Re: Mozilla and UUAG compliance

Jim, Jon, David, gang,

I think, in addition to a review of Mozilla's support for UAAG, it would 
be interesting to have a proactive review of Mozilla's support for the 
TEITAC report recommendations (see 
http://www.access-board.gov/sec508/refresh/report/). 

One of the issues we specifically worked through in TEITAC the "platform 
on a platform" situation (or the "app that is a platform, running on 
another platform") - precisely what Mozilla is when it is used to run 
web apps that implement ARIA.  (in fact, web browsers are one of the 
key/critical "platform on a platform" cases).

Please see recommendation provision 3-V "Accessibility Services" within 
http://www.access-board.gov/sec508/refresh/report/#653 and also 3-U 
"AT-Interoperability" within 
http://www.access-board.gov/sec508/refresh/report/#653

Excerpted from 3-V is the text: "Software toolkits, and applications 
that are also platforms, must support the 3-U: AT Interoperability and 
3-P: User Interface Components provisions by either making the 
underlying PLATFORM ACCESSIBILITY SERVICES available to their client 
software, OR using OTHER SERVICES TO COOPERATE WITH ASSISTIVE 
TECHNOLOGIES on the underlying platform."


To my mind, Mozilla running on UNIX does this by translating ARIA to the 
GNOME accessibility API.  I would also say Mozilla does this when 
running on Windows by translating ARIA to IAccessible2 (as IAccessible2 
is another accessibility service used "to cooperate with assistive 
technologies" on the Windows platform).


Regards,

Peter Korn
Accessibility Architect & Principal Engineer,
Sun Microsystems, Inc.

> Any feedback would be greatly appreciated!
>
> Jim Allan, Co-Chair W3C-WAI User Agent Working Group
>
> Texas School for the Blind and Visually Impaired
> 1100 W. 45th St., Austin, Texas 78756
> voice 512.206.9315    fax: 512.206.9264  http://www.tsbvi.edu/
> "We shape our tools and thereafter our tools shape us." McLuhan, 1964
>
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: [email protected]
> [mailto:[email protected]] On
> Behalf Of David Bolter
> Sent: Wednesday, April 22, 2009 9:43 AM
> To: Jon Gunderson
> Cc: [email protected]
> Subject: Re: Mozilla and UUAG compliance
>
> I imagine you could put something on the extension page at uiuc, and we 
> could blog about it, maybe write an e-zine article etc.
>
> The whole customization via extension angle is interesting to me.  I 
> think the customizability of the FF platform is something that could 
> breath life into efforts like Raising The Floor.
>
> D
>
> On 4/22/09 9:42 AM, Jon Gunderson wrote:
>   
>> Sure it is something I have been meaning to do for awhile.
>>
>> What do you have in mind?  Where would you see the conformance claim being
>>     
> posted?
>   
>> Jon
>>
>>
>> ---- Original message ----
>>    
>>     
>>> Date: Tue, 21 Apr 2009 14:43:32 -0400
>>> From: David Bolter<[email protected]>
>>> Subject: Re: Mozilla and UUAG compliance
>>> To: Jon Gunderson<[email protected]>
>>> Cc: [email protected]
>>>
>>>    Jon, excellent point!
>>>
>>>    Want to do a review?
>>>
>>>    D
>>>    On 4/21/09 2:13 PM, Jon Gunderson wrote:
>>>
>>> One of the goals of the Firefox Accessibility Extension was to add the
>>>       
> UAAG 1.0 required features to Firefox.
>   
>>> I never did a formal review of FF + Firefox Accessibility Extension
>>>       
> against UAAG 1.0, but I believe most requirements are satisfied when used in
> conjunctions with the accessibility extenison.
>   
>>> http://firefox.cita.uiuc.edu
>>>
>>> There may be also be other extensions that also support compliance with
>>>       
> UAAG, like Firevox.
>   
>>> Jon
>>>
>>>
>>> ---- Original message ----
>>>
>>>
>>> Date: Tue, 21 Apr 2009 13:28:32 -0400
>>> From: David Bolter<[email protected]>
>>> Subject: Re: Mozilla and UUAG compliance
>>> To: Frank Hecker<[email protected]>
>>> Cc: [email protected]
>>>
>>> As far as I know, Mozilla is not actively participating in the
>>> development of the UAAG 2.0.  While at CSUN I spoke with James Allan and
>>> Jeanne Spellman from the W3C, along with other browser developers, and
>>> there are concerns over the 'do-ability' of the specification as it
>>> currently stands.  We should and hopefully will provide more feedback to
>>> the UAAG group soon... but with WAI-ARIA, and other FF accessibility
>>> development, UAAG participation/feedback might fall by the wayside.
>>>
>>> I don't know how FF rates relative to other browsers in terms of UAAG 1.0
>>>
>>> David
>>>
>>> On 4/21/09 9:06 AM, Frank Hecker wrote:
>>>
>>>
>>> Scott Rippon left the following comment on my blog post about the
>>> high-level accessibility strategy: "How does Firefox rate against the
>>> W3C User Agent Accessibility Guidelines 1.0? Should compliance with
>>> these guidelines be in the strategy? Is Mozilla participating in the
>>> development of the UAAG 2.0?"
>>>
>>> Could any of you comment on this?
>>>
>>> Frank
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> _______________________________________________
>>> dev-accessibility mailing list
>>> [email protected]
>>> https://lists.mozilla.org/listinfo/dev-accessibility
>>>
>>>
>>> Jon Gunderson, Ph.D.
>>> Coordinator Information Technology Accessibility
>>> Disability Resources and Educational Services
>>>
>>> Rehabilitation Education Center
>>> Room 86
>>> 1207 S. Oak Street
>>> Champaign, Illinois 61821
>>>
>>> Voice: (217) 244-5870
>>>
>>> WWW: http://www.cita.uiuc.edu/
>>> WWW: https://netfiles.uiuc.edu/jongund/www/
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>      
>>>       
>> Jon Gunderson, Ph.D.
>> Coordinator Information Technology Accessibility
>> Disability Resources and Educational Services
>>
>> Rehabilitation Education Center
>> Room 86
>> 1207 S. Oak Street
>> Champaign, Illinois 61821
>>
>> Voice: (217) 244-5870
>>
>> WWW: http://www.cita.uiuc.edu/
>> WWW: https://netfiles.uiuc.edu/jongund/www/
>>
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> dev-accessibility mailing list
>> [email protected]
>> https://lists.mozilla.org/listinfo/dev-accessibility
>>    
>>     
>
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