Mobile Accessibility Task Force Work Statement

The Mobile Accessibility Task Force (MATF) is a task force of the Accessibility Guidelines Working Group (AG WG). It assists this Working Group with the work identified below.

Status

This work statement is a draft yet to be approved. The task force is active.

NOTE: This work is mentioned in the Other Deliverables section of the current AG WG Charter. The continuation of the work is also included in the current AG WG Charter.

Objective

The objective of the Task Force is to produce informative resources for applying WCAG to Mobile Applications, including but not limited to native mobile apps, mobile web apps, mobile web content, and hybrid apps using web components inside native mobile apps.

In addition, the Task Force will draft informative methods that can be applied to make Mobile Applications accessible, which may be included in future versions of WCAG.

Scope of Work

The work of the Task Force includes:

1. Publishing an updated W3C Group Note on how WCAG 2.2 applies to Native Mobile Apps.
2. Drafting informative methods to make Mobile Applications accessible.
3. Collaborating with and supporting other Working Groups and Task Forces by providing Mobile Accessibility expertise.
4. Updating resources which have been created by the MATF, deprecating those who are no longer deemed relevant.

Approach

The primary effort of this Task Force is to describe how to interpret WCAG 2.2 and its Principles, Guidelines, Success Criteria and Conformance Requirements when applying them to Mobile Applications.

The resulting W3C Group Note will include specific considerations for native mobile apps, mobile web apps, mobile web content, and hybrid apps using web components inside native mobile apps.

The work will be carried out iteratively with continual involvement of the public throughout the development. In particular, key stakeholders such as developers, designers, researchers, accessibility experts and users will be regularly involved in the development process. Key participants will be drawn from people who are actively involved in developing Mobile Applications in various roles.

The work may be broken down into-subgroups to improve efficiency. Success Criteria at Level A and AA will be prioritized before addressing Level AAA.

Timeline

The following sections contain rough timelines for the MATF work. Our goal is to publish a W3C Group Note in the first half of 2025.

Actual timelines and project management will be handled outside of this work statement, and will not be maintained herein.

Phase 1: January - March 2024

• Recruit new participants with relevant experience;
• Choose new day(s) and time(s) for meetings;
• Choose tools used for developing guidance;
• Figure out efficient way of collaborating;
• List existing resources for applying WCAG to Mobile Applications.

Phase 2: April - June 2024

• Develop an initial draft, focusing on Success Criteria at Level A;
• Publish Level A draft on Github;
• Request feedback from stakeholders, participants and AG WG.

Phase 3: July - September 2024

• Develop second draft, process feedback, add Success Criteria at Level AA;
• Publish Level AA draft on Github;
• Request and process feedback from stakeholders, participants and AG WG.

Phase 4: October - December 2024

• Publish an First Public Working Draft through W3C, taking all feedback into account;
• Process feedback from the public, stakeholders, participants and AG WG;
• Publish new W3C Group Note.

Phase 5: January - March 2025

• Expand Working Group Note with guidance for Level AAA criteria;
• Publish Level AAA draft on Github;
• Request and process feedback from stakeholders, participants and AG WG.

Phase 6: April - June 2025

• Publish a Group Note through W3C, taking all feedback into account;
• Process feedback from the public, stakeholders, participants and AG WG;
• Publish updated W3C Group Note.

Dependencies

The MATF depends on the AG WG to ensure accurate interpretation and representation of WCAG requirements.

The MATF harmonizes with the WCAG2ICT Task Force to ensure the developed guidance for Mobile Applications aligns with their guidance for Non-Web ICT.

The MATF collaborates with the Accessibility Conformance Testing Task Force (ACT) on rules for testing Mobile Applications.

The MATF will also coordinate with the Accessible Platform Architectures Working Group (APA), for technical advice and Education and Outreach Working Group (EOWG) where necessary to improve the writing, presentation, and educational value of the developed materials.

Communication

The MATF communications are publicly visible. Communication mechanisms for the MATF include:

• MATF public mailing list and MATF mailing list archive
• W3C Community Slack, channel #matf
• Github, Github Issues, Github Wiki
• Weekly online meetings with Meeting Minutes
• IRC server: webirc.w3.org, port: 6665, channel: #matf (during meetings)

Participation

MATF participants must join the Task Force through the AG WG, which includes representatives of W3C Member Organizations as well as Invited Experts. Task Force participants must agree to actively contribute to the work of the MATF, including:

• Minimum 2 hours per week of MATF work (this time also counts towards the individual’s participation requirement in the sponsoring WG through which they have joined);
• Remain current on the MATF mailing list and respond in a timely manner to postings;
• Participate in MATF meetings at least once per month.

If you are interested in becoming a participant of the WCAG 2 Task Force or have any questions regarding its work, contact the task force facilitators.

Current MATF participants

Contact Kevin White to become a participant of the WCAG 2 Task Force or with questions.

Facilitation

Staff contacts from the Accessibility Guidelines Working Group oversee attention to W3C Process with respect to the chartered requirements of the Working Group. The facilitators set agenda, lead meetings, determine consensus, and are the primary liaison to the Working Group.

• Chair
• Staff Contact

Patent Policy

This Task Force is part of the AG Working Group Charter, which operates under the W3C Patent Policy (15 September 2020 Version). W3C maintains a public list of any patent disclosures made in connection with the deliverables of the AG Working Group.