The other day the w3c put out its first public draft for the Website Accessibility Conformance Evaluation Methodology. This is basically a document to help you evaluate if a web site meets the WCAG2 compliance.
Overall this is a good document. One must remember however that it’s a first draft, and like with any first draft there will be holes in it, some the size of truck. It’s also open for constructive comment.
The one thing is apparent as you read the document is how the w3c is now being forced to define everything almost like a legal document. This will be just to stop to people that love finding a hole in the guidelines. Sadly these people are missing the point of the guidelines.
The evaluation procedure is well presented, with a hint of a user experience approach around the entire process, good to see. This provides a solid outline of the type of information and steps that should be considered with any WCAG evaluation of a website. From scope and target definition to sample selection.
Sections on reporting, audit sampling and conformance are still under development.
The document is worth it just for the template examples of reports in the appendix.
There are a few points on optional review teams that do seem a little unrealistic unless you have a very large budget. Other elements also need to be steeped a little more in the realism of the corporate budget than an accessibility fantasy dreamland.
Still overall worth a look at.
