In last month’s column, I provided an overview on WAI-ARIA, and how it provides developers with the ability to communicate more effectively with the assistive technology that people with disabilities use to view online information. This month we’ll look at what WAI-ARIA can do to address accessibility issues.
As the W3C makes its last call for input on the WAI-ARIA working draft, people often ask why WAI-ARIA was created, how it relates to WCAG 2.0 and why it’s so important. This post will look at the history of WAI-AIRA, and why it can make such a big difference to the accessibility of the Internet.
The W3C’s Web Accessibility Initative (WAI) defines the Accessible Rich Internet Applications Suite (ARIA) as a way to make Web content and Web applications more accessible to people with disabilities. It especially helps with dynamic content and advanced user interface controls developed with Ajax, HTML, JavaScript, and related technologies.
