8 May 2007

Website accessibility will be helped greatly with the introduction of version 2.0 of the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG), according to the Director of the Web Accessibility Initiative.

Judy Brewer has claimed that WCAG 2.0 will prove to be a "substantial step forward" for web accessibility, as designers will be able to utilise more technologies without compromising accessibility, while increasing the diversity of functions available to disabled users.

In an interview with the Web Standards Project, Ms Brewer revealed that the guidelines are undergoing a series of drafts that stakeholders will be able to read and respond to.

Furthermore, the latest WCAG proposals include a greater emphasis on people with cognitive disabilities, even though the guidelines will not cover every solution for cognitive disability accessibility because of the nature of the "testability framework" of WCAG 2.0, she said.

Ms Brewer commented: "The guidelines themselves will need to remain technical, though we are making them more understandable.

"Some of the support materials should be more accessible to people with cognitive disabilities."

Last week, the World Wide Web Consortium revealed an updated draft for best practice 'internationalising' the eXtensible Markup Language, more commonly referred to by its acronym, XML.

© Adfero Ltd

Keep up to date with industry and Nomensa news by signing up to Nomensa newsletters.