Extending Deadline on WCAG 2.0 Last Call Review [was: Fwd: Call for Review: Last Call Working Draft of Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.0]

Dear WAI Interest Group Participants:

Please note that the deadline for comments on WCAG 2.0 has been extended by 
three weeks. The new deadline is now Thursday 22 June 2006 instead of 31 
May 2006, to allow more time due to the wider attention that this Last Call 
Working Draft is receiving. We thank early commenters for the numerous 
constructive comments that the Working Group has already received; the 
Working Group is already working on your comments. Please also note the 
following clarifications with regard to the review process.

1. The deadline for comments on the Last Call Working Draft only applies to 
the Guidelines document itself. The supporting documents ("Understanding 
WCAG 2.0" and "Techniques for WCAG 2.0") do not have a deadline for 
comments, though you may find them helpful in understanding or implementing 
the provisions in the guidelines. We welcome comments on the supporting 
documents in addition to comments on the guidelines, but we encourage you 
to focus your attention on the relatively short guidelines document itself 
during the review period.

2. While the Working Group has provided a form for comment submissions, you 
may also email comments directly to the comments list without the form. 
Some commenters have already done this; we've now made this more obvious in 
the commenting instructions [1]. However, if you do use the comments form, 
it will give the Working Group consistent and specific information that can 
help them better understand and address the issues that you raise.

3. Under W3C Process, a "Last Call Working Draft" is not the last step 
before the document is finished; neither is it the beginning of the review 
process. This Last Call Working Draft follows a series of Public Working 
Drafts that have been previously circulated for comment, and the Working 
Group has already incorporated extensive contributions from those reviews. 
Last Call Working Draft is one of the most important stages at which to 
comment; however it is followed by another stage, Candidate Recommendation, 
where reviewers can submit comments based on implementations of WCAG 2.0; 
then by Proposed Recommendation, when W3C Members review it for approval as 
a Recommendation. Please see the original call for review further down in 
this message, and the commenting instructions [1], which provide more 
information on these stages.

Review comments are extremely valuable to W3C/WAI. One of the strengths of 
W3C/WAI's process is that it encourages broad public review and 
participation from many different perspectives. We have received 
contributions throughout the course of developing WCAG 2.0 from individuals 
and organizations around the world, including disability organizations, 
industry, Web developers research, education, government, and other areas, 
as well as contributions throughout the process from the diverse membership 
of the WCAG Working Group itself.

If you haven't yet, I encourage you to read the guidelines while they are 
in Last Call Working Draft; evaluate them against your own needs and 
expectations; then share with the Working Group your comments on what you 
think needs to change in the document. As with any W3C group during Last 
Call, the WCAG Working Group will review and respond to all comments 
received on the Last Call Working Draft. Your comments help us to create 
the best and most usable document that we can.

Thank you in advance for your comments.

