- From: Charles McCathieNevile <charles@w3.org>
- Date: Sat, 13 Jan 2001 19:57:33 -0500 (EST)
- To: WAI IG <w3c-wai-ig@w3.org>
In short, they are not testing against the same rules. (It is also worth noting that section 508 is US legislation and only applies to the US. The W3C is an international organisation, making documents that are intended to be useful as standards internationally.) 508 (I think its real name is section 508 of the US Federal Government's Workplace Rehabilitation Act, but I am Australian so 508 is near enough for me) provides a set of requirements to be met by Web content (among other things) including features such as text alternatives for non text components, and the ability to skip large groups of links. W3C HTML 4 validation tests one of two things - either whether a document meets the syntax rules of HTML 4, or whether it is written according to the HTML 4 specification. The first test is far more common, since it can be done by a computer program reliably, and there are several web-based services. The second requires some human interpretation, and there are, at the finest levels of detail, ambiguities that can arise so that two different assessments can be justified for the same content. There is another W3C Specification, Web Content Accessibility Guidelines. This has broadly the same aims as the 508 rules, of providing a set of requirements that can ensure people with disabilities can use Web content. The W3C Specification was published as a "W3C Recommendation" (something we hope people will use as a standard) in May 1999, and in the documentation of the 508 rules there is a discussion of the differences. In brief summary, 508 is close to level-A conformance (the lowest defined level of conformance) to Web Content Accessibility Guidelines, although there are a couple of differences. For more details, please consult the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines - http://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG10 - and the 508 documentation - http://www.access-board.gov/sec508/508standards.htm - or the summary at http://www.access-board.gov/sec508/summary.htm cheers Charles McCN Someone asked me: What exactly are the differences between 508 and W3C/HTML4.0 validation?
Received on Saturday, 13 January 2001 19:57:44 UTC