Re: Straw man list for WCAG.NEXT, another proposal...

David,
I’ve shared these comments with you separately but will add to the list here regarding your proposed item.

I don’t think that it is necessarily different from option #4, but I think that your #5 is making more assumptions than I’m comfortable with.

In both we are encouraging the task forces that currently exist to get moving and come up with draft SC’s.

If the draft SC’s from the TFs are agreed on quickly, and there are no additional task forces suggesting SC’s, and no additional SC’s coming from the working group, then maybe we wind up with a WCAG 2.1 and there is no need for a WCAG 2.2.  I think that is a lot of maybes.

We are talking about a 3-year window for this work.  I don’t think that three new versions would be possible.  Two might be, but it might not be needed if all of the “ifs” indicated above come to pass.

I think that it is risky to plan for a WCAG 2.1 that needs to build in all of the task force work.

  *   What if one of the task forces is slower than the others?  How long should we wait?
  *   What if there is a new task force?  Do we wait for SC from that TF?

I think that we can, and probably should have a regular update cadence for WCAG 2.x, and for future major versions also.  We know that new technologies present ongoing challenges to WCAG’s original language.  Some of this can be addressed in techniques, but some cannot.  Even in this discussion we are talking about integrating UAAG and ATAG criteria into a future combined guideline, and that will take time.  What if we can’t get that major update out until 2022?  Would it be better to plan on incremental WCAG 2.x updates until that new standard is ready?

Circling back to the idea of an all-encompassing 2.1 – I’m not opposed to this idea, but what I’m most worried about is it taking forever because there are always new reasons to delay the publication:  There’s a new TF and it is really important; lack of consensus on a couple of new SCs delays publication because people want to take "one more try” (again) to convince people; and more…  As co-chair, what I really want is to get a standard out that addresses as many gaps as we can, in an efficient, timely, and predictable process and time-frame.  Part of the reason that we can get techniques out every six months is that there is another publication on the horizon.  When we didn’t do the techniques twice a year we published them once every two years and there was always this same sort of pressure to wait and publish after the group did more because where we were at was not good enough. It never is, and the same will be true of WCAG 2.1 if we take that approach.

You also say " it is incredibly expensive and time consuming for stakeholders to update policy, legislation, and their web sites every year.” - How many countries update their policies and legislation every year?  I’d guess zero.  I’d love to hear from actual policy-makers about this.  I hear lots of people saying we can’t do something because the policy-makers won’t like it, but we really need to hear what policy-makers say rather than what people who aren’t policy-makers think that they would say.

Great discussion everyone – keep it coming!
Thanks,
AWK

From: David MacDonald <david@can-adapt.com<mailto:david@can-adapt.com>>
Date: Friday, April 8, 2016 at 19:01
To: WCAG <w3c-wai-gl@w3.org<mailto:w3c-wai-gl@w3.org>>, WCAG <w3c-wai-ig@w3.org<mailto:w3c-wai-ig@w3.org>>, John Foliot <john.foliot@deque.com<mailto:john.foliot@deque.com>>, Andrew Kirkpatrick <akirkpat@adobe.com<mailto:akirkpat@adobe.com>>
Subject: Straw man list for WCAG.NEXT, another proposal...

I *don't* think we should be saying we'll have 2 or 3 new versions of WCAG in the next 3 years... it is incredibly expensive and time consuming for stakeholders to update policy, legislation, and their web sites every year... if we're not ready to incorporate all the task force work then lets wait to release the next version we are

Currently there is *no* model that says we will have one important 2.x release that incorporates *all* the task force work. I think that needs to be discussed... I put up a WIKI page here, and would like to see this added to the straw man list...

https://www.w3.org/WAI/GL/wiki/WCAG_Next_Possible_Models/Model_5


Cheers,
David MacDonald



CanAdaptSolutions Inc.

Tel:  613.235.4902

LinkedIn
<http://www.linkedin.com/in/davidmacdonald100>

twitter.com/davidmacd<http://twitter.com/davidmacd>

GitHub<https://github.com/DavidMacDonald>

www.Can-Adapt.com<http://www.can-adapt.com/>



  Adapting the web to all users

            Including those with disabilities

If you are not the intended recipient, please review our privacy policy<http://www.davidmacd.com/disclaimer.html>