Update on move to WCAG 2.0

October 16th, 2009
Adam Bailin

Today the official accessibility guidance was updated to allow a choice of either WCAG 1.0 or WCAG 2.0 as the minimum standard for public sector websites:

Compliance with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines is acceptable at Level Double-A of version 1.0 or the equivalent level in version 2.0. Future policy and timetables for implementation will align with European Commission recommendations on the adoption of WCAG 2.0. Planned future updates to this guidance will include details of the specific conformance requirements for version 2.0.

- Paragraph 5, Delivering inclusive websites (TG102)

My last post on accessibility suggested it would be a good first step. The suggestion was generally supported, not least by Jack Pickard, who since his initial response has written a more detailed article. In this, he sets out what he thinks the appropriate level of WCAG 2.0 should be for public sector websites. It’s an excellent article and will certainly help COI to develop the accessibility guidance further and smooth the transition to version 2.0. If you have a view on this, I urge you to read Jack’s article and comment.

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6 Responses to “Update on move to WCAG 2.0”

  1. NB your link ‘last post on accessibility’ is broken. Looks like you’re missing a ‘/blogs/digigov/’ from the link.

    JackP says:

    October 16, 2009 at 7:17 pm

  2. Since the official accessibility guidances talks a bit about the need for usability testing (pasted below), wanted to offer a link to article that reviews different online testing tools. i work with UserTesting.com, which has a growing UK panel of testers, but this review talks about several tools: http://bit.ly/2RATxW.

    From the offical guidance doc:
    Approaches for determining usable accessibility include:
    - User testing to identify any usability and accessibility problems real-world users may have.
    - Expert reviews, involving specialists in usability and accessibility, to evaluate the website in order to find potential problems;
    - Conformance inspections to determine the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) conformance level for the website or check that it meets a specified WCAG conformance level;

    Bret Clement says:

    October 16, 2009 at 8:56 pm

  3. Thanks Bret, looks like an interesting range of tools.

    Jack, thanks for that. Issues with Wordpress relative URLs…. but all fixed now.

    Adam Bailin says:

    October 19, 2009 at 8:42 am

  4. Hi I am currently helping with an NHS Trust website – the website is currently Single A WCAG 1.0 (it’s an old site built in 2005) but they are working towards improving this to Double A compliance WCAG 1.0, they are hoping to achieve this soon and before the end of Dec 09.

    QUOTE FROM COI Website:
    —————–
    http://coi.gov.uk/guidance.php?page=131

    “# Websites owned by central government departments must be Double-A conformant by December 2009. This includes websites due to converge on Directgov or BusinessLink, unless convergence is scheduled before this date.
    # Websites owned by central government executive agencies and non-departmental public bodies must conform by March 2011.”

    ————————-

    My question is where does a NHS Trust stand in the above guidance? Should it comply by Dec 09 or by March 2011 – why are their two different dates? What would the consequences of them not fully complying by the respective deadlines?

    Also are their alot of changes and differences between the two guidelines WCAG 1.0 and WCAG 2.0 would it be difficult for them to change from 1.0 to 2.0?

    Wheedon says:

    November 16, 2009 at 12:03 am

  5. Hi, an NHS Trust would fall into the wider public sector, which is covered by the guidance but does not have a deadline for meeting the minimum standards.

    The reason we have put in two deadlines is to prioritise the Department-run sites over the agencies/NDPBs. We felt that this phased approach would have a greater chance of success and be easier to manage in terms of implementation. I would recommend that you aim for December 2010 with March 2011 as an absolute deadline.

    We are currently reviewing the appropriate level of WCAG 2.0 and hope that the trasition will be as smooth as possible so the answer is no, it shouldn’t be too difficult to change from one to the other. We will also put in revised deadlines for conformance to WCAG 2.0.

    Adam Bailin says:

    November 17, 2009 at 5:22 pm

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