WAI-Guide

Project Results

Supplemental resource framework redesign

New styling was developed for use in Supplemental resources to:

• improve the visual design for readability
• improve navigation within pages
• improve navigation between related documents
• make it easier for readers new to WCAG to get information about the page they land on
• improve consistency across all resources

This was applied to:

• Understanding for WCAG 2
• Techniques for WCAG 2
• ARIA Authoring Practices Guide
• Accessibility Conformance Testing Rules
• Cognitive Accessibility Guidance

Expanded Technical Guidance

Technical guidance was expanded to better address current and emerging technologies. The specific areas covered were:

• Design Guide for Cognitive Accessibility
• Immersive Environment requirements in WCAG3
• Functional Needs in WCAG3

Video Training Materials

Created four sets of videos to support training of accessibility skills.

• Web Accessibility Evaluation - Five animated videos that help explain the topic ‘web accessibility evaluation’.
• Stories of Web Users - Eight videos presenting stories of how people with disabilities use digital technology.
• Diverse Abilities and Barriers - Five videos that present the wide range of diversity of people and abilities, and highlight some of the types of barriers that people commonly encounter due to inaccessible design.
• Tools and Techniques - Four videos that present techniques and tools that people with disabilities use to interact with the Web.

Accessibility Curricula

Created a framework to support the development of courses on digital accessibility, as well as the inclusion of digital accessibility in courses for related areas. The curricula covered four core modules:

• Foundation Modules - helps introducing web accessibility to any students with a basic understanding of computers and the Web.
• Developer Modules - helps create courses that explain accessible coding for developers.
• Designer Modules - helps create courses that explain how design principles and practices relate to accessibility.
• Content Author Modules - helps create courses that explain how to create clear content and discusses accessible authoring techniques.

Authoring Tool Briefs

Created three short briefs framing the importance of the Authoring Tool Accessibility Guidelines to key authoring tool domains.

• For LMS - provides an introduction to help make learning management systems (LMS) and other education tools accessible to people with disabilities.
• For No-Code Tools - provides an introduction to help make no-code website tools accessible to creators, designers, and end users with disabilities.
• For Social Media Platforms - provides an introduction to help make social media platforms accessible to creators and users with disabilities

Authoring Tools List

Authoring Tools List - Provides a resource that lists authoring tool vendor submitted information about the accessibility of their tools.

Authoring Tools Conformance Evaluation Report Tool

ATAG Report Tool leads the user step-by-step through the requirements defined by the W3C Authoring Tool Accessibility Guidelines and allows the user to record the results for each requirement. The tool generates a report based on this input by the user in HTML and in JSON formats.

New User Needs

Identified and explored accessibility gaps in new standards for emerging technologies. This work developed four new user requirements documents:

• XR Accessibility User Requirements - covers user needs and requirements for people with disabilities when using virtual reality or immersive environments, augmented or mixed reality, and other related technologies (XR).
• Natural Language Accessibility User Requirements - outlines accessibility-related user needs, requirements and scenarios for natural language interfaces.
• Synchronized Media Accessibility User Requirements - identifies and summarizes relevant research regarding the synchronization of resources presented in multimedia content.
• Framework for Accessible Specification of Technology - advises creators of technical specifications how to ensure that their technology meets the needs of users with disabilities.

Initial Project Deliverables

Technical project deliverables included:

• Provide Implementation and Training Guidance
  • Revise and Expand Implementation Guidance — support the revision and expansion of the Techniques and Understanding documents.
  • Provide Video-Based Accessibility Training — develop training materials using video format, based on existing WAI resources.
  • Develop Role-Based Accessibility Curricula — build on and extend the WAI Training resource to provide accessibility curricula.
• Accelerate Support for Accessible Authoring
  • Engage with Web Authoring Tool Communities — engage with the developers to promote accessibility support in authoring tools.
  • Develop Industry-Specific Tooling Guidance — develop tailored guidance for the Authoring Tools Accessibility Guidelines (ATAG).
  • Compile List of Accessible Authoring Tools — establish a public list of authoring tools that support accessibility features.
• Identify Gaps in Accessibility Standardization
  • Develop Accessibility User Needs and Use Cases — research, analyze, and communicate accessibility of emerging digital technologies.
  • Promote Harmonized Accessibility Standards — coordinate with relevant standards bodies and groups to promote harmonization.

These deliverables were complemented by project management, dissemination, and engagement efforts.

Participation

Most of the project work listed above was developed through or in coordination with:

• Education and Outreach Working Group (EOWG)
• Accessibility Guidelines Working Group (AGWG)
• Accessible Platform Architectures Working Group (APA)

See also Participating in WAI. If you have any questions, contact Kevin White (Scientific Coordinator).

About the Project

WAI-Guide, Authoritative Implementation Guidance and International Cooperation to Support Training, Awareness Raising, and Capacity Building, was a Support Action project, co-funded by the European Commission (EC) under the Horizon 2020 program (Grant Agreement 822245). The project started on 1 January 2019 and completed in December 2022. WAI-Guide aimed to:

• Provide authoritative implementation guidance and training, thereby growing capacities of available accessibility experts;
• Accelerate tooling support for accessible content authoring, thereby making it more cost efficient to create accessible content;
• Identify and address gaps in accessibility standardization, thereby increasing the coverage of digital accessibility requirements.

WAI-Guide achieved this by conducting its work as an integral part of the vendor-neutral environment of the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C). WAI-Guide drew together expertise from industry, end-user representation, public bodies, research, and other fields, to develop core accessibility solutions that are internationally consensed and recognized as authoritative references.

See project deliverables above and contact Kevin White (Scientific Coordinator) for more information.