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Buzz Archives for October 2005

We love to see you smile

Just ten days ago, Dean wrote here about Acid2: there has been no officially released browser that passes the test I'm thrilled to say that that's no longer the case — we have a winner! With today's release of Mac OS X 10.4.3, Apple's Safari RSS (version 2.0.2/416.12) is the first (publicly-released, ...

By Dori Smith | Filed in Acid2, Browsers

moo.fx Makes it Easy to Add Transition Effects

A small JavaScript library to add powerpoint or flash-like transition effects to web sites: moo.fx.

By Christian Heilmann | Filed in DOM, DOM Scripting TF

Debugging JavaScript with jsTrace

Aaron Gustafson gives us a very handy tool for debugging scripts: jsTrace.

By Jeremy Keith | Filed in Authoring Tools, DOM, DOM Scripting TF

Spreading the Word

With the release of his new DOM Scripting book, I’ve been on a little talking spree around the Web.

By Jeremy Keith | Filed in DOM, DOM Scripting TF

Opera 9, Acid2 and Web Forms 2.0

It seems the latest preview release of Opera comes pretty close to passing the Acid2 test. Apparently there is only one bug left to fix. After the initial announcement of the second acid test, a race began to become the first browser to pass it. Safari won by a streak and ...

By Dean Edwards | Filed in Browsers

… And the Winner Is …

We have a winner for the addEvent() recoding contest!

By Peter-Paul Koch | Filed in DOM, DOM Scripting TF

IEBlog: Clean up your CSS hacks

The IEBlog today issued a call to action, asking developers to help "clean up" CSS hacks that are failing in strict mode in IE7. Whether you're interested in helping the IE development team or not, consider this: a review of your code could help to clean out some bad CSS ...

By Kimberly Blessing | Filed in Browsers, CSS

Web Essentials 05

The Web Essentials 05 event has made available several audio and slide presentations of last week's keynote (by our own group leader Molly) and sessions at the WE05 PodCasts link. Links to other presentations may also be found listed at the program link. Session topics cover standards, ...

By Holly Marie Koltz | Filed in Web Standards (general)

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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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