comments, in order to ensure that WCAG 2.0 meets the need for an updated international standard with which national and local Web accessibility guidelines can harmonize."
Next Steps in the Process
Candidate Recommendation (CR) is a major step in the W3C standards development process. The primary purpose of the CR stage is for developers and designers to "test drive" WCAG 2.0 to demonstrate that it can be implemented in Web sites. WAI has solicited a broad range of Web sites and Web applications to use WCAG 2.0 at this stage, and share implementation experience. The WCAG Working Group will be reviewing over two dozen implementations during the next months. This experience will inform continuing work on key supplementary tools and documents:
- How to Meet WCAG 2.0 (allows developers and designers to build a customized view of WCAG 2.0 requirements)
- Understanding WCAG 2.0
- Techniques for WCAG 2.0
- Overview of WCAG 2.0 Documents
- WCAG 2.0 FAQ
- Comparison between WCAG 1.0 and WCAG 2.0
Contributions of the Trace Center
The Trace Center has been a leader and key contributor in the development of the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines. Trace Center Director Gregg Vanderheiden has been the co-chair of the WCAG Working Group since its inception. Vanderheiden, co-chair Loretta Guarino Reid (Google, Inc.), Trace Web Accessibility Specialist Ben Caldwell, and Michael Cooper (W3C) are co-editors of WCAG 2.0, WCAG 2.0 Techniques, the Understanding WCAG 2.0 reference, and the How to Meet WCAG 2.0 Quick-reference.
Continuing support for Trace's work on Web accessibility has been provided by the National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research (NIDRR), U.S. Department of Education, under grants H133E980008, H133E030012, and H133E080022.
Posted at 10:36 AM on June 23, 2008.
June 20, 2008
Advisory Report Released on Update of Federal Accessibility Standards
On April 3, 2008, the Telecommunications and Electronic & Information Technology Advisory Committee (TEITAC) issued its final report to the U.S. Access Board. Trace Center Director Gregg Vanderheiden served as a member of the TEITAC, co-chairing the Subcommittee on General Interface Accessibility. The Trace Center contributed technical expertise and participated on six of the nine subcommittees.
The TEITAC report details recommended changes to both the substance and the structure of the standards and guidelines. Products covered include technologies used for communication, computing, storage, duplication, and production, among others. Access is addressed for all types of disabilities, including those that are sensory, physical, speech-related, or cognitive in nature.
Organized by the Access Board in July 2006, the TEITAC was comprised of 41 members, including representatives from industry, disability, groups, standard-setting bodies in the U.S. and abroad, and government agencies. The process included regular meetings, both in person and via teleconference, and inclusion of a broader group of stakeholders through Web-based communication tools (Wiki and discussion lists).
Trace Center Contributions
The Trace Center was in a unique position to contribute to the work of the TEITAC due to its 37 years of research and development related to accessibility of information and communication technologies. Trace also participated on and supported the advisory committees that drafted the previous guidelines related to Section 255 (resulting in current FCC rules for telecommunications accessibility) and Section 508 (governing federal purchase of electronic and information products).
The Trace Center developed two key tools to facilitate the work of the TEITAC. The Trace Online Hand-Raising Utility (TOHRU) provided a cross-disability accessible mechanism for allowing participants in the TEITAC teleconferences to more easily participate, including those using captioning.
A second tool, the Trace Center Filter Tool, provided a means for TEITAC participants and stakeholders to easily compare the TEITAC provisions under development with provisions from other US and international standards. It also allows users to filter the provisions in order to view only those relating to a specified technology. (Both tools will be made available publicly in the near future.)
Support for the Trace Center's work related to TEITAC was provided by the National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research (NIDRR), U.S. Department of Education, grants H133E030012 and H133E040013.
Report Recommendations
The TEITAC report puts forth a revised set of performance criteria that describe access capabilities for products generally. The committee organized these provisions to serve as a framework for technical specifications that have been updated to address hardware, user interfaces and electronic content, audio-visual players, displays, and content, real-time voice communication, and authoring tools. These provisions are organized by product features or capabilities rather than product types (as in the current Section 508 standards).
