Hello Everyone

There's a lot going on over at the W3C WAI (World Wide Web Consortium Web 
Accessibility Initiative), with current guidelines being updated and new ones 
being developed.  So here's a brief overview of what's happening.

* ATAG (Authoring Tool Accessibility Guidelines) 2.0 
(http://www.w3.org/TR/ATAG20/) - These guidelines are currently at Working 
Draft level.  ATAG 1.0 is still the stable version which should be used. =

* EARL (Evaluation and Report Language) 
(http://www.w3.org/WAI/intro/earl.php) 1.0 - The public comment period for 
the "Representing Content in RDF" and "HTTP Vocabulary in RDF" companion 
documents has recently finished (29th September 2008).  Once the comments 
have been addressed, these documents will be published as Notes rather than 
Recommendations. (EARL 1.0 is currently has the status of Working Draft.)

* Shared Web Experiences: Mobile and Accessibility Barriers 
(http://www.w3.org/WAI/mobile/experiences) - This draft document gives 
examples of how people with disabilities using computers and people without 
disabilities using mobile devices experience similar barriers when using the 
Web.  Comments on this document closed on 20th August.

* UAAG (User Agent Accessibility Guidelines) 2.0 
(http://www.w3.org/TR/UAAG20/) - This version is currently at Public Working 
Draft status and is at this stage for information only.

* WAI-AGE Addressing Accessibility Needs Due to Ageing 
(http://www.w3.org/WAI/WAI-AGE/) - This project is currently at the 
literature review stage and aims to find out whether any new work is required 
to improve web accessibility for older people.

* WAI-ARIA (Web Accessibility Initiative Accessible Rich Internet Applications) 
(http://www.w3.org/TR/wai-aria/) - The Working Draft has recently been 
updated and comments on this update closed (3rd September).

* WCAG (Web Content Accessibility Guidelines) 2.0 
(http://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG20/) - After a lot of to-ing and fro-ing, WCAG 
2.0 finally looks as though it's going to finalised for public use by the end of 
the year.  Data from the implementation of trial WCAG 2.0 websites has been 
gathered and whilst the status is still "Candidate Recommendation", this status 
is likely to be updated in November.

Best Regards

Sharon.

Sharon Perry,
Learning Technology Advisor,
JISC CETIS,
University of Bolton.

Website: http://jisc.cetis.ac.uk/domain/accessibility.