Re: Additional Point/Question: problem centered / page centered evaluation

Hi again,

On 2011-09-09, at 6:06 AM, Detlev Fischer wrote:

> I think we should give up on the idea of a 'perfect' conformance test covering *every page and state of a site* with the aim of checking for 100% conformance to WCAG 2.0. Looking back on many many tests we have carried out in the past - mostly sites that were actually designed with accessibility requirements in mind - there has not been a single perfect site.

+1 000 000 000 000 000 000 :)


> If it was possible to devise perfect test and set the goal at 100% conformance, it would be meaningless because (almost) every site would fail. A perfect test may even lead to distorted evaluations: the method might encourage evaluators of pretty good sites to close their eyes on some remaining issues (there ALWAYS ARE SOME issues) in order to reach an impossibly ambitious conformance goal.

And it can also counter-productive because people might lose sight of the accessibility goal. When an organization is obsessed with conformance (because it's a law for example), then they forget that even though they might not *comply* with the each and every requirement of the standard, every little thing being done actually improves accessibility anyway.

Accessibility, as opposed to compliance, is rarely black or white.



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Received on Friday, 9 September 2011 13:43:29 UTC