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Web Accessibility in Europe

Dislaimer

Please, read carefully the disclaimer before any use of this curriculum.

Overview

Introduction
Objectives
Contents
Self-evaluation
Annex

The development of the World Wide Web began in 1989. Being a purely text-based medium at the beginning, it quickly evolved and began to support other media types (such as graphices, video and animation). The World Wide Web has since grown to become (one of) the most important information systems worldwide, used by thousands of people in their daily lives. In order to ensure the inclusion of people with disabilities, a set of standards and guidelines have been established, which will help lead to a more accessible Web for everyone. This need for a more inclusive Web has led to the creation of the term "Web Accessibility".

Objectives

While studying the module, the reader will get an overview of the history and current developments in the field of Web Accessibility in Europe. He will learn about the beginning of the World Wide Web, the activities of the World Wide Web Consortium ([W3C]), the development currently going on in European member states and the directions to be followed by the initiatives eEurope 2002 ([EEUROPE-2002]), eEurope 2005 ([EEUROPE-2005]) and i2010: European Information Society 2010 ([I-2010]).

Short History

The success of the World Wide Web started in 1989 with the paper "Information Management: A Proposal" written by Tim Berners-Lee and circulated for comments at the Conseil Européen pour la Recherche Nucléaire ([CERN]), the European Organization for Nuclear Research. Two years later, in 1991, there was a general release of WWW on central CERN machines. Another two years later, on April 30th in the year 1993, CERN's directors declared that WWW technology would be freely usable by anyone, with no fees being payable to CERN.

The World Wide Web was originally a purely text-based medium mainly used by researchers and scientific staff. But when the Web began to be used as a commercial platform, design and graphical representation became more and more important. During that process, most Web developers and Web designers did not follow a Design for All approach, and therefore, the Web became less and less usable - or even inaccessible - for people with disabilities.

W3C, WAI and WCAG

Remark: The information contained in this chapter is taken from the W3C website ([W3C]), to which we refer for further details.

World Wide Web Consortium

In 1994, Tim Berners-Lee and others created W3C as an industry consortium dedicated to building consensus around Web technologies. W3C's mission is to lead the World Wide Web to its full potential by developing protocols and guidelines that ensure long-term growth for the Web.

The work of W3C is divided into four domains:

Architecture
Interaction
Technology & Society
Web Accessibility

Each of the four W3C domains contains some W3C Activities that are generally organized into groups:

Working Groups (for technical developments)
Interest Groups (for more general work)
Coordination Groups (for communication among related groups)

These groups, made up of participants from Member organizations, the Team, and Invited Experts, produce the bulk of W3C's results: technical reports, Web standards and guidelines, open source software, and services (e.g., validation services). These groups also ensure coordination with other standards bodies and technical communities.

Web Accessibility Iniative

The fourth domain of W3C's work, Web Accessibility, is conducted by the W3C Web Accessibility Initiative ([WAI]), which had its first group meeting in May 1997. The goal of WAI is to develop strategies, guidelines and resources to make the Web accessible to people with disabilities, which is also shown by the following famous sentence by Tim Berners-Lee:

The power of the Web is in its universality. Access by everyone regardless of disability is an essential aspect.

WAI, in partnership with organizations around the world, pursues accessibility of the Web through five primary activities:

ensuring that core technologies of the Web support accessibility
developing guidelines for Web content, user agents, and authoring tools
facilitating development of evaluation and repair tools for accessibility
conducting education and outreach
coordinating with research and development that can affect future accessibility of the Web

Web Content Accessibility Guidelines

As mentioned above, one of the tasks of WAI is to develop guidelines for Web content: the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines. The version currently recommended by the WAI is version 1.0, which was released on May 5, 1999.
The Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 1.0 ([WCAG-1.0]), which consist of 14 guidelines containing 65 checkpoints, addresses two general themes:

Ensuring Graceful Transformation
Making Content Understandable and Navigable

The Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.0 ([WCAG-2.0]) is still under development and only available as a working draft released on November 23, 2005. The draft is divided into 4 main principles containing 13 guidelines, which are again split up into several success criteria.

Evolution and Activities in Europe

Remark: The information contained in this chapter is taken from the website of the European Union ([EU]), to which we refer for further details.

