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Web Content Accessibility Guidelines

 

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Web Content Accessibility Guidelines



 
 
Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) are part of a series of Web accessibility
Web accessibility

Web accessibility refers to the practice of making websites usable by people of all abilities and disabilities. When sites are correctly designed, developed and edited, all users can have equal access to information and functionality....
 guidelines published by the W3C
World Wide Web Consortium

The World Wide Web Consortium is the main international standards organization for the World Wide Web . It is arranged as a consortium where member organizations maintain full-time staff for the purpose of working together in the development of standards for the World Wide Web....
's Web Accessibility Initiative
Web Accessibility Initiative

The World Wide Web Consortium 's Web Accessibility Initiative is an effort to improve the Web accessibility of the World Wide Web for people with Disability....
. They consist of a set of guidelines on making content accessible, primarily for disabled users, but also for all user agent
User agent

A user agent is the client application used with a particular network protocol; the phrase is most commonly used in reference to those which access the World Wide Web, but other systems such as Session Initiation Protocol use the term user agent to refer to the user's phone....
s, including highly limited devices, such as mobile phone
Mobile phone

A mobile phone is a long-range, electronic device used for mobile voice or data communication over a network of specialized base stations known as cell sites....
s. The current version is 2.0.

WCAG Samurai In February 2008, The WCAG Samurai, a group of developers independent to the W3C, and led by Joe Clark, published corrections for, and extensions to, the WCAG1.0.

WCAG 2.0
WCAG 2.0 was published as a W3C Recommendation on December 11, 2008.






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Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) are part of a series of Web accessibility
Web accessibility

Web accessibility refers to the practice of making websites usable by people of all abilities and disabilities. When sites are correctly designed, developed and edited, all users can have equal access to information and functionality....
 guidelines published by the W3C
World Wide Web Consortium

The World Wide Web Consortium is the main international standards organization for the World Wide Web . It is arranged as a consortium where member organizations maintain full-time staff for the purpose of working together in the development of standards for the World Wide Web....
's Web Accessibility Initiative
Web Accessibility Initiative

The World Wide Web Consortium 's Web Accessibility Initiative is an effort to improve the Web accessibility of the World Wide Web for people with Disability....
. They consist of a set of guidelines on making content accessible, primarily for disabled users, but also for all user agent
User agent

A user agent is the client application used with a particular network protocol; the phrase is most commonly used in reference to those which access the World Wide Web, but other systems such as Session Initiation Protocol use the term user agent to refer to the user's phone....
s, including highly limited devices, such as mobile phone
Mobile phone

A mobile phone is a long-range, electronic device used for mobile voice or data communication over a network of specialized base stations known as cell sites....
s. The current version is 2.0.

WCAG 1.0


The WCAG 1.0 were published and became a W3C recommendation
W3C recommendation

A W3C Recommendation is the final stage of a ratification process of the World Wide Web Consortium working group concerning the standard. This designation signifies that a document has been subjected to a public and W3C-member organization's review....
 on May 5, 1999. They have since been superseded by WCAG 2.0

WCAG 1.0 has three priority levels:

  • Priority 1: Web developers must satisfy these requirements, otherwise it will be impossible for one or more groups to access the Web content. Conformance to this level is described as A.
  • Priority 2: Web developers should satisfy these requirements, otherwise some groups will find it difficult to access the Web content. Conformance to this level is described as AA or Double-A.
  • Priority 3: Web developers may satisfy these requirements, in order to make it easier for some groups to access the Web content. Conformance to this level is described as AAA or Triple-A.


WCAG Samurai

In February 2008, The WCAG Samurai, a group of developers independent to the W3C, and led by Joe Clark, published corrections for, and extensions to, the WCAG1.0.

WCAG 2.0


WCAG 2.0 was published as a W3C Recommendation on December 11, 2008. The lengthy consultation process prior to this encouraged participation in editing (and responding to the hundreds of comments) by the Working Group, with diversity assured by inclusion of accessibility experts and members of the disability community.

The Web Accessibility Initiative is also working on guidance for migrating from WCAG 1.0 to WCAG 2.0. A comparison of WCAG 1.0 checkpoints and WCAG 2.0 success criteria is already available.

WCAG 2.0 uses the same three levels of conformance as WCAG 1.0, but has redefined them.

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