WCAG2.0 coming this Christmas
14th November 2008 by Liam McGee
WCAG2.0 is coming into force this Christmas. WCAG2.0 is a new set of accessibility guidelines from the W3C that supersede their current WCAG1.0 requirements.
WCAG2.0 has been a while coming – it resolves many of the ambiguities and historical anomalies in WCAG1.0, and takes into account the development in web technologies since the release of WCAG1.0 in the late 1990s. In fact, WCAG2.0 has been designed to be largely futureproof, starting with overarching principles and basing guidelines around them that should be applicable independent of technology.
The technology-specific methods for achieving compliance with the guidelines are removed from the guidelines themselves, and held in a separate techniques document. This latter document will be updated as developers (such as ourselves) come up with more effective ways of meeting a guideline. For example, WCAG2.0 already has many overlaps with the W3C Mobile Web Best Practice Guidelines. As the mobile web expands (and it will, now Google is involved), new techniques will be published to fill any new gaps.
Perhaps the most interesting difference between WCAg1.0 and WCAG2.0 is the fact that WCAG2.0 has been designed with enforceability in mind, WCAG1.0 never really made it onto the statute books as it allowed a lot of leeway for interpretation. WCAG 2.0, however, has been developed in coordination with other national and international standards; it is designed to make conformance claims legally testable, and so allowing governments to legally define required standards of accessibility.
The good news is that sites that already meet both the letter and the spirit of WCAG1.0 will require few if any changes to claim WCAG2.0 conformance. However, we suggest that anyone serious about ensuring their web site content reaches the largest audience possible.
WCAG2.0 is already available as a Proposed Recommendation (and unlikely to change in any significant way) at www.w3.org/TR/2008/PR-WCAG20-20081103/
Want any help with getting that site to WCAG2.0 compliance? Give Communis a ring on +44 (0)1373 836 476.