Re: Understanding WCAG 2.0: Updates in progress

I would hold on conclusions about AT support and WCAG SC.

This is still under discussion and is more complicated than that statement in Understanding WCAG 2.0 implied.  We are working on that. 

Also some of the notes in techniques are no longer accurate.  If you see those be sure to post a note to public comments so we can fix them. 


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 Aug 3, 2012, at 1:55 PM, Jonathan Avila <jon.avila@ssbbartgroup.com> wrote:

> Thanks Gregg,  it’s interesting that they call out 1.4.4 as an exception as this SC is one the few that has sufficient techniques that rely on “accessibility features” in the user agent.  In fact the text in Understanding WCAG 2 document touts the benefits of using fluid layouts thus allowing for enlarged text that does NOT require horizontal scrolling – but then allows the SC to be met by user agents that compensate for fixed fonts and container sizes by scrolling the entire page content.  As someone with a visual impairment – enlarge text without adding horizontal scrolling versus enabling zoom which automatically forces horizontal scrolling are two extremely different levels of access.  The understanding document also mentions that Firefox cannot be used to meet the requirement – although it supports both types of zooming – text only and full page.    In fact, user agents like Chrome, Firefox, and IE zoom pages differently depending on whether fixed sizes are used or not.  For example, a trip tohttp://www.wtop.com with zoom simply zooms the screen and contents and increases the horizontal screen using these browsers.  However, a view of the WCAG 2.0 page with zoom enabled actually zooms the text and does not materially increase the horizontal width.  Yet both of the pages would pass this success criteria.  I’m not sure this was the intention when this SC was created.
>  
> Jonathan
>  
> From: Gregg Vanderheiden [mailto:gv@trace.wisc.edu] 
> Sent: Thursday, August 02, 2012 10:09 AM
> To: Jonathan Avila
> Cc: WAI Interest Group
> Subject: Re: Understanding WCAG 2.0: Updates in progress
>  
> This is clarifying something that has always been true. 
>  
> Bear in mind however that a site cannot assume that AT in general will do this for users just because one piece of software does something.   These are not user specs but specs for web content to be viewed by many different users with different AT>  
>  
> Note that they Understanding WCAG 2.0  doc is out for comment -- so you can also ask questions that way if you feel there is an error. 
>  
> 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 Aug 1, 2012, at 9:04 AM, Jonathan Avila <jon.avila@ssbbartgroup.com> wrote:
> 
> 
> From SC 4.1.1 in the latest editors draft of Understanding WCAG 2.0
> begin add]
> Note 2: With the exception of one success criterion ( Understanding Success
> Criterion 1.4.4 Resize text, which specifically mentions that the effect
> specified by the success criterion must be achieved without relying on an
> assistive technology) authors can meet the success criteria with content
> that assumes use of an assistive technology (or access features in use
> agents) by the user, where such assistive technologies (or access features
> in user agents) exist and are available to the user.
> [end add]
> 
> Could anyone with knowledge of this change provide some background on this?
> The change appears to allow assistive technology to correct incorrect or
> incomplete tags and therefore allow a site to be conformant based on
> assistive technology correcting these issues.  One example that comes to
> mind is that JAWS dynamically modifies embedded Flash objects to change the
> wmode parameter to "window" instead of "opaque".
> 
> Best Regards,
> 
> Jonathan
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Shawn Henry [mailto:shawn@w3.org]
> Sent: Friday, July 27, 2012 10:45 AM
> To: WAI Interest Group
> Subject: Understanding WCAG 2.0: Updates in progress
> 
> Dear WAI Interest Group,
> 
> The WCAG Working Group is currently updating a supporting document for WCAG
> 2.0: Understanding WCAG 2.0. (This is not an update to WCAG 2.0, which is a
> stable document.) The supporting documents are W3C Working Group Notes, and
> they are updated periodically to reflect current practices and technologies.
> The existing Understanding WCAG 2.0 document remains in place as a Note
> while the separate Editors' Draft is updated and reviewed, and the Working
> Group addresses comments.
> 
> An updated Editors' Draft is available from:
> http://www.w3.org/WAI/GL/2012/WD-UNDERSTANDING-WCAG20-20120726/
> 
> Most of the updates in this Editors' Draft are clarifying the Intent of
> success criteria. Changes since the January 2012 published version are
> highlighted in a diff-marked version at:
> http://www.w3.org/WAI/GL/2012/WD-UNDERSTANDING-WCAG20-20120726/complete-diff.html
> 
> The Working Group expects to provide another updated Editors' Draft for
> review in the coming months, and early comments on these updates are
> welcome. Please send any comments via web form or e-mail, per the
> Instructions for Commenting on WCAG 2.0 Documents at:
> http://www.w3.org/WAI/WCAG20/comments/
> 
> For an introduction to the WCAG documents, see the WCAG Overview at:
> http://www.w3.org/WAI/intro/wcag.php
> 
> Please let us know if you have any questions. Thank you in advance for your
> comments.
> Feel free to circulate this message to other lists; please avoid
> cross-postings where possible.
> 
> Regards,
> ~Shawn Henry, WAI Outreach
> Gregg Vanderheiden and Loretta Guarino Reid, WCAG Co-Chairs Michael Cooper,
> W3C Staff Contact
> 
> 
> 
> 
> -----
> Shawn Lawton Henry
> W3C Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI)
> e-mail: shawn@w3.org
> phone: +1.617.395.7664
> about: http://www.w3.org/People/Shawn/
>