Editing Web Accessibility Initiative (section)

{{Short description|Effort to improve the accessibility of the World Wide Web}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
The [[World Wide Web Consortium]] (W3C)'s '''Web Accessibility Initiative''' ('''WAI''') is an effort to improve the [[Web accessibility|accessibility]] of the [[World Wide Web]] for people with [[disability|disabilities]]. People with disabilities encounter difficulties when using computers generally, but also on the Web. Since they often require non-standard devices and [[user agent|browsers]], making websites more [[Accessibility|accessible]] also benefits a wide range of user agents and devices, including mobile devices, which have limited resources. According to a [[US government]] study, 71% of website visitors with disabilities will leave a website that is not accessible.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.forbes.com/sites/ryanrobinson/2019/09/25/website-accessibility-online-business/|title=How Website Accessibility Affects Online Businesses In 2019 And How To Respond|date=25 September 2019|website=[[Forbes]]|author-first=Ryan|author-last=Robinson|access-date=8 June 2023}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://beaccessible.com/post/who-benefits-from-web-accessibility/|title=Who Benefits from Web Accessibility|website=Be Accessible|author-first=David|author-last=Gevorkian|date=23 May 2022|access-date=8 June 2023}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://mediaaccess.org.au/latest_news/news/excluded-web-visitors-often-don’t-complain-they-just-leave|title=Excluded web visitors often don't complain, they just leave|date=18 September 2017|website=[[Media Access Australia]]|access-date=8 June 2023}}</ref>

The W3C launched the Web Accessibility Initiative in 1997 with endorsement by The White House and [[World Wide Web Consortium|W3C]] members.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.w3.org/Press/WAI-Launch.html|title=World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) Launches International Web Accessibility Initiative|date=7 April 1997|access-date=8 June 2023}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.w3.org/WAI/history |title=Daniel Dardailler's account of the origin of WAI |publisher=W3.org |access-date=28 July 2013}}</ref> It has several working groups and interest groups that work on guidelines, technical reports, educational materials and other documents that relate to the several different components of web accessibility. These components include web content, web browsers and media players, authoring tools, and evaluation tools.