Call for Review: UAAG 2.0 First Public Working Draft

Dear WAI Interest Group participants,

The User Agent Accessibility Guidelines Working Group invites you to comment on the First Public Working Draft of User Agent Accessibility Guidelines (UAAG) 2.0, published 12 March 2008 at:
     http://www.w3.org/TR/UAAG20/

UAAG provides guidance on designing Web browsers, media players, and other user agents to be accessible to people with disabilities, and to work better with assistive technologies. UAAG is introduced in the UAAG Overview at:
     http://www.w3.org/WAI/intro/uaag.php
UAAG is part of a series of accessibility guidelines/standards developed by WAI, including Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) and Authoring Tool Accessibility Guidelines (ATAG). These are listed in WAI Guidelines and Techniques at: 
     http://www.w3.org/WAI/guid-tech.html

Changes in UAAG 2.0 since UAAG 1.0 include:
- clarifications and additions to the guidelines and success criteria, per the UAAG 2.0 Requirements document at:
     http://www.w3.org/TR/UAAG20-requirements/
- restructuring the document into five principles, similar to WCAG 2.0 and ATAG 2.0
- providing success criteria at three levels, similar to WCAG 2.0 and ATAG 2.0.

The UAAG Working Group would like feedback on the following:
- Is the new organization of this document clear and understandable?
- Do the success criteria cover what is needed for browser and media player accessibility?
- Are there any concerns about the feasibility of implementing the guidelines and meeting the success criteria?
- Are there areas in which this first draft is lacking?

WAI encourages developers of browsers, assistive technologies, plug-ins, extensions, and accessibility APIs (application programming interfaces), and people with disabilities, to provide feedback on this first draft, and to consider more active participation in the development process. Please send comments by 14 April 2008 to the comment list, which is publicly archived:
     public-uaag2-comments@w3.org

UAAG 2.0 is currently informative only. After the UAAG Working Group is rechartered to produce W3C Recommendations under the W3C Patent Policy, the group expects to advance UAAG 2.0 through the Recommendation track. For more information, see:
* How WAI Develops Accessibility Guidelines through the W3C Process
     http://www.w3.org/WAI/intro/w3c-process
* User Agent Accessibility Guidelines Working Group (UAWG)
     http://www.w3.org/WAI/UA/

Note: Feel free to circulate this message to other lists; please avoid cross-postings where possible.

Thank you in advance for your comments,

Jan Richards - UAAG Interim W3C Staff Contact. Adaptive Technology Resource Centre, University of Toronto
Jim Allan - UAAG Working Group Chair. Texas School for the Blind and Visually Impaired
Judy Brewer - Director, Web Accessibility Initiative, W3C
Shawn Lawton Henry - W3C WAI EOWG Chair



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Shawn Lawton Henry, W3C Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI)
about: http://www.w3.org/People/Shawn/
phone: +1-617-395-7664
e-mail: shawn@w3.org

Received on Thursday, 13 March 2008 22:10:29 UTC