Author: jojomccid

The Joint Circular of 2010 or the “Accessible Website Design Guidelines” issued by the then National Computer Center and the National Council on Disability Affairs was one of the top 200 entries shortlisted from among the 377 nominations received by Zero Project from 76 countries in recognizing their “Innovative Practices and Policies in the fields of ICT and Education 2016”.

In an email received by PWAG Official account on September 27, Pierre Al-Hammoud, Project Assistant of Zero Project 2016, congratulated the group for nominating the 2010 Philippines Circular on accessible web design to the Zero Project for being shortlisted. He added that the policy research team is now preparing background reports for each of the policies that have been shortlisted. These reports will be send out soon to their network of experts, for the final selection.

For his part, PWAG President Jojo Esposa thanked the nominating team for considering the nomination. He also recommended the government agency responsible for the circular, NCDA Executive Director Carmen Zubiaga and NCC (now DOST-ICTO) Project Officer Angelita Nicolas to provide additional information supporting the memo circular.

The Zero Project, an Austrian based group, was initiated by the Essl Foundation in 2010, and has run in partnership with the World Future Council (WFC) since 2011 and with the European Foundation Centre (EFC) since 2013.
The mission of the Zero Project is to work for a world without barriers, according to the principles and
Articles of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UN CRPD).

The Zero Project Team and a total of 72 partners and experts will their decisions on Measurable impact in education or ICT, Strategies that were clearly explained and can be scaled up, copied or replicated elsewhere; and Innovative approaches in their area of work. Final 100 entries will be announced in early 2016.

For complete details, visit their Official Press Release.

The Official Website of the Department of Justice is the latest recipient of “PWD Friendly Website Awards”.

The plaque was awarded to the agency during the 34th National Disability Prevention and Rehabilitation Week at SM Mall of Asia Open Air last July 23 at SM Music Hall, SM Mall of Asia in Pasay City spearheaded by the National Council on Disability Affairs.

Before the ceremony, NCDA Chief Nelia De Jesus gave a brief backgrounder on the awards. PWAG President Jojo Esposa Jr. also explained some important features of an accessible website.

Prior to the event, a series of web accessibility trainings were held including the one participated in by DOJ Web Developer Harold Tubangi last 2012. He even made a report on the progress of his agency’s website to the trainees.

Less than a year later, the site was redesigned to accommodate Persons With Disabilities.

Nearly a year after their PWAG-NCDA led web accessibility seminar, the Official Website of Batangas Province is now the first provincial website that received the “PWD Friendly Website Awards”.

The awarding coincides with the province's 1st Mabini Batangan Awards, held last July 18 at Batangas Provincial Capitol. No less than their newly elected for the second term popular movie and TV icon Vilma Santos-Recto graced the affair and received the award.

The awarding ceremony is part of yearly celebration of National Disability Prevention and Rehabilitation Week. PWD Friendly Website Awards is given to government and private agencies that passed the web accessibility recommendations set by the National Computer Center and National Council on Disability Affairs under the Joint NCDA-NCC Circular No.1 which was evaluated by the Philippine Web Accessibility Group.

The activity was under the leadership and advocacy of Mr. Ronnel Del Rio, a visually impaired UN ESCAP Ambassador together with Ms. Joy Montalbo of Provincial Social Welfare and Development Office (PSWDO).

Alexa.com, the leading provider of free and global web metrics since 1996, lists down top or popular Philippine websites based on Internet visitors with Department of Science and Technology official website topping among government sites

As of January 10, 2013, Alexa Top Site Rankings for the Philippines are the following:

1. Top dotph (.ph) Website: Sulit.Com.ph Online Buy-and-Sell Store www.sulit.com.ph – Rank 9
2. Top Philippine Based Business Website: Philippine Daily Inquirer Online www.inquirer.net – Rank 21
3. Top Government Websites:

1. Department of Science and Technology www.dost.gov.ph – Rank 221; Global Rank 31,361 (PAGASA)
2. Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office www.pcso.gov.ph – Rank 255; Global Rank 49,929

4. Top Government Service Website:Social Security Systems www.sss.gov.ph – Rank 517; Global Rank 76,651
5. Top Local Government Website:Davao City Official Website www.davaocity.gov.ph – Rank 15,515: Global Rank 833,996

These data are very useful especially for government agencies tasked in preparing for audit on web accessibility and usability of websites as well as designing of unified web templates. Visit this link to view the Top 500 Websites in the Philippines.

PWAG President Jojo Esposa gave a short lecture on web accessibility during the whole day “Accessibility Reading and Publishing for all (DAISY ane EPUB)” lecture-seminar held at the Polytechnic University of the Philippines Ninoy Aquino Library and Learning Resource Center last March 6, 2013.

