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Buzz Archives for February 2003

Opera Hits Flat Note on MS Phones

The relationship between Opera and Microsoft continues to run chilly as the latest CNET News reports Opera won't offer a version of its mobile browser to work on Microsoft-powered smart phones such as the Orange SPV. Users of Windows-CE based phones will have to stick with Microsoft's Internet Explorer browser, ...

By Meryl K. Evans | Filed in Browsers

One in the eye for IE

It's official, it's standards-compliant and it doesn't work properly in Internet Explorer on Windows - welcome to the new Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) section at the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C). The message of WaSP since it started has always been 'code to standards, build browsers to standards and everyone will ...

By Ian Lloyd | Filed in CSS

Stop, children, what’s that sound?

17 new WaSPs buzzing. That's right. We have 17 new members, and a fresh perspective on the future. Everybody look what's going down: Read our press announcement, our current opinion, and what the press thinks about the whole noise.

By Molly E. Holzschlag | Filed in WaSP Announcement

New Members, New Directions

We're trying something new here at the Web Standards project. Instead of griping and complaining about poor support for standards, and giving people tools to discriminate against users of non-compliant browsers, we're going to focus on helping site builders deliver sites that work everywhere. In every browser. On any platform. ...

By WaSP Member | Filed in Opinion

Pushing the Edge

Netscape DevEdge revamps their design and front-end structure. In the process, the site itself becomes another beacon demonstrating the possibilities and advantages to be had when web standards and compliant browsers get pushed to their limits. Tableless layout, major accessibility enhancements, CSS dropdown menus (with a minor assist from JavaScript), ...

By Doug Bowman | Filed in Web Standards (general)

Gettin’ Stylish

House of Style, which has been around and promoting the positives of CSS for some time, has announced a new mailing list called CSS-Foundations. The list is geared toward those developers and designers just beginning to get their feet wet with CSS. With an emphasis on practical guidance, peer ...

By Molly E. Holzschlag | Filed in CSS

Browser roundup

It's been an excellent week for browsers everywhere. Opera Software quickly released Opera 7.01 for Windows, which fixes several reported security holes in 7.0 (1, 2, 3, 4, 5). Apple released Safari build 60 for Mac OS X, which improves standards compliance and adds XML support. The Mozilla organization released Mozilla 1.3 beta ...

By Mark Pilgrim | Filed in Browsers

The Web Standards Project is a grassroots coalition fighting for standards which ensure simple, affordable access to web technologies for all.

Recent Buzz

WCAG 2.0 is a W3C Recommendation

By Matt May | December 11th, 2008

After 9.5 years of work, the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.0 have reached W3C Recommendation status. On behalf of the WaSP Accessibility Task Force, I’d like to welcome WCAG 2 officially into the pantheon of Web standards.

I think this tweet by caledoniaman sums up the level of anticipation:

WCAG 2.0 and a new Guns ‘n’ Roses album in the same year. What’s the world coming to.

Interesting comparison. They’ve each had about as many pre-releases. In any case, I can say, having spent over 8 years with it, that WCAG 2 is not as entertaining as Chinese Democracy. But I do think that it’s better equipped to stand the test of time.

If I had to pick one thing I’m most happy about, I’d say it’s that the HTML- and text-centrism in WCAG 1 is largely gone. In its place is a much more flexible (dare I say robust?) concept of accessibility-supported technology. So when newer technologies can show themselves to be directly accessible, they too can be used in WCAG 2-conformant content.

Over the years, many people have conflated “WCAG-conformant” with “accessible,” and that’s led to people making statements like: “Don’t use JavaScript–it’s inaccessible.” That’s bad for everyone, from users with disabilities who actually can work with JavaScript (which is to say, the vast majority), to Web designers and developers, to policymakers, to those developing new technologies.

With WCAG 2, “Don’t use x” is no longer valid. (Was it ever?) It is now up to you, the developer, to work on the direct accessibility of your content, no matter what technology you choose. I believe we’re about to experience a new wave of accessible design techniques, as a result.

But first, we need to flush “Don’t use x” out of our system. Some are accustomed to saying it about anything they’re not comfortable with. That’s only holding accessible design back. It’s time to learn what’s out there, today, and use it in everyday Web design. It’s time to make everyone’s Web more accessible. Have a look at the WCAG 2.0 Recommendation, and its supporting material. Then, start thinking about what a more accessible Web could be. We still have a lot of work to do.

Filed in Accessibility, Accessibility TF, W3C/Standards Documentation, Web Standards (general) | Comments (8)

More Buzz articles

Title Author
Introduction to WAI ARIA - available in Spanish and French Henny Swan
“Just ask: Integrating accessibility throughout design” available in English, Japanese and Spanish Henny Swan
BSI British Standards invites comments on new draft standard on accessible web content Patrick Lauke
Want to set up a Web Standards Café? Henny Swan

All of the entries posted in WaSP Buzz express the opinions of their individual authors. They do not necessarily reflect the plans or positions of the Web Standards Project as a group.

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