- From: Ian Jacobs <ij@w3.org>
- Date: Mon, 09 Apr 2001 12:06:02 -0400
- To: w3c-wai-ua@w3.org
Dear Working Group,
Congratulations! The UAAG 1.0 has entered its (third) last
call review. Below is a copy of the email I just sent to
the W3C Chairs list.
Now we get to start thinking about the implementation report,
so I encourage you to start documenting as precisely as possible
how different user agents satisfy the requirements of the
document. Please send your reports to this list.
Thank you,
- Ian
----
On behalf of the User Agent Accessibility Guidelines Working
Group (UAWG) [1], I am pleased to announce the publication of the
9 April 2001 "User Agent Accessibility Guidelines 1.0" (UAAG 1.0)
last call Working Draft. The document is available at:
http://www.w3.org/TR/2001/WD-UAAG10-20010409/
The last call review period ends 4 May 2001. Please send review
comments before that date to w3c-wai-ua@w3.org (archives [2]).
The UAWG has scheduled this review period based on comments
received as a result of our request to the Chairs [3, W3C Members
only].
The UAWG also encourages review of the 9 April 2001 "Techniques
for User Agent Accessibility Guidelines 1.0" Working Draft, even
though this document is not in last call. The UAWG expects to
publish the Techniques document as a companion W3C Note should
UAAG 1.0 become a W3C Recommendation. This Techniques document is
available at:
http://www.w3.org/TR/2001/WD-UAAG10-TECHS-20010409/
Please find below the following information:
* W3C Groups we wish to review the document
* Documentation of the decision to go to last call
* Objections
* Request for implementation reports
* The abstract and status sections of UAAG 1.0
* The abstract of the Techniques document
I look forward to your review comments,
- Ian Jacobs, W3C
Team Contact for the UAWG
[1] http://www.w3.org/WAI/UA/
[2] http://lists.w3.org/Archives/Public/w3c-wai-ua/
[3] http://lists.w3.org/Archives/Member/chairs/2001JanMar/0127
=======================
Dependencies and review
=======================
While the UAWG welcomes review from all interested parties, we
request review specifically from the following W3C groups:
Authoring Tool Accessibility Guidelines WG
CSS/FP WG
Device Independent WG
DOM WG
HTML WG
Internationalization WG/IG
Mobile Access
Protocols and Formats WG
SYMM WG
Voice Browser WG
Web Content Accessibility Guidelines WG
The W3C Director will appreciate a response (sent to
w3c-wai-ua@w3.org), with or without review comments.
===========================
Decision to go to last call
===========================
At their 29 March 2001 teleconference [4], the User Agent
Guidelines Working Group decided to move the UA Guidelines to its
third last call. By moving to last call, the UAWG indicates that
it is seeking feedback from the larger Web community about this
document, especially from other W3C Working Groups. The UAWG
intends for this document to become a W3C Recommendation, per the
Working Group's charter [5].
Please note that this is the third last call for the
document. While the UAWG encourages rigorous review of the
document, we do not expect to make substantial changes, other
than clarifications, to UAAG 1.0. We expect to add proposals for
additional features or requirements to our agenda for future
work. Similarly, the Working Group does not expect to re-open old
issues (e.g., checkpoint priorities) except if presented with
substantial new information.
The UAWG's complete issues lists ([6a], [6b]) are available. We
encourage you to consult them prior to raising a substantial
issue. The list of changes [7] to UAAG 1.0 and the Techniques
document is also available.
[4] http://lists.w3.org/Archives/Public/w3c-wai-ua/2001JanMar/0555
[5] http://www.w3.org/WAI/UA/charter-20000510
[6a] http://www.w3.org/WAI/UA/2001/03/issues-20010329
[6b] http://www.w3.org/WAI/UA/2000/10/lc-issues
[7] http://www.w3.org/WAI/UA/wai-ua-wd-changes
==========
Objections
==========
The Working Group addressed all of the comments raised by second
last call reviewers. Links to responses to reviewers are
available on the Working Group's deliverables history page [8].
