WCAG 2.0 launched

The Web Accessibility Initiative's (WAI) Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.0 was finally made a World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) Recommendation (web standard) on the 11th December, almost 10 years after version 1.0 was first published.

WCAG 2.0 is best thought of as a set of 4 documents, all supporting each other:

• The first is main WCAG 2.0 document, containing the guidelines

• The second is the Understanding WCAG 2.0 document This goes into more detail about each checkpoint. When you consider what was available for version 1.0, the improvement is mega!

• The Techniques document that gives more examples including mark-up to support them.

• However, the cherry on this cake is undoubtably the customisable quick reference, billed as a ‘a key resource for designers and developers using WCAG 2.0′.

I have to say that this is an understatement . This shorthand set of all guidelines and references that can be customised to display only those guidelines that apply to you site. For instance, if you aren’t using any rich internet apps (RIAs) then just switch off the WAI-ARIA applicable guidance.

This makes it quick and easy to work your way through your site and see whether your coding techniques are sufficient to meet the level

I think this is a huge improvement over version 1.0. Not only for the new tools & organisation above, but also in the guidelines themeselves.

What are your thoughts?