Overview

December 8, 1999: The European Commission launches the eEurope Initiative through releasing a Communication on a Commission Initiative for the Special European Council of Lisbon, 23 and 24 March 2000: e-Europe - An Information Society For All ([EEUROPE]); (document identifier: COM(1999) 687)
June 19-20, 2000: During the Feira European Council, the member states agreed on the eEurope 2002 Action Plan ([ACTIONPLAN-2002]); (document identifier: none)
September 25, 2001: The European Commission adopts the Communication eEurope 2002: Accessibility of Public Web Sites and their Content ([PUBLIC]); (document identifier: COM(2001) 529)
June 21-22, 2002: During the Sevilla European Council, the eEurope 2005 Action Plan ([ACTIONPLAN-2005]) has been launched; (document identifier: COM(2002) 263)
June 1, 2005: The European Commission launches a five-year strategy to boost the digital economy by releasing the communication "i2010: A European Information Society for growth and employment" ([I-2010-COM]); (document identifier: COM(2005) 229)
September 13, 2005: The European Commission releases a Communication on eAccessibility ([EACC]); (document identifier: COM(2005) 425)

The eEurope Initiative

In December 1999, a Communication on the eEurope Initiative ([EEUROPE]) was launched by the European Commission in order to bring the benefits of the Information Society to all Europeans. The following ten areas have been identified where actions are necessary:

European youth into the digital age
Cheaper Internet access
Accelerating E-Commerce
Fast Internet for researchers and students
Smart cards for secure electronic access
Risk capital for high-tech SMEs
eParticipation for the disabled
Healthcare online
Intelligent transport
Government online

Within action 7 "eParticipation for the disabled", the targets have been formulated as follows:

By the end of 2000:
- The European Commission and Member States should review the relevant legislation and standards programmes dealing with the Information Society, with a view to ensuring their conformity with accessibility principles and accelerating standardisation processes.
- The European Commission will propose a recommendation to Member States to take account of the requirements of people with disabilities in the procurement of information and communications products and services.
By the end of 2001:
- The European Commission and Member States should commit themselves to making the design and content of all public Web sites accessible to people with disabilities.
By the end of 2002:
- The European Commission will support the creation of a Network of Centres of Excellence, at least one in each Member State, that will develop a European curriculum module in Design-for-All to train designers and engineers.

The eEurope 2002 Action Plan

The eEurope 2002 Action Plan ([ACTIONPLAN-2002]) was prepared by the Council and the European Commission for the Feira European Council in June 2002. Its aim is to ensure that the targets set by the Lisbon European Council are reached.
The 10 different areas that have initially been identified have been revised and clustered around three main objectives, each containing some subtasks:

A cheaper, faster, secure Internet
1. Cheaper and faster Internet access
2. Faster Internet for researchers and students
3. Secure networks an smart cards
Investing in people and skills
1. European youth into the digital age
2. Working in the knowledge-based economy
3. Participation for all in the knowledge-based economy
Stimulate the use of the Internet
1. Accelerating e-commerce
2. Government online: electronic access to public services
3. Health online
4. European digital content for global networks
5. Intelligent transport systems

In the context of Web Accessibility, the subtask "Participation for all in the knowledge-based economy" is of great importance. For this subtask, the following actions have been identified in detail within the action plan:

Policies to avoid info-exclusion will be more effectively co-ordinated at European level through benchmarking of performance and exchange of best practice between Member States. (Deadline: end 2001)
Publication of "Design for all" standards for accessibility of information technology products, in particular to improve the employability and social inclusion of people with special needs. (Deadline: end 2002)
Review relevant legislation and standards to ensure conformity with accessibility principles. (Deadline: end 2002)
Adoption of the Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI) guidelines for public websites. (Deadline: end 2001)
Ensure the establishment and networking of national centres of excellence in design-for-all and create recommendations for a European curriculum for designers and engineers. (Deadline: end 2002)

The eEurope 2005 Action Plan

The Barcelona European Council, which took place in March 2002, called on the Commission to draw up an eEurope action plan focusing on the widespread availability and use of broadband networks throughout the Union by 2005 and the development of Internet protocol IPv6 [...] and the security of networks and information, eGovernment, eLearning, eHealth and eBusiness.

