So the big news of this week wasn’t the result of the US Election, it was the news that the technical material of the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.0 (WCAG 2.0) has been completed and real world example implementations have been provided for all of the guidelines / success criteria. This is great news and means that WCAG 2.0 has now moved on to being a W3C Proposed Recommendation.
The next, and final stage for WCAG 2.0, is final publication which is expected to happen in December 2008. We will then have a modern, stable set of guidelines to reference as an alternative to the ageing WCAG 1.0.
Jon Gibbins | 06/11/2008 at 13:42 | Permalink
Also worth noting that WASP are putting together a set of useful references covering WCAG 2.
Andrew | 06/11/2008 at 13:45 | Permalink
That’s great - thanks for sharing the link Jon!
Lar Veale | 10/11/2008 at 17:11 | Permalink
Just wanted to query your last point. Will they be an ‘alternative’ or a replacement?
Andrew | 11/12/2008 at 20:12 | Permalink
Thanks for your comment. I did think about my wording for that last point, so I’m glad you’ve raised this important question. I’ve emailed some of my contacts from the W3C to get the official line on it, which is as follows:
The W3C Process permits the rescinding of existing standards. However, in practice this is rarely made use of except for cases where an existing standard is deemed harmful.
There are no plans to rescind WCAG 1.0 at this time, so it will formally co-exist with WCAG 2.0. However, since WCAG 2.0 supersedes WCAG 1.0, it is technically more of a replacement rather than an alternative.
I hope this helps to clarify the issue for you.