Spider Trax

Implementing WCAG 2.0

Mike Cherim has recently published an article on implementing Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) version 2.0 based on his experience of developing a AAA web site — 1 of only 2 AAA sites currently acknowledged by the Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI).

His advice and personal approach to future development pretty much confirms the same points that I was reaching with regard to WCAG 2.0. Having intitially staggered away from the draft documents with head reeling and a feeling of “How on earth am I going to work within this?“, I’ve since taken a step back and decided that, since Real World access issues are not going to be affected by a change of guideline from version 1 to version 2, neither should my overall approach — which is to continue doing the best job I can.

In one sense, there will be no change. Best practice solutions will still come from jobbing developers and not the guidelines themselves. WCAG 2.0 simply provides a different structure to test those solutions against. Is it less likely to suffer from interpretation? My guess is that only time will tell. There’s none so creative as those who want to be ‘seen’ to conform without actually putting in the work or resources.

Like Mike, I rarely claim conformance and, under WCAG 2.0, I’m even less likely to do so unless the client specifically asks for a conformance statement. Mike’s suggested markup for documentation work is especially interesting. I wonder how many site owners will decide they don’t need such a statement when they realise it’s going to cost them more? Not that I think a additional charge isn’t completely justified given the demands of creating a WCAG 2.0 conformance statement. If there is one aspect of WCAG 2.0 that I find promising, it is its handling of the whole conformance claims issue. I really hope it will contribute to a reduction in dubious site claims. I’ve seen far too many sites in the past that claim WCAG 1.0 AAA conformance when, in reality, they barely manage Level A. Perhaps we’ll start to see less of these in a year or 2? I certainly hope so as they do the web accessibility sector no favours.

One area where the impact WCAG 2.0 hasn’t yet been publically assessed is site auditing. In theory, the conformance statement demands of WCAG 2.0 should make this a little easier than it has been under WCAG 1.0 but again, only time and experience will really tell.

Either way, having been initially been rather intimidated by WCAG 2.0, I’m now rather looking forward to seeing how it works out in the Real World. Some of the terminology may change and we’ll all have new reference documents but, for the most part, it will still be business as usual. Those who care will still be creating the best sites that they can do.