Section 508

What is Section 508?
How does Section 508 define Assistive Technology?
How were the Section 508 standards developed?
Did the general public have an opportunity to comment on these standards prior to their adoption?
What is wrong with using the phrase "Click Here" to indicate that there is a link to additional content?
Why should I be interested in making my site conform to Section 508?
How does a screen reader handle images?
Why are animated pictures (gifs) a bad idea?
I want to create my entire web site using multimedia programming. How does this affect the accessibility of my site?
Why should I be interested in making my site accessible?
Why are these guidelines needed?
How many people are affected by issues of Web accessibility?
What are some examples of common barriers on web pages?
How will these guidelines affect usability and appearance of sites for non-disabled users?
Does it cost more to make a site accessible?
Will these guidelines become a requirement?

What is Section 508?

The Access Board is a federal agency committed to accessible design. This agency develops many types of guidelines for accessibility, including the ADA guidelines for physical infrastructure improvements such as wheelchair ramps, handrails, Braille signage and other assistive devices and technology. The Electronic and Information Technology Accessibility Standards, also known as Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act , are designed to increase accessibility to electronic devices and information. The standards were published in the Federal Register on December 21, 2000.

How does Section 508 define Assistive Technology?

Assistive technology is defined as any item, piece of equipment, or system, whether acquired commercially, modified, or customized, that is commonly used to increase, maintain, or improve functional capabilities of individuals with disabilities. The definition was derived from the definition of assistive technology in the Assistive Technology Act of 1998 (29 U.S.C. 3002). The preamble to the proposed rule noted that assistive technology may include screen readers which allow persons who cannot see a visual display to either hear screen content or read the content in Braille, specialized one-handed keyboards which allow an individual to operate a computer with only one hand, and specialized audio amplifiers that allow persons with limited hearing to receive an enhanced audio signal.

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How were the Section 508 standards developed?

The standards were based on recommendations of the Electronic and Information Technology Access Advisory Committee (EITAAC). The EITAAC was convened by the Access Board in September 1998 to assist the Board in fulfilling its mandate under section 508. It was composed of 27 members including representatives of the electronic and information technology industry, organizations representing the access needs of individuals with disabilities, and other persons affected by accessibility standards for electronic and information technology. Representatives of Federal agencies, including the departments of Commerce, Defense, Education, Justice, Veterans Affairs, the Federal Communications Commission, and the General Services Administration, served as ex-officio members or observers of the EITAAC.

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Did the general public have an opportunity to comment on these standards prior to their adoption?

During the public comment period for the proposed rule, which ended on May 30, 2000, over 100 individuals and organizations submitted comments on the proposed standards. Comments were submitted by Federal agencies, representatives of the information technology industry, disability groups, and persons with disabilities. Approximately 35 percent of the comments came from Federal agencies. Fifteen percent came from individual companies and industry trade associations. Approximately 30 percent of the comments were from individuals with disabilities and organizations representing persons with disabilities. Eight states responded to the proposed rule and the remaining comments were from educational or research organizations.

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What is wrong with using the phrase "Click Here" to indicate that there is a link to additional content?

The use of this phrase assumes the user is browsing your materials with a pointing device, such as a mouse. Many users cannot accurately control a mouse and are accessing your content using the keyboard, a screen reader or other alternate access methods. W3C accessibility guidelines state: "Good link text should not be overly general; don't use "click here." Not only is this phrase device-dependent (it implies a pointing device) it says nothing about what is to be found if the link if followed. Instead of "click here", link text should indicate the nature of the link target, as in "more information about sea lions" or "text-only version of this page". Note that for the latter case (and other format- or language-specific documents), content developers are encouraged to use content negotiation instead, so that users who prefer text versions will have them served automatically.

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Why should I be interested in making my site conform to Section 508?

Over the last decade, our society has increasingly relied on information systems and the Internet. The promise of the World Wide Web is easy and instant access to a vast world of information, services, and communications. Ironically, millions of users with disabilities that may seem to be the greatest beneficiaries of this new ubiquitous technology are often shut out of many services and employment opportunities because the technology was not designed to be accessible. For instance, just as a set of stairs may be a barrier to a person who uses a wheelchair, a computer program or web site that does not include basic programming needed by a screen reader (a computer program that reads out text on a computer screen using voice) will be useless to a person who is blind. Designing information technology to accommodate a wide-range of disabilities requires an understanding of web design best practices and unwavering attention to details. Web developers that do not implement these standards are effectively locking out millions of users from your information.

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How does a screen reader handle images?

A screen reader cannot understand images. Each image should be accompanied by text describing the image and its purpose. This is accomplished with the use of special HTML tags that only a screen reader can see. For example, the purple "Back To Top" arrow at the top of this item is an image that includes an 'alt' tag containing the text "Back To Top". 'Alt' is shorthand for "alternate text". Graphical browsers ignore this tag but a screen reader will read the contents of the tag out loud so the user will understand the meaning of the image and how it is to be used. Here is the actual HTML tag for the arrow: img src="images/fedex_backtotop.gif" border="0" alt="Back to Top" When an image represents page content, the image must have a text description accompanying it that explains its meaning. For example, if you have a image of a map to your office on your contact page, you will want to include an 'alt' tag that says "Map to the office of XYZ Company. Please call 123-456-7890 for directions".

