Open Accessibility (A11y) Workgroup
Open A11y Workgroup's Mission Statement
First chartered in 2004 as the Linux Foundation Accessibility Workgroup (LFA), the Open Accessibility (A11y) Group functions today within the Linux Foundation to establish free and open standards that enable comprehensive universal access to various computing platforms, applications, and services. Open A11y makes it easier for developers, ISVs, and distributions to support assistive technologies (AT). Assistive technologies enable individuals to make full use of computer-based technology despite variability in physical or sensory abilities due to illness, aging or disability.
AT enables individuals who are blind or visually impaired to read online text, for example, and provides the means for individuals who do not have the use of their arms and hands to write and correspond. AT also enable individuals who cannot speak or hear to participate on the telephony interfaces of today -- and will support their participation on the multimodal computer interfaces of tomorrow.
- AT-SPI2 2.0.1 Available for Download (2011-04-27) [1]
- IAccessible2 1.2.0 released under BSD License [2]
- Linux Foundation Announces New Licensing Terms, Testing Tools for Accessibility Interfaces [3]
- news from Open A11y [5]
Open A11y Workgroup Resources
- Email Lists: Archives & List Services [6]
- Meetings: Agendas & Minutes [7]
- Specifications: Drafts & Recommendations [8]
irc.a11y.org(on the#a11yor#ia2channel) [9]- Open A11y Workgroup Participants [10]
- Open A11y's Executive Officers [11]
- Open Accessibility BZR Repository [12]
- Open Accessibility GForge Projects [13]
- Bugzilla [14]
For Developers
Interested in writing cross-platform accessible applications?
- AT-SPI Interfaces [15] and Subinterfaces
- Learn more about the IAccessible2 interfaces for Windows [21].
- IAccessible2, version 1.2.0 [2]
- AccProbe: The Accessibility Probe [4] is a standaloneapplication that provides a view of the Microsoft Active Accessibility (MSAA) or IAccessible2 hierarchy of a currently running application or rendered document and of the properties of the accessible objects of that application or document
- Get support or ask a question either on the Accessibility mailing list [6] or via irc.a11y.org [22], in channels #a11y and #ia2 -- or, create your own channel and get others involved!
A11y Special Interest Groups
- ATK/AT-SPI SIG [23]
- Expert Handlers SIG [25]
- IAccessible2 SIG [21]
- Input/Output (I/O) SIG [30]
- Keyboard Accessibility SIG [32]
Archival References & Resources
news/2008/02/10 [41]
The Open A11y workgroup [42] at The Linux Foundation [43] will be conducting a number of presentations at this year's CSUN Conference.
- Read more [41]
news/2008/01/29 [44]
- Read more [44]
news/2008/07/akademy2008 [46]
Olaf Schmidt to Address Accessibility at KDE's Free Software Desktop Summit (Akademy2008), August 9-15, 2008
- Read more [46]
handlers/references/semantic [47]
Semantic Web Activities & Initiatives of Interest to Expert Handlers
Semantic Web Development at W3C
- Semantic Web Activity at W3C
- Read more [47]
handlers/references/xquery [48]
- Read more [48]
draftpages/homepage/200807-1 [51]
- Read more [51]
Specialized Content Markup Languages(An Expert Handlers SIG Reference) [53]
Specialized Content Markup Languages
(An Expert Handlers SIG Reference)
Contents
- Read more [53]
handlers/references/synth [54]
Speech Synthesis: Standards, Markup Languages, & APIs
Contents |
- Read more [54]
handlers/references/cc-pp [58]
Composite Capability/Preference Profiles (CC/PP)
and Related Documents Concerning Device Independence from the W3C
Contents |
- Read more [58]
handlers/references/smls/iptc [59]
International Press Telecommunications Council (IPTC) Resources/References
The International Press Telecommunications Council (IPTC) has been developing standards for exchanging news since 1979.
- Read more [59]
handlers/references/gmls [60]
Generalized Content Markup Languages
(An Expert Handlers SIG Reference)
SGML-Based Languages and Derivatives
- SGML: Standard Generalized Markup Language [61]
- SGML is a meta-language in which one can define markup languages for documents.
- Read more [60]
handlers/draftpages/missionstatement1 [63]
Expert Handlers Workgroup Proposed Mission Statement, Draft 1
The world of generalized content markup (such as HTML) is complimented by markup specifications that provide more precise and explicit markup for particular knowledge domains (such as MathML [64] in the domain of mathematics).
- Read more [63]