[8] http://www.w3.org/WAI/UA/Deliverables
Two reviewers requested that their objections be carried forward
with this call for review. Both objections concern the priority
of checkpoint 12.1:
http://lists.w3.org/Archives/Public/w3c-wai-ua/2001JanMar/0528
http://lists.w3.org/Archives/Public/w3c-wai-ua/2001JanMar/0553
There was also one objection held over from the previous round of
reviews (though this objection was not reconfirmed by the
dissenters):
http://lists.w3.org/Archives/Public/w3c-wai-ua/2000JanMar/0178
Other objections have become moot as a result of changes to the
document and will not be carried forward:
http://lists.w3.org/Archives/Public/w3c-wai-ua/2000OctDec/0110
http://lists.w3.org/Archives/Public/w3c-wai-ua/2000OctDec/0111
=================================
Implementation reports encouraged
=================================
The UAWG encourages all last call reviewers to document
implementations known to satisfy the checkpoints. This
information will help the UAWG prepare an implementation report
for presentation to the Director should the document advance to
the next stage of the Recommendation process.
The suggested approach for documenting which user agents (or
combinations of user agents) satisfy the checkpoints is to follow
the procedures outlined in section "3. Conformance" [9]. (By
following these procedures, you will help us verify the usability
of this section of the document.) We encourage you to use the
checklist appendix [10] as an evaluation tool.
Please send your implementation reports to w3c-wai-ua (or, if you
wish your evaluation to remain confidential within the W3C Team,
to wai-ua-review@w3.org).
[9] http://www.w3.org/TR/2001/WD-UAAG10-20010409/#Conformance
[10] http://www.w3.org/TR/2001/WD-UAAG10-20010409/uaag10-chktable
====================
Abstract of UAAG 1.0
====================
This document provides guidelines for designing user agents that
lower barriers to Web accessibility for people with disabilities
(visual, hearing, physical, and cognitive). User agents include
HTML browsers and other types of software that retrieve and
render Web content. A user agent that conforms to these
guidelines will promote accessibility through its own user
interface and through other internal facilities, including its
ability to communicate with other technologies (especially
assistive technologies). Furthermore, all users, not just users
with disabilities, are expected to find conforming user agents
to be more usable.
In addition to helping developers of HTML browsers, media
players, etc., this document will also benefit developers of
assistive technologies because it explains what types of
information and control an assistive technology may expect from
a conforming user agent. Technologies not addressed directly by
this document (e.g., technologies for braille rendering) will be
essential to ensuring Web access for some users with
disabilities.
==========================
Status section of UAAG 1.0
==========================
This is the 9 April 2001 last call Working Draft of the "User
Agent Accessibility Guidelines 1.0". This last call review
period ends 4 May 2001. Please send comments before the review
period ends to the public mailing list w3c-wai-ua@w3.org; public
archives are available.
This is the third last call for comments on "User Agent
Accessibility Guidelines 1.0". The previous formally published
version of this document was the 23 October 2000 last call
Working Draft, for which the review period ended 13 November
2000. Since that date, the User Agent Accessibility Guidelines
Working Group (UAWG) has clarified the document and addressed
the issues raised during the (second) last call. There have been
ten (public) Working Group drafts since the end of the second
last call review period. At their 29 March 2001 teleconference,
the Working Group decided to advance the revised document to a
third last call.
A list of changes to this document is available.
To help the Working Group compose an implementation report (as
part of advancing the document on the W3C Recommendation track),
reviewers are encouraged to evaluate software and to report
(e.g., by filling out a checklist [UAAG10-CHECKLIST]) how that
software satisfies the requirements of the document.
Publication as a Working Draft does not imply endorsement by the
W3C Membership. This is a draft document and may be updated,
replaced or obsoleted by other documents at any time. It is
inappropriate to cite W3C Working Drafts as other than "work in
progress."
This document is part of a series of accessibility documents
published by the Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI) of the World
Wide Web Consortium (W3C). WAI Accessibility Guidelines are
produced as part of the WAI Technical Activity. The goals of the
User Agent Accessibility Guidelines Working Group are described
in the charter.
A list of current W3C Recommendations and other technical
documents can be found at the W3C Web site.
===================================
Abstract of Techniques for UAAG 1.0
===================================
This document provides techniques for satisfying the checkpoints
defined in "Techniques for User Agent Accessibility Guidelines
1.0" [UAAG10]. These techniques cover the accessibility of user
interfaces, content rendering, application programming
interfaces (APIs), and languages such as the Hypertext Markup
Language (HTML), Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) and the
Synchronized Multimedia Integration Language (SMIL).
--
Ian Jacobs (jacobs@w3.org) http://www.w3.org/People/Jacobs
Tel: +1 831 457-2842
Cell: +1 917 450-8783
Received on Monday, 9 April 2001 12:06:05 UTC