[DRAFT] Why Standards Harmonization is Essential to Web Accessibility

Page Content

Executive Summary
Introduction
Fragmentation Concerns
Why Harmonization Helps
Using W3C/WAI Standards

Editors' Draft updated: $Date: 2011-06-27$
Status: This document is an in-progress draft and should not be referenced or quoted under any circumstances. A change log is available. Please send comments to wai-eo-editors@w3.org (a publicly archived list). The previous version of this document is available at www.w3.org/WAI/Policy/harmon.html.

Executive Summary

In developing policies for Web accessibility, many governments have benefitted from using the widely recognized international standard, the World Wide Web Consortium’s (W3C) Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.0. In doing so, these governments have established a consistent business environment and helped accelerate overall progress on Web accessibility. Some governments develop multiple divergent standards, potentially slowing progress towards the goal of an accessible Web. This paper explores the benefits of harmonizing international and local approaches to Web accessibility.

Accessibility of the Web is essential to enable the participation of people with disabilities in the Information Society. The efforts of many different stakeholders are needed: policy makers, software developers, website designers, content creators, and people with disabilities all have roles to play in achieving accessibility of the Web. Adopting or referencing W3C Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI) standards in regional, national, local and organizational policies can bring the goal of an accessible Web within reach, while divergent national and local versions—standards fragmentation—can slow potential progress.

Fragmentation of standards is an economic issue for government, businesses, and Web developers. The existence of multiple divergent standards means that:

governments must spend more resources to develop alternate versions of technical references, training curricula, educational materials and other supporting resources;
many mainstream authoring tools and evaluation tools will not support local standards;
products developed by local businesses may be unable to compete internationally;
interoperability with related accessibility standards and assistive technologies is reduced;
international organizations must track and support multiple divergent standards.

Harmonization of standards can help accelerate the spread of accessibility across the Web. Adopting or referencing of widely recognized international Web accessibility standards in policies means that:

policy makers, accessibility advocates, and industry proponents of Web accessibility benefit from years of international collaboration on the development of WCAG 2.0, other W3C/WAI standards, and supporting resources;
governments can save funds by using freely available standards and supporting resources, leaving more funds to be devoted to local education and implementation needs;
software developers can benefit from the economies of scale created by wider use of a single standard, helping to drive the production of supporting software;
Web developers and content developers can more easily create accessible websites by using supporting software;
governments can take advantage of collaborative maintenance of standards, and technical and educational resources, in the future.

More information follows on the benefits of standards harmonization for Web accessibility, and how to use existing technical and educational resources to support national and local Web accessibility progress.

Introduction

Over one billion people worldwide have significant disabilities (World Report on Disability). The last decade has witnessed a remarkable expansion in the number of people who have access to information on the Web. However, for people with disabilities, the Web may not be so easily accessed, if at all. Without accessible websites, people with a diverse range of hearing, movement, sight, and cognitive abilities may encounter barriers when going about essential tasks on the Web. Equal access to information is essential for participation in education, employment, health care, civic life, and more; and it is a right under the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.

Tim Berners-Lee created the World Wide Web with a vision of broad access to information. This vision has evolved into one of the World Wide Web Consortium’s (W3C) primary goals, ensuring that the benefits of the Web are available to all people, whatever their language, abilities, or Web access devices may be. A core aspect of W3C's work has been the Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI), helping lead the Web to its full potential, which includes enabling people with disabilities to participate equally on the Web.

Web accessibility means that people with disabilities can interact with the Web, including contributing to the Web. Web accessibility also benefits others, including older people with changing abilities due to aging. Yet, currently most websites and Web software have accessibility barriers that make it difficult or impossible for many people with disabilities to use the Web.

WCAG 2.0 is recognized as the world’s leading standard for accessibility of Web content. It addresses four key principles of Web accessibility (summarized here, and explained in more detail in the guidelines and success criteria in the standard itself):

To make Web content perceivable, provide text alternatives for non-text content, provide captions and other alternatives for multimedia, create content that can be presented in different ways, and make it easier for users to hear and see content.
To make Web content operable, make all functions available from a keyboard, give users enough time to use content, don't use content that causes seizures, and help users navigate and find content.
To make Web content more understandable, make text readable and understandable, make content appear and operate in predictable ways, and help users avoid and correct mistakes.
To make Web content robust, maximize compatibility with current and future user tools.

