What We're Working On
Accessibility Activities and Publications, January 2024

Introduction

We hope you’ll find accessibility work on this page that you are interested in contributing to through W3C WAI. After each item is the acronym of the responsible Working Group (WG) and some Task Forces (TF). Information about the groups is later in this page — first, let’s look at some of the work itself.

Current Work Highlights

Updating Core Guidelines and Other Standards

• W3C Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 3 is in an exploratory phase, and will change substantially. It’s years away from being finalized. Please see WCAG 3 Introduction [AG WG]

• ARIA 1.3 — We’re working on additional support for Braille and other new features for ARIA 1.3. [ARIA WG]

Developing New Standards

• WAI-Adapt enables users to adapt (or ‘personalize’) how content is presented to meet their needs and preferences. WAI-Adapt Overview [APA WG, WAI-Adapt TF]

• Spoken Pronunciation technical standards will enable screen readers and voice assistants to pronounce words correctly. Pronunciation Overview [APA WG, Spoken Pronunciation TF]

Documenting Additional Guidance for People with Cognitive Disabilities, Low Vision, and Mobile Devices

• Cognitive Accessibility — We’re updating several documents to better address the needs of people with cognitive and learning disabilities. A current topic is mental health. Cognitive Accessibility at W3C. [AG WG, COGA TF]

• Mobile Accessibility work includes supporting on-going standards development, including supporting WCAG 3 exploration. Mobile Accessibility at W3C [AG WG, Mobile TF]

Updating Guidance on EPUB Accessibility and on Applying WCAG to ICT

• EPUB Fixed Layout Accessibility aims to help publishers address challenges for people with cognitive disabilities and low vision. EPUB Fixed Layout Accessibility Editor’s Draft [EPUB3 WG, FXL A11y TF]

• WCAG2ICT describes how Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2 can be applied to non-web information and communications technologies (ICT). We are updating it to include WCAG 2.1 and WCAG 2.2. WCAG2ICT Overview [AG WG, WCAG2ICT TF]

Defining User Requirements (AUR) and Exploring Emerging Technologies

Documenting the user needs of people with disabilities helps develop standards to meet those needs. It also helps designers, developers, and others better understand and meet user needs in order to support accessibility. XR Accessibility User Requirements and more listed at Digital Accessibility User Requirements.

• Natural Language Interface Accessibility User Requirements (“NAUR”) is a Working Draft. A natural language interface is a user interface in which the user and the system communicate via a natural (human) language. The user provides input as sentences via speech or other input, and the system generates responses as sentences delivered by speech, text, or another modality. About NAUR, NAUR Editor’s Draft [APA WG, Research TF]

• Collaboration Tools Accessibility User Requirements (“CTAUR”) is a Working Draft. It describes user needs in tools that provide support for one or more specific collaborative features. These features include real-time editing of content by multiple authors, the use of comments or annotations, and revision control. CTAUR Editor’s Draft [APA WG, Research TF]

• How People with Disabilities Use the Web helps you understand user needs broadly. We’re updating this resource and publishing new videos to go along with it. Previous version: How People with Disabilities Use the Web [EOWG]

Testing Accessibility, Evaluation Tools

• ACT Rules (Accessibility Conformance Testing (ACT), also known as “WCAG 2 Test Rules”) describe ways to test conformance to WCAG success criteria. They are primarily for developers of evaluation tools and test methodologies. We’re documenting more. About ACT Rules [AG WG, ACT TF]
• ACT Rules implementation reports list how test tools or methodologies address test examples in ACT Rules. We invite evaluation tool developers to submit implementation reports. [AG WG, ACT TF]

Upcoming Publications

We plan to publish the following documents in Q1 2024, which is January, February, March. To learn about “Candidate Recommendation” (CR) and other stages, see How WAI Develops Accessibility Standards through the W3C Process: Milestones and Opportunities to Contribute.

• More WAI Translations
• Guidance on Applying WCAG 2.2 to Non-Web Information and Communications Technologies (WCAG2ICT) Draft updates
• ARIA 1.3 as a First Public Working Draft
• Core Accessibility API Mappings 1.2 as an updated CR
• and some updated educational resources

Recent publications and other announcements are listed on the News page.

Get Updated

To get news via e-mail, LinkedIn, Mastodon, or Atom/RSS feed when these and other accessibility documents are ready for review or published as final, see Get WAI News.

Wait, Wait, There’s More

This page only lists about half of the active work on accessibility at W3C. Much of the work happens in the accessibility groups that are introduced in the W3C Working Groups page.

To learn more about what the Working Groups are working on right now, see:

• EOWG Current Work - lists over 20 current and upcoming projects of the Accessibility Education and Outreach (EO) Working Group
• APA Current Work - Accessible Platform Architectures (APA) Working Group
• ARIA - Accessible Rich Internet Applications (ARIA) Working Group
  • ARIA Working Drafts
  • ARIA Authoring Practices Guide (APG)
• AG WG Current Work - Accessibility Guidelines (AG) Working Group
  • COGA Current Work - Cognitive and Learning Disabilities Accessibility Task Force (COGA)
  • LVTF Current Work - Low Vision Accessibility Task Force (LVTF)
  • Mobile Current Work - Mobile Accessibility Task Force
• EPUB 3 Working Group document publication status and milestones

Surprise! We already have a resource for that

Did you know the WAI website has: videos, tips, tutorials, tools (for generating reports and accessibility statements), translations (over 35 languages), training (a free online course), and so much more. There are resources for content authors, designers, developers, evaluators, testers, managers, policy makers, trainers, educators, web users, advocates, and people with disabilities.

Discover accessibility resources that you didn’t even know existed from the annotated list of WAI Resources. When you find helpful information, would you share it with others.

How to Get Involved

To learn about contributing to W3C WAI accessibility work generally, see Participating in WAI.

Links to each Working Group’s “How to Participate” page are in the Participating in Working Groups section. If you are interested in a Task Force, see participation information for the parent Working Group.

We also offer ideas for Promoting and Implementing Web Accessibility.

We welcome translations! If you might want to volunteer to contribute to translations, please see Translating WAI resources.

We look forward to your contributions to making the web more accessible to people with disabilities!

If you heard about W3C WAI strategic plannning, you can get more info from:

• Draft W3C Accessibility Mission, Vision, Objectives
• Discussion topics in GitHub
• Background: Draft W3C Accessibility 2023 Context
• Presentation to W3C Members September 2023 - video, slides with links, transcript

Who is We

“We” is:

• W3C Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI)
• W3C WAI Team:
  • Shawn Lawton Henry is Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI) Program Lead; Accessibility Education and Communications Lead.
  • Kevin White is Accessibility Technical Lead and supports the Accessibility Guidelines Working Group that develops Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG).
  • Roy Ruoxi Ran (冉若曦) supports accessibility Working Groups and accessibility in China.
  • Daniel Montalvo supports accessibility Working Groups and standards harmonization in Europe.
  • Akosua “Kosi” Asabere joined the W3C Team in November 2023 and brings first-hand experience with mobile accessibility in Africa.
• Participants of: AG, APA, ARIA, EPUB, EO, and other W3C groups

W3C WAI Team photos: