Reefchat is a Web2/AJAX accessible chat room application that began as a W3C WAI-ARIA proof of concept to show that DHTML Web applications can be accessible. The project began originally with a grant from the Mozilla Foundation who paired this project up with Fire Vox (by Charles Chen) - the only ARIA compliant screen reader at the time. The original goal as a proof of concept was achieved when Reefchat along with Fire Vox was successfully demoed at the W3C W4A Conference which resulted in two academic papers published in the ACM: Ajax Live Regions: Chat as a Case Example (PDF) and Ajax Live Regions: ReefChat Using the Fire Vox Screen Reader as a Case Example (PDF).

Reefchat recently received a grant from ATRC/SNOW to continue developement and has been used as a online teaching tool by Inclusive Workshop. Currently Reefchat is being refactored for an online chat class room setting.

Try out the current proof of concept Reefchat v.01 beta demo

Try out the latest under development Reefchat Alpha