Web Accessibility and Mobile Phones

The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) are doing some work on web accessibility and the overlap with mobile phone web page design. This has the delightful acronym of WAMO (Web Accessible Mobile Overlap). W3C's original accessibility guidelines were intended for use with mobile devices as well as for people with a disability. It is a lot easier to convince hard headed clients (and students of web design) to put effort into web design for mobile phone users than for the disabled. I have been teaching this to ANU students for several years and it is good to see W3C picking up on it:

• Common Barriers Experienced by Users of Mobile Phones and People with Disabilities provides a summary of common Web content features and how they're similarly experienced by a user with a disability and a user with a mobile device.
• Relationship Between Mobile Web Best Practices 1.0 and Web Content Accessibility Guidelines
  • MWBP and WCAG 2.0 Working Draft Together combines the requirements and is designed for those who are not necessarily familiar with either document.
  • From MWBP to WCAG 1.0 and From MWBP to WCAG 2.0 are designed for those who already know MWBP and want to learn how they relate to the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG).
  • From WCAG 1.0 to MWBP and From WCAG 2.0 to MWBP are designed for those who already know WCAG and want to learn how it relates to the Mobile Web Best Practices (MWBP).

From: [DRAFT] Web Accessibility and Mobile Phones: Making a Web Site Both Accessible for People with Disabilities and for Mobile Devices, W3C, 2008/01/03 23:31:09