Web Accessibility for Multiple Languages

The fine folks at WebAIM have announced a project to begin offering their WAVE web accessibility evaluation tool in multiple languages. Through funding by the Center for Persons with Disabilities at Utah State University, development is underway to begin offering a Spanish-language version of WAVE and its Firefox toolbar counterpart.

A public beta of the translated tool is expected to be available in the spring of 2009, with release of the final Spanish-language version to be released in June 2009. Until then, WebAIM has requested the enlistment of others within the accessibility community for assistance. The following task items are quoted from the WebAIM press release:

Improve translation of the WAVE feedback.

Every WAVE icon has a title, a description, and recommended actions that must be translated.
Improve the accuracy of WAVE rules.

For example, you can help us identify examples of inappropriate alt text (“image of”, “spacer”, etc.) or link text (“click here”, etc.) in Spanish.

Improve the translation of the WAVE site and toolbar.

We hope to translate additional content on the WAVE site and toolbar and toolbar (e.g., help files).

Identify WAVE bugs and offer suggestions for improvement.

While WAVE is a very stable tool, there are still bugs. As part of the translation process, we are going to refine our bug reporting process to make it easier for you to let us know what we can improve.

Spread the word.

We have provided a Spanish-language translation of this announcement. If you are able, please circulate this announcement to Spanish-language accessibility forums and discussion lists and to Spanish-speaking individuals.

Be ready for translation into other languages.

If you would like to help us translate WAVE into another language, let us know. We don’t plan on translating WAVE into other languages until this initial Spanish-language version is finalized, but we would love to hear from you now if you can provide or help with other language translations.

WAVE is the web-based tool I most recommend to designers and developers who are committed to providing accessible digital content, in particular the Firefox toolbar that makes iterative testing easy and affordable.

In somewhat related news, I’ll be in San Diego in June 2009 jointly presenting on the topic of international web accessibility. I’m looking forward to learning more about the progress of the WebAIM initiative described above, and I plan to integrate their outcomes into my research.