Beyond WCAG – Guidance for Web/Digital Content Accessibility

[shawna-slh]

Read Motivations/Background below first.

Proposal:

• Develop "supplemental guidance" (SG) docs with similar format to WCAG Understanding docs. (rough draft example) These would largely be the proposed SCs from COGA, LVTF and Mobile TF that have not (yet) made it into WCAG.
• Clearly indicate in doc if it covers requirements in WCAG 2.0, requirements in WCAG 2.0 and 2.1, or supplemental guidance.
• Integrate existing Understanding docs, existing Techniques docs, and new SG docs in WAI website design and navigation.

Notes:

• AG would approve SG docs before publication. TFs would draft them.
• Some SGs might eventually become SCs in WCAG 2.x — although most would not.
• This work would help inform Silver. Although current proposal is for content only, not user agent or other.
• Maybe call it something other than "supplemental guidance".

Benefits:

• Allows us to provide guidance that doesn't (yet) meet WCAG success criteria requirements. (Seems this would be much easier and faster than crafting success criteria.)
• Gives the SG high credibility (since looks like the WCAG Understanding docs) and good discover-ability and find-ability.
• All the guidance from the TFs and others is in one place (rather than each TF's guidance being in different places).

[shawna-slh]

Motivations/Background:

• There are many important things that the TFs want included in WCAG, that won't meet the criteria for WCAG SCs. Many things are not really requirements that apply to all situations that fit into WCAG, and instead are best practices for particular situations. A lot of time and effort has gone into squeezing these into WCAG SCs. Maybe that's not the best approach overall.
• As advisory techniques or supplemental guidance (rather than SCs), the basic wording can be much simpler (e.g., doesn't need convoluted exceptions for edge cases).
• We previously planned to provide "supplemental guidance" (SG). COGA has been working on this as in separate documents. Having this guidance in separate documents (COGA once place, Low Vision another place, Mobile yet another) is ineffective.

[shawna-slh]

Alternate Proposal - Techniques

• Develop techniques that cover user needs not met in WCAG 2.1 that are relevant to content authors. Most would be advisory techniques. These could be robust and include "Intent" and other relevant info.
  • While some might fit under existing SCs, most will probably be under Guidelines. Slight chance a few won't squeeze comfortably under any Guideline. (afaik, Principles do not have techniques.)
  • We'll probably want advisory failures, too – although maybe low priority.
  • We could choose to integrate all this into the QuickRef, or something like it. We could include filters for COGA, low vision, mobile, older users. And/or for COGA and maybe others we could have a presentation of the applicable Advisory Techniques etc something like the main content of Developing Websites for Older People (with a totally opposite spin in the intro).

(We still need to integrate the Understanding & Techniques pages into the WAI website design and navigation.)