UAAG 2.0 and UAAG 2.0 Reference published as W3C Working Group Notes

Dear WAI Interest Group Participants,

The User Agent Accessibility Guidelines Working Group (UAWG) has 
published User Agent Accessibility Guidelines (UAAG 2.0) and UAAG 2.0 
Reference as W3C Working Group Notes.
http://www.w3.org/TR/UAAG20/
http://www.w3.org/TR/UAAG20-Reference/

UAAG 2.0 is complete. It provides specific guidance for browsers and 
other user agents, and reference information for accessibility 
professionals.

The UAWG has identified implementations of the features ("success 
criteria") of UAAG 2.0, demonstrating that it is possible to implement 
the UAAG 2.0 success criteria. The threshold for a specification 
becoming a formal W3C Recommendation ordinarily involves extensive 
formal testing of implementations of each success criteria across 
multiple user agents -- which in the case of UAAG 2.0 would have 
required manual testing of many browser user interfaces. Sufficient 
testing resources were not available for this level of testing. W3C does 
not currently plan to advance UAAG 2.0 to Recommendation status. W3C 
plans to include user agent accessibility considerations in future 
accessibility guidelines work.

UAAG 2.0 is still needed and relevant, and may be increasingly relevant 
in the future. The work of the current task forces for Mobile 
Accessibility and Low Vision Accessibility show the importance of 
combined consideration of content, user interface, extensions, 
applications and user agents. While many of the UAAG 2.0 features are 
supported in individual browsers, there is a need for more consistent 
and reliable support for accessibility features across all browsers and 
user agents. UAAG 2.0 provides specific accessibility guidance for user 
agent developers who want to build a better user experience for all.

Comments:
Comments on the Notes can be sent to public-uaag2-comments@w3.org 
(Public Archive). Although the UAAG working group is closing and will 
not respond, comments can provide useful input for future work in this 
area.

Background:

UAAG 2.0 defines how browsers, browser extensions, media players, 
readers, and other "user agents" should support accessibility for people 
with disabilities and work with assistive technologies. UAAG 2.0 
Reference provides additional information about the guidelines and 
success criteria, including intent, examples, and resources. For more 
information on UAAG and other standards from the W3C Web Accessibility 
Initiative (WAI), see:

* UAAG Overview <http://www.w3.org/WAI/intro/uaag.php>
* WAI Guidelines and Techniques <http://www.w3.org/WAI/guid-tech.html>
* User Agent Accessibility Guidelines Working Group (UAWG) 
<http://www.w3.org/WAI/UA/>

URI:
The first URI above goes to the latest version of the document. The 
"dated" version of this draft is: 
<http://www.w3.org/TR/2015/NOTE-UAAG20-20151215/> The difference between 
these URIs are explained in Referencing and Linking to WAI Guidelines 
and Technical Documents at: <http://www.w3.org/WAI/intro/linking.html>

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,

Jim Allan, UAWG Chair
Jeanne Spellman, UAWG W3C Staff Contact
Judy Brewer, WAI Director

Received on Tuesday, 15 December 2015 21:15:35 UTC