Re: WCAG Compliance

A couple questions:

> There is no certification body that checks the use of WCAG 

Do you mean, none that are authorized by the W3C or WAI?

You gave a list of some organizations that preform accessibility 
evaluations against their own guidelines, usually based on WCAG 1.0.  So 
how do we know if these interpretations of WCAG are any good?  And how do 
we know if receiving a certificate from one of these organizations is any 
good?  And why do they have their own guidelines anyway?  And what data 
does anyone have that says self evaluation is not a good as a 3rd party 
evaluation?  Doesn't it really depend on the evaluation methodology and 
the cost and time spent? 


> conformance (not "compliance") logos. The WCAG conformance levels 

What's the difference? is this just semantics of 'conform to standards' 
verses 'comply with regulations'?
 

> that web site owners claim for themselves are often overstated. 

is there any data published anywhere that backs this statement up?


> Sites that conform to WCAG 1.0 don't necessarily use a conformance logo.

Anecdotally I agree, but other than the search results of the 424 English 
sites using the logo, how do we know?


> it is more useful to look for certificates and awards given 
> by third parties instead of through self assessment.

How is that determined?  Opinion or has there been any studies of the 
sites?

> However, it is important to bear in mind that these certificates and 
> awards can go out of date as sites evolve or get redesigned.

Agree.  Same with quality self accessibility assessments.  Process change, 
education & training, and tools make a sustained difference in the data 
that I've seen. 

It sure would be useful to get more conformance (or compliance) studies 
done and results published. 


Regards,
Phill Jenkins
IBM Research - Human Ability & Accessibility Center
http://www.ibm.com/able