The Rules

The accessibility rules at the center of Ocawa are defined below. These rules embody the specifications of the W.A.I's International standard which was established in 1999.

• WCAG
• France-Telecom (OCAWA)
• ADAE

WCAG

Ocawa can be used to audit accessibility along any of the WAI's 3 priority levels:

• W.C.A.G Priority 1 (WAI level A) : Basic accessibility ("must do")
• W.C.A.G Priority 2 (WAI level AA) : Get rid of certain barriers ("should do")
• W.C.A.G Priority 3 (WAI level AAA) : Design for all, Accessibility ("could do--ideal")

The W.A.I. began life as a workgroup of the W.3.C. As far back as 1999 recommendations for accessibility were directed at developpers to help them create accessible web sites. The rules of the W.A.I. are referred to as the W.C.A.G. (1.0). At the moment, the W.A.I. is working on the W.C.A.G 2.0, effectively re-writing the ruleset for non-specialist distribution.

France-Telecom (OCAWA)

A special ruleset (also named Ocawa) has been defined by a working group from France-Telecom Research and Development. These rules are based on the interenational directives of the W.A.I while also including a component dedicated to ergonomics. The Ocawa ruleset is by far the most comprehensive available. In the current version of Ocawa, we include this ruleset (which was formerly the rule-set of Ocawa) for backward compatibility. Most users will want to stick with more known/recognized standards (WCAG, ADAE).

ADAE

The Agency for the Development of Electronic Administration has established this reference for the accessibility of administrative and municipal websites in France. This is the basis of the French legislation of Februaray 11, 2005. In article 47 of this law the obligations of public services as regards digital information, in general, and the internet, in particular, are laid out. The division of these rules into three levels is notated: bronze, silver, gold.