csun 2017 - act now: accessibility conformance testing for wcag

ACT Now: Accessibility Conformance Testing for WCAGWILCO FIERS, MARY JO MUELLERW3C STAFF CONTACT: SHADI ABOU-ZAHRA

About the ACT Task Force• Task force under Accessibility Guidelines WG• Facilitators:

Wilco Fiers – Deque @wilcofiers

Mary Jo Mueller – IBM @1mjmueller

•W3C Staff Contact:

Shadi Abou-Zahra – W3C @sabouzah

What is ACT About?• Reduce differing interpretations of WCAG• Make test procedures interchangeable• Develop a library of commonly accepted rules for WCAG

Who is participating?• Tool vendors• Accessibility auditors• You?

What are we doing?• Develop the ACT Framework • Standardize how to write rules, using the ACT Framework• Create a repository of ACT rules

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Test Rules explained

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So what are rules? Rules are "general purpose" accessibility tests

Meaning, they aren’t tests for one application; rather, they

can be used on any web page of a particular technology.

Rules can be:• Fully automated tests• Semi-automated / user assisted tests• Manual Test processes

Basically… Rules are to accessibility testing, what WCAG techniques are to development.

An example: Selector: img:not(alt) Test case: if the img does not have `role=presentation`, return `failed`, otherwise return `passed`.

Using rules to test for conformance Multiple rules are then combined to test for WCAG Success Criterion conformance.

Benefits•Harmonized testing

•Transparency

•Better accessibility tools

Reduce interpretation difference By giving testers a step by step method for testing, we reduce interpretation difference. Separating opinion, from test method.

Make accessibility testing transparent By documenting how an organization tests, it becomes much clearer why results are what they are. By defining how tests are done, differences in findings can be explained.

Stimulate innovation in accessibility test tools By having a common set of rules many ATTs use, we stop reinventing the wheel, and have clearer results for anyone looking to compare. This benefits all users.

How will we accomplish this?•ACT Framework (W3C Recommendation)•ACT Rules repository

ACT Framework (W3C Recommendation) A specification for writing ACT rules including such things as:•How do you ensure accuracy•How to ensure it is useful for developers and QA persons•Allow for accessibility support

ACT Rules repository A collection of rules, vetted for accuracy and correctness with WCAG.

Relationship between ACT TF & Auto-WCAG CG

Abbott: Who's playing first.Costello: What's on first?Abbott: What's on second.Costello: I don't know.Abbott: He's on third.

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Who is doing what?ACT TF:•ACT Framework specification• Supporting resources

auto-WCAG CG:•Develop test rules that meet the ACT Framework

ACT Task ForceTimeline

ACT Framework:• Feb. – Editor’s draft available•March 2017 - Goal for a formal

publication • Feb. 2019 - Recommendation

ACT Task ForceAccomplishments

•Began in October 2016•Charter with a 2 year timeline•13 members •Weekly meetings - Wednesdays at 9 am CST (4 pm CET) •Draft ACT Framework spec:

https://w3c.github.io/wcag-act/act-framework.html

ACT Framework Draft

Auto-WCAG CGGoals

•Develop rules for WCAG• Automated• Semi-automated

Auto-WCAG CGAccomplishments

•Started in 2014•Developed and refined 20+ rules•Drafted another 15+ rules•Used in 4 different ATT’s•Link: https://github.com/auto-wcag

Rules contributed to by:•Auto-WCAG Community Group•Open AJAX Alliance• IBM•Deque Systems•SSB Bart•You?

Want to contribute to our work?Contact us:• Shadi Abou-Zahra - shadi@w3.org•Wilco Fiers - wilco.fiers@deque.com•Mary Jo Mueller - maryjom@us.ibm.com

Q&A•How will you get ATT developers on board?•What is the relationship to WCAG Techniques?•How do you keep rules up to date with changing technologies?•How will this help individual organizations?•Open to the floor...

Thank you!