As a result, the eEurope 2005 Action Plan ([ACTIONPLAN-2005]) has been launched. The targets of the Action Plan have been summarized as follows:

By 2005, Europe should have:

modern online public services
- e-government
- e-learning services
- e-health services
a dynamic e-business environment

and, as an enabler for these

widespread availability of broadband access at competitive prices and
a secure information infrastructure.

i2010 - A European Information Society for growth and employment

In June 2005, the European Commission published a Communication called "i2010 - A European Information Society for growth and employment" ([I-2010-COM]) comprising a five-year strategy to boost the digital economy. The Commission proposed three priorities for Europe's information society and media policies:

the completion of a Single European Information Space which promotes an open and competitive internal market for information society and media;
strengthening Innovation and Investment in ICT research to promote growth and more and better jobs;
achieving an Inclusive European Information Society that promotes growth and jobs in a manner that is consistent with sustainable development and that prioritises better public services and quality of life.

Under the third priority, the Commission intends to propose a European Initiative on e-Inclusion in 2008, addressing issues such as

equal opportunities,
ICT skills and
regional divides.

These measures will be prepared through actions on active monitoring, digital literacy and research into accessible technological solutions.

Policies in different countries / Risk of Fragmentation

Several countries have already implemented some of the activities demanded from the member states in the eEurope 2002 and 2005 action plans. Most of the countries used WCAG as a basis for setting up their local policies ([POLICIES]). Nevertheless, there have been different approaches and implementation strategies and also different interpretations of the guidelines recommended by W3C. This already led to fragmentation in the field of Web Accessibility- a problem which Europe is challenged to overcome during the next years.

The Support-EAM project has explored a possible approach for managing the problem through the development of a unified web evaluation methodology and the implementation of a Web Accessibility quality mark at a European level. This idea will be presented in more detail in Module 4.

Self-evaluation

Question 1

Who invented the World Wide Web?

Question 2

What is the role of W3C in connection with Web Accessibility?
What are the activities of WAI?

Question 3

Which important documents did the European Commission launch with respect to eAccessibility? What did they demand in association with Web Accessibility and the participation of people with disabilities in the knowledge-based society?

Question 4

Why is there a risk of fragmentation in the context of Web Accessibility in Europe?

Annex

References

[ACTIONPLAN-2002]: eEurope 2002 Action Plan, prepared by the Council and the European Commission for the Feira European Council, 19-20 June 2000; published on June 14, 2000; eEurope 2002 Action Plan (PDF version)
[ACTIONPLAN-2005]: eEurope 2005 Action Plan, presented in view of the Sevilla European Council, 21/22 June 2002; published on May 28, 2002; (document identifier: COM(2002) 263); eEurope 2005 Action Plan (PDF version)
[CERN]: European Organization for Nuclear Research (Centre Européen pour la Recherche Nucleaire)
[EACC]: Communication from the Commission regarding eAccessibility; published on September 13, 2005; (document identifier: COM(2005) 425); Communication on "eAccessibility" (PDF version); Communication on "eAccessibility" (DOC version)
[EEUROPE]: "eEurope: An Information Society For All", a communication on a Commission Initiative for the Special European Council of Lisbon, 23 and 24 March 2000; published on December 8, 1999; (document identifier: COM(1999) 687); eEurope: An Information Society For All
[EEUROPE-2002]: eEurope 2002: An Information Society For All
[EEUROPE-2005]: eEurope 2005: An Information Society For All
[EU]: European Union
[I-2010]: i2010: European Information Society 2010
[I-2010-COM]: Communication from the Commission on the i2010 initiative; published on June 1, 2005; (document identifier: COM(2005) 229); i2010 - A European Information Society for growth and employment (DOC version)
[POLICIES]: Policies Relating to Web Accessibility - a compilation written by WAI
[PUBLIC]: Communication from the Commission on the Accessibility of Public Web Sites and their Content; published on September 25, 2001; (document identifier: COM(2001) 529); "eEurope 2002: Accessibility of Public Web Sites and their Content" (PDF version)
[W3C]: World Wide Web Consortium
[WAI]: Web Accessibility Initiative
[WCAG-1.0]: Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 1.0
[WCAG-2.0]: Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.0 Working Draft

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