RE AT and WCAG

In prep for our meeting - I note the following from the Understanding WCAG 2.0  document 

Understanding Accessibility Support

Many of the Success Criteria deal with providing accessibility through assistive technologies or special accessibility features in mainstream user agents (for example, a 'show captions' option in a media player). That is, the Success Criteria require that something be done in the Web content that would make it possible for assistive technologies to successfully present the content's information to the user. For example, a picture that you were supposed to click on to go to a topic would not be accessible to a person who was blind unless text alternatives for the picture were provided in a way that user agents including assistive technologies can find and display them. The key here is that the text alternative must be included in a way that user agents including assistive technologies can understand and use – in a way that is "Accessibility Supported."

Another example would be a custom control that is included on a Web page. In this case, a standard user agent would not ordinarily be able to present an alternative to the user. If, however, information about the control including its name, role, value, how to set it etc. are provided in a way that assistive technologies can understand and control them, then users with assistive technologies will be able to use these controls.

When new technologies are introduced, two things must happen in order for people using assistive technologies to be able to access them. First, the technologies must be designed in a way that user agents including assistive technologies could access all the information they need to present the content to the user. Secondly, the user agents and assistive technologies may need to be redesigned or modified to be able to actually work with these new technologies.

"Accessibility Supported" means that both of these have been done and that the technology will work with user agents and assistive technologies.





Gregg
--------------------------------------------------------
Gregg Vanderheiden Ph.D.
Director Trace R&D Center
Professor Industrial & Systems Engineering
and Biomedical Engineering
University of Wisconsin-Madison

Co-Director, Raising the Floor - International
and the Global Public Inclusive Infrastructure Project
http://Raisingthefloor.org   ---   http://GPII.net








On Jun 20, 2012, at 7:19 AM, Gregg Vanderheiden wrote:

> We will also have two additional topics on the agenda
> 
> 1)   Does WCAG allow AT to be used to meet the SC  (other than 
> 1.4.4 Resize text: Except for captions and images of text, text can be resized without assistive technology up to 200 percent without loss of content or functionality. (Level AA)
> If AT were not allowed to be used to meet the success criteria  -- then why would this one specify that it had to happen without AT?
> I had always thought that we specifically wrote WCAG so that what authors had to do would decrease over time as user agents (including AT) had greater capabilities. 
> 
> But the question was raised so I think it is good for us to look carefully at our assumptions and be sure.  And if sure - make the statement clear in the understanding doc somewhere (if not already there?)
> 
> 
> 2)  We have draft comments on a a mapping of PDF/UA  (a draft ISO standard for PDF accessibility) to WCAG that have been done.  We would like to have the WG comment on them, revise, and send on to the PDF/UA group.   There is more work to do but we would like to get started.    We will post a meeting prep survey soon but since it is short notice wanted to give you a heads up. 
> 
> the Draft for your review is attached. 
> 
> <PDFUA-WCAG20-mappingreview.xlsx>
> 
> Gregg
> 
> 
> 
> Meeting Information
> Time: 20:00 UTC, 6 AM Eastern Australia, 10 PM Central Europe, 4 PM Eastern US
> World Clock: <*http://tinyurl.com/78a9nm7* <http://tinyurl.com/78a9nm7>>
> 
> Length: up to 90 minutes  (thought it will likely be short)
> Bridge: +1.617.761.6200 (US), +33.4.26.46.79.03 (France), +44.203.318.0479(UK)
> Passcode: 9224#
> IRC: irc.w3.org port: 6665 channel #wai-wcag
> 
> 
> 1.Task force requests to WCAG for June 21
> https://www.w3.org/2002/09/wbs/35422/WCAG2ICT2/
> 
> The agenda this week is short and consists of just 6 items that the WCAG2ICT task force has asked WCAG to consider as additions to the Understanding WCAG 2.0 document -- for issues that relate to both Web Content and ICT. 
> 
> 
> Gregg
> --------------------------------------------------------
> Gregg Vanderheiden Ph.D.
> Director Trace R&D Center
> Professor Industrial & Systems Engineering
> and Biomedical Engineering
> University of Wisconsin-Madison
> 
> Co-Director, Raising the Floor - International
> and the Global Public Inclusive Infrastructure Project
> http://Raisingthefloor.org   ---   http://GPII.net
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
>