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Overview of the Technical standards

Index 

• How do the Technical standards work?
• Why adopt WCAG2.0?
• Who is the W3C?
• WCAG2.0 structure
• Moving on: WCAG2.0 and the old standards

How do the Technical standards work?

Two parts: WCAG2.0 and the New Zealand layer

The Technical standards now comprise new W3C standards called WCAG2.0 (level AA), and a few standards specific to New Zealand, called the "New Zealand-specific requirements" (or the "New Zealand layer" for short).  These latter standards are not separate to WCAG2.0, but modify it for use in the government environment, as recommended by the W3C.

New Zealand-specific requirements

These requirements cover technologies and techniques which

• must be used  (UTF-8, validation, language codes)
• may be used but not relied on (scripts, applets, etc; non-HTML documents; stylesheets)
• must not be used (framesets, underlining, mark-up redirects, server-side image maps)

Because there is still only limited use of the latest AT in New Zealand, our deployment of WCAG2.0 retains previous restrictions on the use of PDF, Flash, javascript and other technologies. These restrictions (and a few other policy-based requirements, such as the use of UTF-8), form the New Zealand-specific requirements.

Why adopt WCAG2.0?

Previous versions of the web standards have drawn heavily from the work of the W3C. This year the government decided to adopt (as opposed to adapt) the W3C’s WCAG2.0, level AA, as our technical standards.  Adopting WCAG2.0 allows us to:

• tap into the W3C’s huge pool of international expertise
• harmonise with international standards
• ease website testing by humans and machines
• better accommodate the rapidly developing Internet
• better enable future of use of associated W3C standards and guidelines for mobile, AJAX and other developing technologies

Who is the W3C?

The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) is an international organisation that develops Web standards, among other things. It is led by Sir Tim Berners-Lee, who invented the Web. The W3C's mission is to "lead the World Wide Web to its full potential by developing protocols and guidelines that ensure long-term growth for the Web."

WCAG2.0 structure

• For advice on using WCAG2.0, see the Technical web guides.
• Developer checklist summary version 
• Web standards 1.0 and 2.0 compared
• NEW: WCAG2.0 map from Stamford Interactice (PDF, 212 KB)

WCAG2.0 is principles based and represents a move away from “checkpoint accessibility”.  Approaching accessible web development in this way is less prescriptive and far more flexible, something that is vital in the fast-changing web.

On the other hand, checkpoints can still be useful, especially in training and in transition to the new standards.  See the overview summary, Developer checklist summary version. 

WCAG2.0 includes several layers of guidance. The following summary is adapted from the WCAG2.0 site:

Principles

At the top are four principles that provide the foundation for Web accessibility: perceivable, operable, understandable, and robust. See Understanding the Four Principles of Accessibility (W3C).

Guidelines

Under the principles are guidelines. The 12 guidelines provide the basic goals that authors should work toward in order to make content more accessible to users with different disabilities. The guidelines are not testable, but provide the framework and overall objectives to help authors understand the success criteria and better implement the techniques.

• 1.1 Provide text alternatives for any non-text content so that it can be changed into other forms people need, such as large print, braille, speech, symbols or simpler language.
• 1.2 Provide alternatives for time-based media.
• 1.3 Create content that can be presented in different ways (for example simpler layout) without losing information or structure.
• 1.4 Make it easier for users to see and hear content including separating foreground from background.
• 2.1 Make all functionality available from a keyboard.
• 2.2 Provide users enough time to read and use content.
• 2.3 Do not design content in a way that is known to cause seizures.
• 2.4 Provide ways to help users navigate, find content, and determine where they are.
• 3.1 Make text content readable and understandable.
• 3.2 Make Web pages appear and operate in predictable ways.
• 3.3 Help users avoid and correct mistakes.
• 4.1 Maximize compatibility with current and future user agents, including assistive technologies.

Success Criteria

Under each guideline are testable success criteria. Each webpage or other type of web content can be tested and evaluated against these criteria, which are much more exact that previous standards. The New Zealand implementaton of WCAG2.0 uses AA-level criteria.

Sufficient and Advisory Techniques

For each of the guidelines and success criteria in the WCAG 2.0 document itself, there are a wide variety of techniques. These fall into two categories: those that are sufficient for meeting the success criteria and those that are advisory. The advisory techniques go beyond what is required by the individual success criteria and allow authors to better address the guidelines. Some advisory techniques address accessibility barriers that are not covered by the testable success criteria. Where common failures are known, these are also documented.

Moving on: WCAG2.0 and the old standards

See Web standards 1.0 and 2.0 compared, which maps WCAG2.0 to the version 1.0 standards and explains changes.