Re: Proposal on authoring tools

Hi Barry,

I have some background on this:

- the Telecommunications and Electronic and Information Technology 
Advisory Committee (TEITAC) is working on updating the 508 regulations.

- there is "Web and Software" Sub-Committee that is developing 
regulations related to these parts of Section 508:
1194.21 Software applications and operating systems
1194.22 Web-based intranet and internet information and applications

- the Sub-Committee is co-chaired by:
Andi Snow-Weaver, IBM
Curtis Chong, NFB

- W3C-WAI is involved mainly via the participation of Jim Allan and Judy 
Brewer.

- some time ago, the Sub-Committee decided to try and harmonize the 508 
Web guidelines with WCAG 2.0. They gave consideration to harmonizing in 
ATAG 2.0 but it was decided that it would be stretching the 
interpretation of the 508 law too far to bring in ALL of ATAG 2.0.

- so a sub-group that included Judy proposed that the 508 regulations 
should instead include SOME key pieces of ATAG 2.0 rather than the 
entire document.

- at around that time I did a presentation to the Sub-Committee on one 
of their phone calls detailing ATAG 2.0 and in particular Part B (they 
are less concerned with Part A since they are already working on more 
detailed general software accessibility guidance).

- over the the last few weeks Judy's proposal has been revised several 
times, and I believe Barry has one of the more recent versions.

- clearly the TEITAC wording is a watered-down subset of ATAG 2.0.

Barry: Do you have any further thoughts?

What do other people think?

Cheers,
Jan




Barry Feigenbaum wrote:
> 
> Apparently there is a W3C team that is proposing input to a revised 
> Section 508 guideline set.  They are proposing authoring tools 
> accessibility guidelines to include (see below).  I would expect the 
> AUWG would be doing this work, but I don't think we are involved. Jan 
> any comments?   I am very concerned that the 508 criteria consists of 
> only the few rules listed below.  I am also concerned as to the role of 
> ATAG if Section 508 address ATAG issues itself.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> *From:* Judy Brewer*
> Date:* Wed, Jun 27 2007 08:05:00 AM *
> Subject:* Proposal (updated 27 June) on authoring tools
> No previous message | _Next message_ 
> <http://teitac.org/mailarchives/mail_thread.php?thread=1276#post1>
> 
> This proposal incorporates additional suggestions and combines some
> provisions.
> 
> (Specific notes: #1 combines 1 & previous 3 using Allen's language
> following list discussion; #2 already received provisional approval; #3
> combines previous 4 & a version of 5 that allowed meeting evaluation goals
> by interoperability; #4 updates previous 6 with suggestions received;
> "giving prominence to" is dropped in this set; "Web" is dropped in this
> version of the definition of authoring tools as there has been no negative
> feedback on that question.)
> 
> #1. For each accessible content format supported, authoring tools must
> allow the author to produce content, including content derived from
> programmatic sources, that meets applicable electronic content
> accessibility standards.
> 
> #2. Authoring tools must preserve accessibility information necessary for
> meeting the electronic content provisions, unless the user explicitly
> indicates otherwise.
> 
> #3. For authoring tools with a user interface, authoring tools must provide
> a mode which prompts authors to create accessible content; and either a
> mode which assists authors in checking for accessibility problems, or
> interoperability with evaluation tools that provide that function.
> 
> #4. Authoring tools which provide pre-authored content, or templates to
> facilitate production of content, must provide at least one version that
> meets applicable electronic content accessibility standards.
> 
> [DEFINITION] "Authoring Tool" means "...any software, or collection of
> software components, that authors use to create or modify content for
> publication."
> 
> Regards,
> 
> - Judy
> 
> 
> Barry A. Feigenbaum, Ph. D.
> Tool Architect
> Human Ability and Accessibility Center - IBM Research
> www.ibm.com/able, w3.ibm.com/able
> voice 512-838-4763/tl678-4763
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> 
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-- 
Jan Richards, M.Sc.
User Interface Design Specialist
Adaptive Technology Resource Centre (ATRC)
Faculty of Information Studies
University of Toronto

   Email: jan.richards@utoronto.ca
   Web:   http://jan.atrc.utoronto.ca
   Phone: 416-946-7060
   Fax:   416-971-2896

Received on Tuesday, 10 July 2007 19:05:16 UTC