Proposed changes to allow documents other than WCAG to be used for the Benchmark (though the AUWG will strongly recommend WCAG)

Barry and I took an action some time back to propose text that would 
allow ATAG 2.0 to remain relevant in jurisdictions in which 
accessibility standards differed somewhat from WCAG.

The basic idea behind the proposal is that while the AUWG STRONGLY 
RECOMMENDS using WCAG, another Web content guideline or standard can be 
substituted if (1) a rationale is provided for the document choice 
(remember: this is public) and (2) an explanation is provided for how 
the requirements of the new document were mapped to the three Web 
content priority levels (i.e. Minimum level of Web content 
accessibility, Enhanced level of Web content accessibility, Additional 
Web content accessibility enhancements).

The proposed changes apply to:
http://www.w3.org/WAI/AU/2007/WD-ATAG20-20070327/WD-ATAG20-20070327.html

---

(1) REWORK:

- The version and URI of the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines that
is being used as a basis for the Benchmark (e.g., "WCAG 2.0 Working
Draft, http://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG20/") (See Note on other Accessibility
Standards).

(+COMBINED WITH "Note on other Accessibility Standards:" see (2) below )
to MAKE:

- The version and URI of the accessibility guideline, standard or
regulatory document that is being used as a basis for the Benchmark. The
AUWG strongly recommends using the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines
(e.g., "WCAG 2.0 Working Draft, http://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG20/") as the
basis for the Benchmark. However, there may be circumstances in which
the use of another document is justified, for example for markets 
covered by legislation that includes accessibility requirements beyond 
those in WCAG.
- If a document other than WCAG is used as the basis for the Benchmark,
then the following two additional items must be included in the Benchmark:
  - a rationale for the document choice.
  - an explanation of how the requirements of the document were mapped
to the three Web content priority levels (i.e. Minimum level of Web
content accessibility, Enhanced level of Web content accessibility,
Additional Web content accessibility enhancements)


(2) REMOVE:
Note on other Accessibility Standards: ATAG 2.0 addresses how authoring
tools can be designed to encourage authors to create accessible content.
While the Working Group highly recommends the W3C-WAI Web Content
Accessibility Guidelines due to the quality of the document and the
process under which it was developed, other Recommendations, Standards,
and Regulations with the same goal exist in jurisdictions and
organizations around the world. @@JR: ???@@


(3) In: Relationship to the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG)

REWORD:
The Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) is the W3C-WAI
Recommendation that defines requirements for making Web content
accessible to a wide range of people with disabilities. ATAG 2.0
includes a Web Content Accessibility "Benchmark" section that refers to
WCAG as the guideline for judging the accessibility of Web content (see
the term "Accessible Web Content") and any Web-based authoring tool user
interface functionality (see the term "Accessible Authoring Tool User
Interface").

TO:
The Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) is the W3C-WAI
Recommendation that defines requirements for making Web content
accessible to a wide range of people with disabilities. ATAG 2.0
includes a strong recommendation to use WCAG as the Web Content
Accessibility Benchmark for judging the accessibility of Web content.


(4) REWORD:
The target level of the Benchmark. This is the WCAG conformance level
that would be met by Web content that implemented all of the techniques
in the Benchmark. There are three (3) possible levels:
TO:
The target level of the Benchmark. This is basically equivalent to the
WCAG conformance level that would be met by Web content that implemented
all of the techniques in the Benchmark. There are three (3) possible
levels:


(5) REWORD:
The Benchmark techniques: For each normative requirement of WCAG at the
target level, one of the following must be provided:
TO:
The Benchmark techniques: For each normative requirement of the document
that is used as the basis for the Benchmark, at the target level, one of 
the following must be provided:


(Some additional mentions of WCAG are made in other parts of the 
document but they are mainly in Checkpoint Rationales that can be 
changed fairly easily)

Cheers,
Jan


-- 
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, 3 April 2007 15:57:13 UTC