IETF takes major steps to enhance accessibility of RFC publications

IETF takes major steps to enhance accessibility of RFC publications is profiled by BTW Media because published evidence links it to internet infrastructure, governance, operational dependencies, or market visibility.

• The review aims to evaluate the accessibility of RFC (Request For Comments) documents, particularly focusing on HTML and SVG formats, for users who rely on assistive technologies like screen readers.
• To enhance the accessibility of RFCs, the IETF and RFC Series Consulting Editor collaborated with Prime Access Consulting (PAC), a specialist in accessibility consultancy.

RFCs are documents that are freely available for download, copying, publishing, displaying, and distribution. The goal of providing free access is to enable a wider audience to contribute to building a better internet. The IETF has announced a comprehensive review of the accessibility of its RFC publications, aims to ensure that RFCs are accessible to all users, including those who rely on assistive technologies.

key issues with the current HTML and SVG formats used in RFCs

To truly include as many people as we can, the IETF community has consistently tried to uphold accessibility standards for the publication of RFCs

Alexis Rossi, RFC Series Consulting Editor

In 2016, the IETF published RFC 7992, which outlined accessibility requirements for HTML publication formats. Similarly, RFC 7996 addressed accessibility considerations for SVGs used in RFCs. To enhance the accessibility of RFCs, the IETF and RFC Series Consulting Editor collaborated with Prime Access Consulting (PAC), a specialist in accessibility consultancy. “To truly include as many people as we can, the IETF community has consistently tried to uphold accessibility standards for the publication of RFCs”, Alexis Rossi, RFC Series Consulting Editor, said.

HTML accessibility challenges: Current implementations render mathematical content inaccessible to screen readers. Difficulties with positioning and visibility hinder document navigation. Besides, issues such as duplicated, hidden, or improperly labelled links affect usability. Inconsistencies with headings, tabular data, and code block captions impact user comprehension. Legacy documents suffer from structural markup and navigation issues due to the use of preformatted text.

Image accessibility concerns: Not accessible to screen readers, limiting its usefulness. And many SVGs lack adequate descriptive text, making visual content difficult to interpret. Some RFCs rely on visual content descriptions that assume the reader can see the image, which is problematic for users relying on screen readers.

About IETF

The Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF), founded in 1986, is the premier standards development organisation (SDO) for the Internet. The IETF makes voluntary standards that are often adopted by Internet users, network operators, and equipment vendors, and it thus helps shape the trajectory of the development of the Internet. But in no way does the IETF control, or even patrol, the Internet.