Regards,

- Judy

[1] How to comment on WCAG 2.0 http://www.w3.org/WAI/WCAG20/comments/

>Date: Thu, 27 Apr 2006 12:57:28 -0700
>To: w3c-wai-ig@w3.org
>From: Wendy Chisholm <wendy@w3.org>
>Subject: Call for Review: Last Call Working Draft of Web Content
>   Accessibility Guidelines 2.0
>Cc: jbrewer@w3.org, john_slatin@forum.utexas.edu, po@trace.wisc.edu,
>         Ben Caldwell <caldwell@trace.wisc.edu>
>
>Dear WAI Interest Group Participants:
>
>A Last Call Working Draft of the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.0
>(WCAG 2.0) as well as two supporting documents were published 27 April 2006.
>W3C strongly encourages broad community review of this Last Call Working
>Draft, and submission of comments on any issues which you feel could present
>a significant barrier to future adoption and implementation of WCAG 2.0.
>(Note that only the WCAG 2.0 is in Last Call and only the WCAG 2.0 will
>become a Recommendation.  Understanding WCAG 2.0 and Techniques for WCAG 2.0
>are being developed  to support WCAG 2.0, and will be released as Working
>Group Notes when WCAG 2.0 becomes a Recommendation.)
>
>In particular, we encourage you to comment on the conformance model and
>success criteria. Reviewers are encouraged to provide suggestions for how to
>address issues as well as positive feedback, and commitments to implement
>the guidelines. This message contains information on the documents and  how
>to comment.
>
>Comments should be received on or before 31 May 2006.
>Comments should be made in one of four formats:
>    * online form,
>    * downloadable excel form,
>    * downloadable html form, or
>    * downloadable text form.
>Instructions and downloadable files for all are available at:
><http://www.w3.org/WAI/WCAG20/comments/>
>
>WCAG 2.0 addresses accessibility of Web content for people with
>disabilities. It will apply to a wider range of Web technologies than WCAG
>1.0, and is intended to be understandable to a wider audience.
>
>Note:
>Until WCAG 2.0 becomes a W3C Recommendation, WCAG 1.0 will continue to be
>the current and stable document to use. Most Web sites that conform to WCAG
>1.0 should not require significant changes in order to conform to WCAG 2.0,
>and may not need any changes.
>
>This 27 April 2006 release of the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.0
>is a Last Call Working Draft by the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines
>Working Group (part of the Web Accessibility Initiative). Publication as a
>Last Call Working Draft indicates that the WCAG WG believes it has addressed
>all substantive issues and that the document is stable (see below for more
>information on subsequent stages). The first public Working Draft of WCAG
>2.0 was published 25 January 2001.  Since then, the WCAG WG has published
>nine Working Drafts, addressed more than 1,000 issues, and developed a
>variety of supporting resources for the guidelines.
>
>A good place to start a review of WCAG 2.0 is with the
>"Overview of Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.0 Documents."
>The Overview explains the relationships  between WCAG 2.0 and the supporting
>documents, and links to the  current version of  each document.
>The Overview is available at:
>        <http://www.w3.org/WAI/intro/wcag20>
>
>The documents published on 27 April 2006:
>        - Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.0
>          <http://www.w3.org/TR/2006/WD-WCAG20-20060427/>
>        - Understanding WCAG 2.0
>          <http://www.w3.org/TR/2006/WD-UNDERSTANDING-WCAG20-20060427/>
>        - Techniques for WCAG 2.0
>          <http://www.w3.org/TR/2006/WD-WCAG20-TECHS-20060427/>
>
>The WCAG WG believes that after Last Call, WCAG 2.0 will be ready to move on
>to the remaining stages of the W3C Recommendation Track Process:
>  * Candidate Recommendation - when the WCAG WG will collect implementation
>experience on use of WCAG 2.0 to design and evaluate Web content for
>accessibility;
>  * Proposed Recommendation - when W3C will seek endorsement of the
>specification from W3C Member organizations;
>  * Recommendation - when WCAG 2.0 will be published by   W3C as a technical
>report appropriate for widespread deployment and the promotion of W3C's
>mission.
>
>Note that the WCAG WG will start collecting implementation examples early in
>the Last Call review period. Please visit the WAI home page for more
>information. <http://www.w3.org/WAI/>
>
>Additional information about the WCAG WG is available at:
>    <http://www.w3.org/WAI/GL/>
>A list of changes to WCAG 2.0 since the previous draft is available at:
>    <http://www.w3.org/WAI/GL/WCAG20/change-history.html>
>
>Note:
>This message may be circulated to other lists, avoiding cross-postings
>where possible.
>
>
>Thank you in advance for your comments,
>
>Wendy Chisholm - W3C Team Contact for WCAG WG
>Gregg Vanderheiden - Co-chair of WCAG WG, and Director of Trace R&D Center,
>University of Wisconsin-Madison
>John Slatin - Co-chair of WCAG WG, and Director of the Accessibility
>Institute at Univerity of Texas at Austin
>Judy Brewer - Director, Web Accessibility Initiative, W3C

-- 
Judy Brewer    +1.617.258.9741    http://www.w3.org/WAI
Director, Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI), World Wide Web Consortium (W3C)
MIT/CSAIL Building 32-G530
32 Vassar Street
Cambridge, MA,  02139,  USA

Received on Friday, 26 May 2006 17:06:26 UTC