WCAG 2.0 has companion standards for browsers, for authoring tools, and for dynamic Web content. The Authoring Tool Accessibility Guidelines (ATAG) define how authoring tools can better support production of Web content that is accessible and conforms to WCAG, and how to make authoring tools accessible so that people with disabilities can use the tools. The User Agent Accessibility Guidelines (UAAG) explain how to make browsers and media players accessible to people with disabilities so that they can improve access to Web content, and how to make these work better with assistive technologies that some people with disabilities use. Accessible Rich Internet Applications (WAI-ARIA) addresses accessibility of dynamic web content. Together, these standards define the path to an accessible Web. All of these standards are accompanied by technical references and educational materials.

Fragmentation Concerns with Web Accessibility Standards

Fragmentation of standards is an economic and social issue for government, businesses, and Web developers that arises when national or local governments or organizations develop standards that diverge from international standards. Fragmentation of standards can slow potential progress towards increasing accessibility of the Web for people with disabilities.

Divergent standards may arise when a government commissions the development of wholly new standards, though more often divergent standards result from modification of existing standards. Sometimes local standards combine two or more accessibility provisions, or omit or add provisions. However, changing the wording of individual provisions of WCAG can result in unintentionally changing the technical meaning of the provision. In all of these cases, the divergent standards makes conformance difficult for content creators and Web developers, especially those who also need to comply with existing international standards.

Fragmentation may be driven by a number of factors. These may include the perspective that only locally-developed standards can meet the needs of the local disability or business communities despite broad international participation in development of W3C/WAI standards. Other drivers of fragmentation may include the perspective that funding for local standards development is needed before resources can be spent on local awareness or implementation; misunderstandings about how to adopt or reference W3C standards; or unfamiliarity with mechanisms for producing Authorized Translations of W3C standards.

Fragmentation affects the economy and society in multiple ways:

Governments must spend more resources to develop alternate versions of training and technical support materials. This expenditure duplicates the already extensive set of materials created by W3C, and may leave less funds available to expand and improve existing materials.
Mainstream authoring tools and evaluation tools may lack support for divergent national or local standards. With few tools that provide effective support for development and testing of accessible Web sites, progress on Web accessibility remains slow.
Products developed by local businesses may be unable to compete in an international market. Buyers typically select technology products with the broadest possible range of uses. A locally developed product that does not conform to accepted international standards will struggle in the market.
Interoperability with related accessibility standards and assistive technologies may be reduced. Many people with disabilities rely on assistive technologies, such as screen readers, voice recognition, or screen magnifiers. Divergent standards may limit interoperability between websites and assistive technologies, reducing access to websites for people with disabilities.
International organizations—including businesses and non-governmental organizations—must track and support multiple differing standards, and Web developers and content creators must learn how to apply these different standards.

Policy-makers are in a position to help guide the selection of Web accessibility standards. Governments typically want to develop and implement policies that benefit the economy. Policy-makers would be wise to consider whether the development of divergent local accessibility standards may inhibit achievement of these objectives.

Why Standards Harmonization Helps Web Accessibility

Harmonization of standards can help accelerate the spread of accessibility across the Web. Standards harmonization means adopting or referencing freely available international Web accessibility standards in regional, national, local and organizational policies. In the harmonization process, a government adopting WCAG 2.0 has access to an extensive library of supporting implementation techniques. Expanded implementation techniques can be shared with W3C/WAI for others to use.

