[December 17, 2002] In December 2002 W3C announced the release of the User Agent Accessibility Guidelines 1.0 specification as a Recommendation, together with a companion document Techniques for User Agent Accessibility Guidelines 1.0. Written mainly for software developers, UAAG 1.0 "addresses requirements such as accessibility of the user interface, rendering of accessibility information, and user choice in configuring browsers and media players. These guidelines also address interoperability of mainstream browsers and multimedia players with assistive technologies used by people with disabilities. UAAG 1.0 is third in a complementary set of Web accessibility guidelines which already include the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 1.0 (WCAG 1.0) and the Authoring Tool Accessibility Guidelines 1.0 (ATAG 1.0). All three guidelines (UAAG, WCAG, ATAG) have been developed by W3C's Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI). Over the past five years WAI has become recognized as the leading international authority on Web accessibility, addressing accessibility issues for users with visual, auditory, physical, cognitive, and neurological disabilities through device-independent, multimodal design. Together these three WAI guidelines help Web developers deliver on the promise of a universal Web that is accessible to all. UAAG 1.0 addresses a variety of user agent types including HTML and XHTML browsers, multimedia players, graphics viewers, and assistive technologies. Software that conforms to UAAG 1.0 is expected to be more flexible, manageable, extensible, and beneficial to all users."
The W3C commits considerable resources to 'Web Accessibility': "The W3C's commitment to lead the Web to its full potential includes promoting a high degree of usability for people with disabilities. The Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI), in coordination with organizations around the world, is pursuing accessibility of the Web through five primary areas of work: technology, guidelines, tools, education & outreach, and research & development."
[February, 2000] The W3C Protocols and Formats Working Group (PFWG) issued a draft note XML Accessibility Guidelines; reference W3C WAI PF Draft Note, 17-February-2000, edited by Daniel Dardailler (W3C). Abstract: "This document explains how to design accessible XML languages. Compared to the HTML or MathML language, XML is one level up: it is a meta syntax used to describe these languages as well as new ones, and it provides no intrinsic guarantee of device independence or textual alternate support. In this context, guidelines are needed that explain to XML formats and tools designers how to include basic accessibility features -- such as the ones present in HTML -- in all their new development."
