Working together for standards The Web Standards Project

It’s not even two days since WaSP announced the formation of the Accessibility Task Force, quickly coined the “ATF” by several folks despite a more sobering U.S. federal agency that goes by the same initialism (or would that be acronym?).

While clearly a long time coming, the immediacy and detailed response to the formation of this WaSP task force proves its timeliness and need.

I present to you our first exhibit, “ATF: Not Alcohol, Tobacco, or Firearms” by Joe Clark who provides a very comprehensive list about where he feels our efforts and energy should (and perhaps should not) go.

He’s got many great points in the article, I especially am interested in his advocacy regarding the testing of CSS layouts. Many of us, myself included, have made the mistake that a CSS layout is more accessible by default. While certainly a step in the right direction, just creating a site using CSS does not an accessible site make.

As a second exhibit, our own Andy Clarke has posted the announcement to his personal site and the responses have been in most cases very positive and often very specific in detail.

Clearly, the WaSP ATF has lots of work ahead. While the road not yet traveled appears somewhat bleary, smoky and a bit dangerous, it’s a great comfort to know how much support we have. This is true both in terms of the new members of WaSP and the ATF but also from you, our community at large, as we work together to improve Web standards implementation and methodologies worldwide.

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