Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) are part of a series of Web accessibility guidelines published by the W3C's Web Accessibility Initiative. They consist of a set of guidelines on making content accessible, primarily for disabled users, but also for all user agents, including highly limited devices, such as mobile phones.

WCAG 1.0

The WCAG 1.0 were published and became a W3C recommendation on May 5, 1999.

Priority levels

The guidelines have three priority levels:

• Priority 1: Web developers must satisfy these requirements, otherwise it will be impossible for one or more groups to access the Web content. Conformance to this level is described as "A".
• Priority 2: Web developers should satisfy these requirements, otherwise some groups will find it difficult to access the Web content. Conformance to this level is described as "AA" or "double A".
• Priority 3: Web developers may satisfy these requirements, in order to make it easier for some groups to access the Web content. Conformance to this level is described as "AAA" or "triple A".

WCAG Samurai

In February 2008, The WCAG Samurai, a group of developers independent to the W3C, and led by Joe Clark, published corrections for, and extensions to, the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 1.0.

WCAG 2.0

The first working draft of what will become the WCAG 2.0 W3C Recommendation was published on January 25, 2001, the latest version became a "W3C Proposed Recommendation" on 3 November 2008,¹ and it is expected to become a Web standard W3C Recommendation in December 2008.² The lengthy consultation process prior to this encouraged participation in editing (and responding to the hundreds of comments) by the Working Group, with diversity assured by inclusion of accessibility experts and members of the disability community.

The Web Accessibility Initiative is also working on guidance for migrating from WCAG 1.0 to WCAG 2.0. A comparison of WCAG 1.0 checkpoints and WCAG 2.0 success criteria is already available.³

References

External links

• WCAG 1.0
• WCAG 2.0
• WCAG Samurai

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