RE: WCAG 2: Request for Response

Sorry for not responding sooner. We are still concerned with the wording of the "accessibility supported" definition. According to your definition, as long as JavaScript is supported by technologies in an accessible manner an alternative is not required.

This poses a problem for us since we can't force people to enable JavaScript and can't penalize them for having it disabled unless there is a very strong justification (such as maintaining a secure session).

Our Adaptive Computer Technology Centres regularly work with JavaScript disabled as do many Canadians with disabilities (for a variety of reasons). According to the current wording they are not entitled to get access to the information if they choose to disable JavaScript as number 1 is met because their assistive technologies can support JavaScript and because all the items in number 2 are met because the required user agents exist and are available to everyone.

Although it could be argued that this is not a problem for WCAG since these users have chosen to disable the enabling technology, we find it concerning that there is no requirement for a fail-safe alternative that will work for all users regardless of their configurations and restrictions.

If the accessibility supported definition cannot be improved to meet our needs, then for us to adopt WCAG 2.0 in the future we will need to add additional requirements that require such a fail-safe alternative to ensure Canadians are not being excluded because they choose to disable specific technologies to meet their needs or the needs of their institution.


Common Look and Feel Office | Bureau de la normalisation des sites Internet
Treasury Board of Canada, Secretariat | Secrétariat du Conseil du Trésor du Canada
Government of Canada | Gouvernement du Canada


-----Original Message-----
From: Loretta Guarino Reid [mailto:lorettaguarino@google.com] 
Sent: October 29, 2008 7:25 PM
To: Common Look and Feel/Normalisation des sites Internet
Subject: WCAG 2: Request for Response

Hi, Common Look and Feel Office,

The WCAG Working Group responded to your postings to the
public comments list [1] on 28 June 2008. We wanted to confirm
that you are satisfied with our resolution.

Could you let us know by this Friday, 31 October? We apologize
for the short notice. Thanks again for the interest that you have
taken in WCAG 2.0.

Regards,

Loretta Guarino Reid, WCAG WG Co-Chair
Gregg Vanderheiden, WCAG WG Co-Chair
Michael Cooper, WCAG WG Staff Contact

On behalf of the WCAG Working Group

[1] http://lists.w3.org/Archives/Public/public-comments-wcag20/2008Jun/0024.html

Received on Thursday, 30 October 2008 15:29:51 UTC