Sponsored by the DAISY Consortium, the program was spearheaded by the Resources for the Blind in partnership with the National Council on Disability Affairs (NCDA). Mr. Hiroshi Kawamura of DAISY Consortium introduced the E-pub printing while Ms. Mayu Hamada of ATDO Japan demonstrated the EPUB and Daisy Book.

Dr. Manual Mulu, Dean of College of Engineering gave his welcome remarks while Ms. Nelia De Jesus introduced the government’s program pushing for barrier-free access to print and online information.

Esposa, a PUP alumnus, started his lecture with a short docu-video presentation about web accessibility initiatives in the Philippines. Later on, he gave a brief lecture on web accessibility. For their part, PUP web development team promised to make some changes to their official university website in order to comply with PWAG’s web accessibility recommendations and to accommodate unhampered use by Persons with Disabilities. PUP is one of the premier state universities and currently the largest in terms of student population.

A series of consultation meetings among members of the iGov Team led to the partial web adoption of all national government websites to Administrative Order 39, an order Mandating Government Agencies to Migrate to the Government Web Hosting Service (GWHS) OF THE Department of Science and Technology – ICTO (DOST-ICTO).

The Integrated Government Philippines (iGovPhil) Project is an essential element in the implementation of the e-Government Master Plan of 2013-2016, which aims to improve processes in government to provide better services to both citizens and businesses, as well as promote public participation.

The 470-million-peso iGovPhil Project, launched on 28 June 2012, is one of the latest projects that seek to achieve a higher level of e-governance or the application of Information and Communications Technology (ICT) to rationalize government operations and improve the delivery of goods and services to the people.

The Official Website of Philippine Web Accessibility Group now sports a new minimalist design.

The newly redesigned web pages are consistent with its design and column positions all throughout the web site using the 2-column format. The site is now a Content Management System site using WordPress. It also incorporated the latest trend called Responsive Web Design with accessible enhancements using WPZoom Template Theme. It means that the site can be viewed in any screen size and resolution without creating a separate page.

Aside from the responsive look, PWAG now joins the social network bandwagon. The top bar includes Facebook and Twitter links. Each content page also has “Share This:” buttons below for easier sharing to other social networking sites.

The design specifications are:

1. The top most bar has the Skip to, Accessibility, Site Map, Facebook Link, Twitter Link and Search box for easier access.
2. The left column is composed of the PWAG logo which appears at the top left corner. The navigation links of pages are listed below the logo. The list of accessible websites also appear here.



3. The right column is composed of the following:
1. The PWAG name, Slogan and brief introduction.
2. The header bar covers all the important links.
4. The Main Content has the following:
1. Bread crumbs or composed of link pages where the viewer is currently located
2. Anchor links appear on some pages. Clicking it would go directly to the title.
3. Reader Mode link appears on news articles only. Clicking it would direct you to a new page with a reader book style without clutters. This is very useful especially to tablet PCs using e-book formats.
4. Content Area
5. Bottom Links
6. Copyright and Email Link at the bottom

PWAG members are now encouraged to submit articles and special features by clicking at the Login link at the footer in to their WordPress Account.

Aside from complying with all the checkpoints of Web Design Accessibility Recommendations, PWAG also passed the XHTML 1.0 Strict Document Type, Color Contrast and Web Content Accessibility Guideline 2.0 Level AA (according to AChecker).

Web Content Accessibility Guideline 2.0 (WCAG 2.0) was released in 2008. According to their official website,

WCAG 2.0 succeeds Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 1.0 [WCAG10], which was published as a W3C Recommendation May 1999. Although it is possible to conform either to WCAG 1.0 or to WCAG 2.0 (or both), the W3C recommends that new and updated content use WCAG 2.0. The W3C also recommends that Web accessibility policies reference WCAG 2.0.

Produced by the World Wide Web Consortium as part of their Web Accessibility Initiative, their goal is to develop guidelines to make Web content accessible for people with disabilities. In particular, the WCAG WG will publish the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.0 as a W3C Recommendation. WCAG 2.0 is categorized into four guiding design principles namely,

1. Perceivable – Information and user interface components must be presentable to users in ways they can perceive.
2. Operable – User interface components and navigation must be operable.
3. Understandable – Information and the operation of user interface must be understandable.
4. Robust – Content must be robust enough that it can be interpreted reliably by a wide variety of user agents, including assistive technologies.