Policy makers, accessibility advocates, and industry proponents of Web accessibility can benefit from years of international collaboration on the development of WCAG 2.0, UAAG, ATAG, and WAI-ARIA. This international collaboration has resulted in improved support for accessibility needs related to different languages and scripts, and provided an opportunity to test implementations of WCAG 2.0 in many different situations.
Governments can save funding by using W3C/WAI's extensive, freely available, and well-tested online technical references, training curricula, educational materials, and other supporting resources. Funds can instead be devoted to specific local needs such as building awareness, translating standards and technical reference materials, providing training and local technical support, and developing expertise in design and evaluation of accessible websites. All of these activities accelerate local progress on Web accessibility.
Software developers can benefit from the economies of scale created by wider use of a single standard, which in turn drives development of authoring tools, evaluation tools, browsers and media players that support production and display of accessible content. Tool developers face competing priorities when deciding which features to build into their software. Harmonized standards mean a more unified customer demand, strengthening the business case for accessibility and helping tip the balance towards implementation of accessibility features in products. Harmonizing accessibility support across browsers and authoring tools is mutually reinforcing.
Web developers and content creators can more easily produce accessible websites when they can use authoring and evaluation tools that support production of accessible content. Harmonized standards enable Web developers to learn and support one consistent set of standards and implementation techniques well, rather than needing to learn multiple divergent standards. Authoring tools that conform to the Authoring Tool Accessibility Guidelines (ATAG) can streamline the process of creating accessible Web sites, and become a key driver of expanded Web accessibility—if consistent accessibility standards are used across different markets.
Governments can take advantage of collaborative maintainance of standards, and technical and educational resources, as Web technologies and accessibility solutions evolve in the future.

Using W3C/WAI Standards, and Technical and Educational Resources

To support harmonization and avoid standards fragmentation, the W3C and WAI have created a wide array of freely available technical and educational resources. Take advantage of years of development work by following these steps when adopting or referencing W3C/WAI standards within national and local policies:

1. Engage with national and local stakeholders.

Build a strong foundation for wide adoption of accessibility standards by ensuring the involvement of all interested parties from the beginning—people from government, industry, disability organizations, research, education, others—to build a commitment to shared goals.

2. Take advantage of existing resources.

Let stakeholders know about W3C/WAI standards that you can freely reuse. Check before recreating standards, and technical and educational resources, that may already exist in forms that meet national and local needs.

Use the W3C's complementary Web accessibility standards—for Web content and websites, for authoring tools, and for browsers and media players—to improve efficiency and internationalization. These three standards were developed to work together and greatly improve interoperability.
License standards for free. The W3C document license allows free reusability of standards and supporting technical and educational material with proper acknowledgement of source. The accompanying FAQ may address your questions; if not, please let us know.
Leverage the implementation support techniques that accompany each W3C/WAI standard. For instance, the How to Meet WCAG 2.0 customizable checklist links to Techniques for WCAG 2.0, which include general implementation techniques as well as techniques for HTML, XHTML, CSS, Scripting, SMIL, Text, ARIA, Flash, PDF, and Silverlight.
Adopt standards at a conformance level that meets national or local needs. Three different conformance levels allow adoption or referencing of W3C/WAI standards at levels supporting different degrees of accessibility. Typically, policies reference WCAG 2.0 AA, which includes success criteria levels A and AA, to provide an effective level of accessibility support. AAA is infrequently used as a required conformance level.
Maximize translation capacity since many W3C/WAI documents have already been translated into different languages. The Policy for Authorized W3C Translations can be used for translating additional W3C/WAI technical reports as needed.
Many W3C/WAI presentation and training resources resources are extensible, and can be freely adapted to meet national or local needs.

3. Use W3C/WAI standards, technical and educational resources as needed, acknowledging the source.

Determine what is needed for your national, local, or organizational policy, including the conformance level and timelines for the standards that you plan to adopt or reference. Follow the W3C Document License to acknowledge the source.

Prepare authorized translations of key resources if needed.
Consider education and training resources that may need to be adapted or developed on the national or local level.

4. Contact or participate with W3C/WAI as needed and/or interested.

WAI welcomes, encourages, and values the active participation of individuals and organizations around the world to collaborate in activities that help improve accessibility of the web.

Note the multiple resources for addressing technical questions. Send questions related to referencing of WAI standards to WAI staff.
Share technical and educational resources that you develop with the broader Web accessibility community, for instance by using the WCAG 2.0 Techniques submissions process.
Explore information on multiple ways to get involved with WAI, for instance by receiving announcements, providing feedback on documents, or joining WAI working groups.

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