The recommendations contain advisory and background information on the performance and technical provisions, including references to related standards, and update defined terms and provisions covering documentation, support, and maintenance. The report also advises the Access Board on considerations for future updates, supplementary guidance materials and tools, compliance testing, and further research.
"We firmly believe that the recommendations of this report will lead to new versions of the standards and guidelines that comprehensively cover accessibility in a dynamic and innovative marketplace," stated TEITAC co-chair Mike Paciello. Co-chair Jim Tobias concurred, noting that "this committee, through the incredible range of expertise and talent it enlisted, indeed rose to the challenge and was not shy in confronting a host of complex issues before it."
Next Steps
The Access Board will propose updates to the current Section 508 standards and telecommunications guidelines based on its review of the TEITAC report. The Board’s proposal will be made available for public comment.
Posted at 3:34 PM on June 20, 2008.
AOL Incorporates Real-Time Text in New Release of Instant Messaging
Real-time text capability has been added to the latest release of the popular AOL Instant Messaging, allowing users to see each other's text live as it is typed. This option, included in AIM 6.8, resulted from collaboration between AOL and the RERC on Telecommunications Access - a partnership of the Trace Center and Gallaudet University's Technology Access Program.
The real-time text option will be particularly useful for people who rely on text messaging as a primary means of communication, especially those who are deaf or hard-of-hearing. The receiver will be able to see each letter that the sender types, in real time, rather than waiting to view the entire message until after the "send" button is pressed. Users can respond and react to words as they are typed, giving a closer approximation to spoken conversation.
This can be particularly important in emergency situations, when the information needs to get across quickly or the message may be cut off before the user hits the "send" key (so nothing gets sent). With the new real-time option, messages like "I am having a heart at...." or "Someone is breaking into my h..." will get through.
"AIM enjoys a loyal following among consumers who are deaf and hard of hearing, so we were pleased that Gallaudet and the Trace Center chose to work with us to leverage its popularity and explore integration of real-time text functionality," said Tom Wlodowski, Director of Accessibility at AOL. "This is a big win for AOL and the deaf community since the use of real-time text is receiving increased attention as a necessary equivalent to voice communication for consumers with disabilities."
This commercial release by AOL is an important outcome of the ongoing research and development being conducted by the Trace Center and Gallaudet. Trace Center Director Gregg Vanderheiden had been working with Wlodkowski on getting real-time-text into AOL's instant messaging product. When Gallaudet research engineer Norman Williams devised a prototype that combined real-time text communication with traditional instant messaging, Vanderheiden recognized it as a breakthrough. It became the basis for the option now incorporated in AIM 6.8.
"As a member of the deaf community and an active user of instant messaging, I knew there had to be a way for people like me to combine the familiarity of messaging on a TTY with a quick and popular online IM service such as AIM," said Williams.
Real-time text is optional. To access the new feature, users simply click on "Actions" and then "Real-Time IM" from within an instant message window. A user may also highlight a buddy on his or her Buddy List and press Ctrl+R on the keyboard to initiate real-time IM. Both the IM sender and receiver must have AIM 6.8 to use the feature.
"This new version of AIM brings together IM and real-time text in a way that builds on the advantages of both to create a whole new texting experience. It is quicker and more personal - yet with all the advantages and familiarity of IM," said Trace Center Director Gregg Vanderheiden. "AOL's leadership in both IM and disability access made them a natural to pilot this new technology. Their response and enthusiasm has been remarkable from Day One."
Funding for the RERC's work on real-time text has been provided by the U.S. Department of Education, National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research (NIDRR), under grant H133E040013.
For further information on this and other accessibility efforts at AOL contact Tom Wlodkowski .
(Updated from original posting on 1/16/08.)
Posted at 3:28 PM on June 20, 2008.