Majority of the guidelines specified in WCAG 2.0 already appeared in WCAG 1.0. On the other hand, WCAG 2.0 has significant number of additions compared to the first guideline. Quite a number of checkpoints were fully expanded in WCAG 2.0 including sensory controls, use of CAPTCHA and timing adjustable. Generally, WCAG 2.0 applies broadly to more advanced technologies; is easier to use and understand; and is more precisely testable with automated testing and human evaluation. The fundamental issues of web accessibility are the same, though there are some differences in the approach and requirements between WCAG 1.0 and WCAG 2.0. WCAG 1.0 marks level of conformance as Levels A, AA and AAA while WCAG 2.0 merits them as Success Criteria A, AA and AAA.

However, this newer guideline appeared one year after PWAG's Web Design Accessibility Recommendation (WDAR) was published (2007) and more than five years (2003) since UN funded Manila Accessible ICT Design Recommendations were crafted. Therefore, WDAR was not immediately revised to attune with the provisions of the latest international guideline. The Philippine recommendations would most likely fare below the international standards.

W3C's FAQ page says that most websites that conform to WCAG 1.0 should not require significant changes in order to conform to WCAG 2.0, and some will not need any changes at all. So for those familiar with WCAG 1.0, it will take a little time to learn the new approach of how the WCAG 2.0 documents provide guidance.

Here is the analysis of comparison between WDAR and WCAG 2.0:

1. Manila ICT/PWAG Web Design Accessibility Recommendations (WDAR) only has a total of 23 checkpoints including the three additional checkpoints.
2. WCAG 2.0 has a total of 61 checkpoints distributed into four Principles. Principle 1 (Perceivable) has four Guidelines and 22 Checkpoints. Principle 2 (Operable) has four Guidelines and 20 Checkpoints, Principle 3 (Understandable) has three Guidelines and 17 Checkpoints and Principle 4 (Robust) has two Guidelines and two Checkpoints.
3. WCAG 2.0 Success Criterion Level A has 24 Checkpoints. Success Criterion Level AA has 11 Checkpoints. Success Criterion Level AAA has 26 Checkpoints.
4. Out of the 61 checkpoints, 38 of those checkpoints have a near equal or satisfied the Manila ICT/WDAR checkpoints or 62% compatibility.
5. Based on Success Criterion Levels, WDAR has a near equivalent Checkpoints in the following: Level A – 18; Level AA – 10 ; Level AAA – 10.
6. Of the 23 WCAG 2.0 checkpoints with no equivalent WDAR, 6 are audio related recordings including sign language; 1 is web standard issue; 13 is about keyboard inputs, error trapping and prevention and 3 for language related issues.
7. Eleven WCAG 2.0 checkpoints satisfied two or more WDAR checkpoints.
8. Non-conforming checkpoints/recommendations are as follows:
        a. Manila ICT/WDAR recommends "D" link while WCAG 2.0 totally dropped "longdesc" or "D" link attributes.
        b. Manila ICT/WDAR does NOT recommend the use of frames while WCAG do but with limitations.
        c. Manila ICT/WDAR recommends the use of Accessibility Statement while WCAG 2.0 adds this as optional.
        d. Manila ICT/WDAR recommends the use of Accesskeys while WCAG 2.0 totally dropped it. 
        e. Manila ICT/WDAR Maturity Stage 1-6 has NO near equal WCAG 2.0 checkpoint.
    

Based on the analysis; WDAR missed out six out of 24 checkpoints in Level A, one out of 11 checkpoints in Level AA and 16 out of 26 Checkpoints in Level AAA. On the other hand, five out of seven Maturity Stage 1 Checkpoints have equivalent WCAG 2.0 checkpoints. 14 out of 15 Maturity Stage 2 Checkpoints have equivalent WCAG 2.0 checkpoints with one checkpoint (use of Accesskeys) no longer required.

The compatibility rate between WCAG 2.0 and WDAR increased to 62% from the 37% rate between WCAG 1.0 and WDAR. This is significant because WDAR's Maturity Stage 1 and 2 only touched majority of Levels A and AA. WDAR's compliance or compatibility with international standards improved dramatically with the introduction of WCAG 2.0. However, PWAG emphasized that full accessibility compliance means the website must reach the Maturity Stage 3 which lists down the remaining WCAG checkpoints (both WCAG 1.0 and 2.0) that were not satisfied in the first two stages.

Still, further improvements and updates are necessary for WDAR in order to be consistent with the international standards. The remaining six checkpoints in Level A and obe in Level AA should be given due consideration in the next update of WDAR.

View the Table of Comparison between WCAG 2.0 and WDAR with WCAG as basis. You may also view the Table of Comparison between WDAR and WCAG 2.0 with WDAR as basis.