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W3C

Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.0

W3C Working Draft 23 November 2005

This version:
http://www.w3.org/TR/2005/WD-WCAG20-20051123/
Latest version:
http://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG20/
Previous version:
http://www.w3.org/TR/2005/WD-WCAG20-20050630/
Editors:
Ben Caldwell, Trace R&D Center
Wendy Chisholm, W3C
John Slatin, University of Texas at Austin
Gregg Vanderheiden, Trace R&D Center

This document is also available in these non-normative formats:


Abstract

Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.0 (WCAG 2.0) covers a wide range of issues and recommendations for making Web content more accessible. This document contains principles, guidelines, success criteria, benefits, and examples that define and explain the requirements for making Web-based information and applications accessible. "Accessible" means usable to a wide range of people with disabilities, including blindness and low vision, deafness and hearing loss, learning difficulties, cognitive limitations, limited movement, speech difficulties, and others. Following these guidelines will also make your Web content more accessible to the vast majority of users, including older users. It will also enable people to access Web content using many different devices - including a wide variety of assistive technologies.

WCAG 2.0 success criteria are written as testable statements that are not technology-specific. Guidance about satisfying the success criteria in specific technologies as well as general information about interpreting the success criteria are provided in separate documents. An Introduction to Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.0 Working Draft Documents is also available.

Until WCAG 2.0 advances to W3C Recommendation, the current and referenceable document is Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 1.0 (WCAG 1.0), published as a W3C Recommendation May 1999.

Status of this Document

This section describes the status of this document at the time of its publication. Other documents may supersede this document. A list of current W3C publications and the latest revision of this technical report can be found in the W3C technical reports index at http://www.w3.org/TR/.

The Web Content Accessibility Guidelines Working Group (WCAG WG) encourages feedback about this Working Draft. Since the 30 June 2005 WCAG 2.0 Working Draft, the WCAG WG has focused on addressing comments received on previous drafts and introducing a new format to make it easier to access support and explanatory information for each success criterion. This draft represents a significant reorganization of the WCAG document set (guidelines and support documents) and includes changes to success criterion as well as rationale and a listing of techniques deemed as sufficient for each success criterion. Does this new organization work for you? Does the new support information provide the information you need most? Are the success criterion at the right level? Is the success criteria wording accurate and understandable? Please refer to "Issue Tracking for WCAG 2.0 Working Draft" for a list of open issues related to this Working Draft. The "History of Changes to WCAG 2.0 Working Drafts" is also available.

Please send your comments by 21 December 2005 to public-comments-wcag20@w3.org. The archives for this list are publicly available. Archives of the WCAG WG mailing list discussions are also publicly available.

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 this document as other than work in progress.

The WCAG WG intends to publish WCAG 2.0 as a W3C Recommendation. Until that time Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 1.0 (WCAG 1.0) is the stable, referenceable version. This Working Draft does not supercede WCAG 1.0.

This document was produced under the 5 February 2004 W3C Patent Policy. The Working Group maintains a public list of patent disclosures relevant to this document; that page also includes instructions for disclosing a patent. An individual who has actual knowledge of a patent which the individual believes contains Essential Claim(s) with respect to this specification should disclose the information in accordance with section 6 of the W3C Patent Policy.

This document has been produced as part of the W3C Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI). The goals of the WCAG WG are discussed in the Working Group charter. The WCAG WG is part of the WAI Technical Activity.


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