ACT Rules for Manual Web Accessibility Evaluation Methodologies
Online Symposium, 14 March 2018

Invitation

WAI-Tools Project invited developers of manual web accessibility evaluation methodologies, to participate in an online symposium on W3C Accessibility Conformance Testing (ACT) Rules, to:

• Learn about the W3C ACT Rules
• Exchange your perspectives
• Discuss ideas for improvement
• Get involved in W3C ACT effort

This online symposium was held on 14 March 2018 at 14:00 to 16:00 UTC , free of charge.

Background

The W3C Accessibility Conformance Testing ACT Rules provide transparent and vetted checks for accessibility conformance of web content to the W3C Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG). They are intended to help align conformance evaluation across accessibility testing tools and manual evaluation methodologies, to provide more reliability and trust.

ACT Rules are contributed by volunteer organizations and individuals using the ACT Rules Format specification and following the ACT Review Process. However, these resources and processes are currently in development, with more input needed to refine them. In particular, more input is need to optimize the relevance of ACT Rules for manual evaluation methodologies.

Objective

The objective of this online symposium was to bring together developers of manual web accessibility evaluation methodologies, to explore the use of ACT Rules for their particular situation, and to invite participation this effort. Specific questions for this online symposium included:

• How do ACT Rules map to your evaluation procedures?
• What benefits are there for you in using ACT Rules?
• What challenges are there for you in using ACT Rules?
• Which modifications to the ACT Rules would help you?
• How likely are you willing to contribute ACT Rules?

We asked interested participants to consider these questions in advance of the online symposium, and to share some of their thoughts with us through the registration form. This was to contribute to a more effective discussion and exchange of ideas. In particular, we were interested in your ideas on how we can improve the design of ACT Rules, including the ACT Rules Format specification and Review Process, to make them work better for your particular situation.

Agenda

Slides and Meeting Record are available.

Logistics

This online symposium used:

• Teleconference bridge with web-based and phone access;
• Live captioning of the discussion;
• Inter-Relay Chat (IRC) for additional interaction.

Registration

Registration is now closed. Please contact Shadi Abou-Zahra if you have questions.

Contacts

This online symposium was organized through the WAI-Tools Project, funded by the European Commission. Contact Shadi Abou-Zahra (Scientific Coordinator) with questions.