- Hi, my name is Glenda "The Goodwitch" Sims
and I've been in the field of
accessibility since before 2000.
Right now I have the great privilege
of being an active member of the
Accessibility Guidelines Working Group at the W3C.
That's what I do as a volunteer position.
My day job, is I am the lead of a wonderful group
of accessibility experts at Deque.
So, you may be wondering, what is all this talk about
WCAG 2.1 and, by the way, what in the world is WCAG?
So, let me tell you a little bit about it.
The Web Content Accessibility Guidelines,
also known as WCAG, has been around since May 5th of 1999.
Version 1.0 was published on that date many years ago.
That first version of the Accessibility Guidelines
was very focused on HTML and it was a wonderful step forward
in making the web and digital technology accessible.
It was followed, a number of years later,
December 11, 2008, to be exact, with WCAG 2.0.
What is the difference between 1.0 and 2.0?
Well, 2.0 had learned a lot in those almost ten years
and technology had advanced a lot, as well.
And so, in 2.0, they wanted to make sure that
the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines
was technology agnostic.
It wasn't just focused on HTML because HTML is not the only
digital asset that we have and use.
Whether it's PDF or a texted document like Word
or a Google Doc or a spreadsheet,
or a presentation, or an eBook,
or a native mobile app.
All of these things are digital assets
that need to be accessible.
So, WCAG 2.0 in 2008 broadened
the technical footprint of what we were covering.
And another key piece of WCAG 2.0 was the four principles
that were established and I love these principles
because it's not just a long checklist of things.
It's a concept of making digital accessible for people
with disabilities and, if you understand the concepts
of perceivable, operable, understandable, and robust,
you can carry the litmus test to, is something accessible
around with you, in your mind and in your heart
from a high-level perspective.
So, perceivable, operable, understandable,
and robust were the principles that
were clearly delineated in WCAG 2.0.
That was a wonderful gift.
So here we are.
It's 2017 and WCAG 2.0 from December 11, 2008
is still our measuring stick for accessibility.
The web and digital technology has changed a lot
in the ensuing years since 2008.
So, there's been a movement to create
a dot release of WCAG, a WCAG 2.1.
It's currently being drafted right now.
It's available for public review.
At a high level, I just wanna tell you
that WCAG 2.1 is going to add to 2.0.
2.0 was so well-written in 2008 that it's stood
the test of time in that all of
the requirements are still very, very valid.
So, hang on to 2.0 and let's add 2.1 to it.
There's a parallel effort to the WCAG 2.1 dot release.
The 2.1 dot release is very focused on filling known gaps.
And there is another movement called Silver.
This is, in my mind, Accessibility Guidelines 3.0.
If we could reimagine, with everything that we know today,
start from scratch on Mars, perhaps.
How would we design Accessibility Guidelines now?
That's the Silver.
So, as we look at WCAG, I want you to recognize it is
a wonderful standard to use today and I'm looking forward
to, in future installments, telling you more about
the upcoming WCAG 2.1 and Silver in more detail.