However, with its latest recommendation, the W3C has turned its attention to software vendors, developing guidelines for building authoring tools that not only create accessible content but also are themselves accessible to authors with disabilities. ATAG also defines several levels of conformance, from A, which is minimum compliance, to AAA for conformance to all guidelines and checkpoints. PC Week Labs found the standard to be a welcome push toward a more accessible Web, addressing issues that have negatively affected compliance with earlier accessibility standards. Authoring tool vendors have traditionally sacrificed accessibility features while focusing on features that give their tools flash and sizzle. We can't think of a single major commercial tool that would meet even the minimum requirements of this standard.
Few tools provide even basic accessibility checking.
Public pressure will have to be significant to make vendors move to support this standard. The W3C currently has no mechanism for confirming compliance of those who claim to support ATAG, relying instead on users to police vendor claims. ATAG includes seven core guidelines, most of which address steps that vendors must take to develop authoring tools that generate Web pages that are accessible to users with disabilities. Many of these stress creating output that conforms to W3C standards, since strict compliance of these usually entails accessibility compliance. Only one guideline is concerned with making the tools themselves accessible, but we found it to be the most interesting.