Editing Web accessibility (section)

==Guidelines on accessible web design==

===Web Content Accessibility Guidelines===
{{Main|Web Content Accessibility Guidelines}}

In 1999 the [[Web Accessibility Initiative]], a project by the [[World Wide Web Consortium]] (W3C), published the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines [[Web Content Accessibility Guidelines#WCAG 1.0|WCAG 1.0]].

On 11 December 2008, the WAI released the [[Web Content Accessibility Guidelines#WCAG 2.0|WCAG 2.0]] as a Recommendation. WCAG 2.0 aims to be up to date and more technology neutral. Though web designers can choose either standard to follow, the WCAG 2.0 have been widely accepted as the definitive guidelines on how to create accessible websites. Governments are steadily adopting the WCAG 2.0 as the accessibility standard for their own websites.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://blog.powermapper.com/blog/post/Government-Accessibility-Standards.aspx |title=Government Accessibility Standards and WCAG 2.0 |publisher=Powermapper.com |author=Mark Rogers |date=13 November 2012 |access-date=15 December 2014 |archive-date=16 December 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141216140808/http://blog.powermapper.com/blog/post/Government-Accessibility-Standards.aspx |url-status=live }}</ref> In 2012, the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines were also published as an ISO/IEC standard: "ISO/IEC 40500:2012: Information technology – W3C Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.0".<ref>ISO: [https://www.iso.org/standard/58625.html ISO/IEC 40500:2012: Information technology – W3C Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.0] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171207014206/https://www.iso.org/standard/58625.html |date=7 December 2017 }}.</ref> In 2018, the WAI released the WCAG 2.1 Recommendation that extends WCAG 2.0.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG21/Overview.html|title=Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1|website=W3C |accessdate=18 March 2023}}</ref>

====Criticism of WAI guidelines====
There has been some criticism of the W3C process, claiming that it does not sufficiently put the user at the heart of the process.<ref>{{cite web|author1=Jonathan Chetwynd|title=Putting the User at the Heart of the W3C Process|url=http://wiki.cetis.ac.uk/Putting_the_User_at_the_Heart_of_the_W3C_Process|publisher=JISC CETIS|access-date=15 January 2015|date=24 July 2007|archive-date=5 March 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160305010732/http://wiki.cetis.ac.uk/Putting_the_User_at_the_Heart_of_the_W3C_Process|url-status=dead}}</ref> There was a formal objection to WCAG's original claim that WCAG 2.0 will address requirements for people with learning disabilities and cognitive limitations headed by [[Lisa Seeman]] and signed by 40 organizations and people.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://lists.w3.org/Archives/Public/w3c-wai-gl/2006AprJun/0368.html |title=Formal Objection to WCAG 2.0 |date=20 June 2006 |author=Lisa Seeman |publisher=W3C Public Mailing List Archives |access-date=16 December 2012 |archive-date=22 November 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121122080959/http://lists.w3.org/Archives/Public/w3c-wai-gl/2006AprJun/0368.html |url-status=live }}</ref> In articles such as "WCAG 2.0: The new W3C guidelines evaluated",<ref>{{cite web |author=Trenton Moss says |url=http://www.webcredible.co.uk/user-friendly-resources/web-accessibility/wcag-guidelines-20.shtml |title=WCAG 2.0: The new W3C accessibility guidelines evaluated |publisher=Webcredible.co.uk |access-date=28 July 2013 |archive-date=2 July 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130702005746/http://www.webcredible.co.uk/user-friendly-resources/web-accessibility/wcag-guidelines-20.shtml |url-status=live }}</ref> "To Hell with WCAG 2.0"<ref>{{cite web |author=Joe Clark |url=http://alistapart.com/articles/tohellwithwcag2 |title=To Hell with WCAG 2 · An A List Apart Article |publisher=Alistapart.com |date=11 July 2013 |access-date=28 July 2013 |archive-date=2 March 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110302100230/http://www.alistapart.com/articles/tohellwithwcag2 |url-status=live }}</ref> and "Testability Costs Too Much",<ref>{{cite web |author=Gian Sampson-Wild |url=http://alistapart.com/articles/testability |title=Testability Costs Too Much · An A List Apart Article |publisher=Alistapart.com |date=11 July 2013 |access-date=28 July 2013 |archive-date=7 August 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110807001727/http://www.alistapart.com/articles/testability |url-status=live }}</ref> the WAI has been criticised for allowing WCAG 1.0 to get increasingly out of step with today's technologies and techniques for creating and consuming web content, for the slow pace of development of WCAG 2.0, for making the new guidelines difficult to navigate and understand, and other argued failings.