Reworking "Content Type-Specific WCAG Benchmark" section

Commenters have continued to have trouble with the benchmark. Here are 
some highlights:

- Who publishes benchmark documents? This is a major coordination point 
between the working groups that needs discussion.

- ATAG makes WCAG techniques normative for a particular conformance 
claim. Given that we view those documents as non-normative, and that 
they will change over time, this seems problematic.

- Where would the general WCAG techniques fit in?

- There are many HTML techniques but many fewer for CSS or Rich Internet 
Applications.

- All of the references to WCAG 2.0 techniques documents 
([WCAG20-TECHS-GENERAL], [WCAG20-TECHS-CSS], [WCAG20-TECHS-HTML], 
[WCAG20-TECHS-SCRIPTING]) should refer to 
http://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG20-TECHS/ (the WG is no longer publishing 
tech-specific techniques documents)

- should be prior to the “Components of an ATAG … Claim”, because of 
forward references that would be easier to understand if we encountered 
this first.

- “The Benchmark document is just the WCAG Techniques document when one 
exists for a content type” should not be a requirement (which is how I 
read it now), merely a recommendation.

======================

DRAFT REWORKING (Including changing the name of the doc)
- btw: after we agree as a group I told WCAG that I would bring this 
piece back to them for a look.


Content Type-Specific Accessibility Benchmark (or "Benchmark document")

A Benchmark document concretely specifies the evaluator's interpretation 
of how the WCAG guidelines apply to particular content type(s). This 
helps the evaluator to judge the completeness and consistency of the 
various functions of an the authoring tool, with regard to 
accessibility. In other words, having specified an exact interpretation 
of the WCAG requirements lets the evaluator decide whether functions 
that generate, evaluate, and repair content are following all the 
requirements in all the same way. Because the Benchmark document must be 
public, it also allows claims to be fully checked for accuracy.

*What does a Benchmark document include?*
A Benchmark document must be publicly published on the Web (the URI will 
appear in the conformance profile) and must include:
  + The name and version of the content type(s) covered by the Benchmark 
document (e.g., "HTML 4.01" or "HTML 4.01 and CSS 1.0" or "SVG 1.0 and 
PNG images") and optionally the URI of the specification(s). The version 
may be a defined range, but may not be open-ended range.
  + The version (e.g. 1.0 or 2.0) and URI of the WCAG document to which 
the Benchmark applies.
  + A target WCAG conformance level (e.g., single-"A", double-"A", or 
triple-"A") that Web content would conform to, if all of the Benchmark 
techniques are met. If the tool allows the author to choose between 
different WCAG levels, then each level needs its own Benchmark document.
  +For each normative requirement in the version of WCAG (specified 
above) that is required by the WCAG conformance level (specified above), 
the Benchmark document must provide either at least one technique for 
meeting the normative requirement or an explanation of why that 
normative requirement is not applicable to the content type(s) in question.

*Is a Benchmark document normative?*
Yes. Although it may be based on informative documents, such as WCAG 
Techniques, for the purpose of ATAG 2.0 a *particular* Benchmark 
document becomes normative for a *particular* conformance claim when 
that claim includes a reference to the URI of that Benchmark document.

*Who can create a Benchmark documents?*
The Benchmark can be created by any any person or organization. In the 
interest of being able to compare authoring tools for the same content 
types, the Working Group does suggest checking to see if a Benchmark 
document has already been published, before creating a new one.

*What resources are available to help create a Benchmark document?*
The Working Group suggests the following:
- WCAG Guideline documents:
  + WCAG 1.0 Recommendation [WCAG10]
  + WCAG 2.0 Working Draft [WCAG20]
- WCAG Technique documents:
  + Techniques for WCAG 1.0 [WCAG10-TECHS]
  + Techniques for WCAG 2.0 [WCAG20-TECHS]
- Understanding WCAG documents:
  + Understanding WCAG 2.0 [WCAG20-UNDERSTANDING]
- the W3C Access Note series:
  + CSS 2.0 [CSS2-ACCESS]
  + SVG [SVG-ACCESS]
  + SMIL [SMIL-ACCESS]
- Content type specifications


=====================

Also I wonder if we should replace "conforms to *WCAG*" in ATAG Part B 
checkpoints (i.e. B.1.1, B.1.4, B.1.5, B.2.1) with "is *accessible*" - 
modify the definition of "accessible" to link to the benchmark explanation.

Cheers,
Jan

Received on Friday, 12 January 2007 17:03:16 UTC