WCAG 2.1 – What's Coming, When to Expect it, and its Impact on Section 508

Presented at 8:00am in Lakehouse on Thursday, November 16, 2017.

Speaker(s)

• John Foliot, Principal Accessibility Strategist, Deque Systems

Session Details

• Length of Session: 1-hr
• Format: Lecture
• Expertise Level: Beginner
• Type of session: General Conference

Summary

The W3C's Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.0 were first published on December 11th, 2008, and have become the defacto standard for web accessibility around the planet. But December 2008 was a long time ago on the web. Join Deque System's Principal Accessibility Strategist John Foliot, as he takes us through the history, the hiccups, the dilemmas and decisions as the W3C moves forward in keeping web accessibility requirements, techniques and best practices current, to best service the millions of Persons with Disabilities on the web today.

Abstract

The W3C's Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.0 were first published on December 11th, 2008, and have become the defacto standard for web accessibility around the planet. The Specification has become an ISO standard, is referenced directly by laws and legislation in numerous countries (while serving as a template for other regional laws), and has become a well-known (if sometimes less understood) Specification in the web developer's toolbox today. But December 2008 was a long time ago on the web: the hottest mobile device was the iPhone 3G, HTML5 was still mostly a WHAT WG specification, ARIA was in its early days of being drafted (with no support anywhere), and the hot browsers of the day were Internet Explorer 6/7 (58.4%) and Firefox 2 (31.1%). Boy, have things changed! And yet, WCAG 2.0 remains WCAG 2.0, and accessibility experts at the W3C recognized that without keeping up with the times, WCAG 2.0 would soon be a dated specification, with gaps and holes, and serious issues left unaddressed. BUT, because WCAG 2.0 has been referenced by laws and legislation around the planet, including the recent Section 508 refresh, updating WCAG 2.0 is problematic - the W3C could not fundamentally change the WCAG specification without stepping on those laws. But there is a plan to move forward! Join Deque System's Principal Accessibility Strategist John Foliot, as he takes us through the history, the hiccups, the dilemmas and decisions as the W3C moves forward in keeping web accessibility requirements, techniques and best practices current, to best service the millions of Persons with Disabilities on the web today.

Keypoints

1. Receive a high-level overview of all new (proposed) Success Criteria (what's coming and why)
2. Learn key dates and timeline; the W3C review process
3. Understand the impact on Section 508 and other regulatory requirements

Disability Areas

All Areas

Topic Areas

Legal, Web/Media/App Access

Speaker Bio(s)

John Foliot

John is the Principal Accessibility Strategist at Deque Systems and an internationally recognized Web Accessibility Specialist and champion for the cause of web standards and universal accessibility. He has provided digital accessibility consultation services to government agencies, educational institutions and private sector companies since 1999, both as an independant contractor, as well as stints at Stanford University and JP Morgan Chase bank, prior to joining Deque in 2015. John is an active and contributing participant in multiple W3C Working Groups including the Accessibility Guidelines WG (formally the WCAG WG), the ARIA WG, Accessible Platform Architecture (APA) WG, the Web Platform WG (formally the HTML5 WG), as well as the W3C Television on the Web Interest Group.