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Why are animated pictures (gifs) a bad idea?

Some individuals with photosensitive epilepsy can have a seizure triggered by displays that flicker, flash, or blink, particularly if the flash has a high intensity and is within certain frequency ranges. If you must have this type of image, do not allow it to load onto the page automatically. Instead, include a control that allows the user to 'opt-in' to the animation.

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I want to create my entire web site using multimedia programming. How does this affect the accessibility of my site?

Users with disabilities will not be able to use your site unless you provide text equivalents for all content contained in the multimedia presentation. Many developers attempt to 'solve' this problem by creating two separate sites - one based on multimedia technology and one that is text-based. Under this scenario, every update to your content will need to be made to both sites. This creates both short and long-term costs that must be weighed against the benefits provided by the multimedia technology. An additional issue created by extensive, non-opt-in use of multimedia (video, sound or both) to create your web site is that the user is often required to download a separate program or "plug-in" in order to access the content. Many users are suspicious of these downloads and will forgo your content rather than download the required program. Other users are simply not allowed to access these types of file downloads, due to company policies governing their use of the Internet. Approximately 60% of Internet users use dialup access and do not care to wait for multimedia content to download. These users will leave your site rather than wait for a long download. In addition to barring access to your content by users with disabilities, the extensive use of multimedia also excludes a large number of non-disabled users. Multimedia content can be useful and interesting to users that have the bandwidth, time, desire and ability to view it. However, we believe in an opt-in strategy that allows the user to choose whether or not to view multimedia presentations that augment - rather than replace - your text-based content. ITG Solutions practices a philosophy of inclusiveness. We want the greatest number of users to have access to your web site content. Sites developed using InfoToGo are AAA-Bobby Approved , indicating that we have complied with the most stringent section 508 and W3C accessibility standards. Additionally, we test our sites in a broad range of browser agents, including the text-only Lynx browser, the Netscape family of browsers (including version 4.7) the AOL browser, the Internet Explorer browser family, Mozilla and Opera. While we cannot guarantee that every InfoToGo feature will work perfectly in every browser, we take great pride in our on-going effort to comply with the highest standards of accessibility and usability.

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Why should I be interested in making my site accessible?

New technologies have been developed for people with different disabilities allowing wider acces to web content. With increasing economic dependence and convenience, access is crucial.

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Why are these guidelines needed?

Why are they important? "People with different kinds of disabilities can experience difficulty using the Web due to a combination of barriers in the information on Web pages, and barriers in the "user agents" (browsers, multimedia players, or assistive technologies such as screen readers or voice recognition). The Web Content Accessibility Guidelines deal specifically with reduction of barriers on Web pages. For some people with disabilities, barriers can mean lack of access to information needed for educational programs; lack of access to employment-related information or workplace intranets; lack of access to information on civic activities or programs; inability to participate in E-Commerce; or prevent lack of access to information on the Web in general.

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How many people are affected by issues of Web accessibility?

The percentage of people with disabilities in many populations is between 10% and 20%. Not all disabilities affect access to information technologies such as the Web (for instance, difficulty walking, or a heart condition, would not affect Web access) but many do. Just as with other parts of the population, not all people with disabilities have access to the Web. But the number of people using the Web is steadily increasing, and for people with disabilities access to this technology is sometimes even more critical than for the general population which may have an easier time accessing traditional sources of information such as print media.

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What are some examples of common barriers on web pages?

These guidelines address barriers in Web pages which people with physical, visual, hearing, and cognitive/neurological disabilities may encounter. Common accessibility problems on Web sites include: images without alternative text; lack of alternative text for imagemap hot-spots; misleading use of structural elements on pages; uncaptioned audio or undescribed video; lack of alternative information for users who cannot access frames or scripts; tables that are difficult to decipher when linearized; or sites with poor color contrast.

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How will these guidelines affect usability and appearance of sites for non-disabled users?

Accessible Web sites can be just as creatively designed as inaccessible sites. The Web Content Accessibility Guidelines address how to make a large variety of Web features accessible, rather than recommending that sites be dull or boring. The goal is to ensure that all kinds of Web sites, including multimedia, work well for all users. In general, accessible Web sites don't need to be designed to be very different. They just need to be designed to be flexible; flexible so that users can operate them in different ways (with keyboard and mouse), and flexible so that they transform gracefully into intelligible and useful pages if particular technologies are not supported, or cannot be used by particular users or browsers. Many features of the guidelines will actually improve usability of Web sites for non-disabled users, by ensuring that sites are more easily navigable, and that they can be accessed through a variety of different kinds of devices rather than only a traditional graphical desk-top browser.

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Does it cost more to make a site accessible?

Designing a new site to be accessible should not add significantly to development cost. Some aspects of accessibility, such as use of style sheets, can actually reduce the costs of maintaining or updating sites, and this benefit should increase over time as style sheets are more evenly implemented in browsers and available as an authoring strategy in authoring tools. For existing sites, the ease or difficulty of making sites accessible depends on a variety of factors, including the size of a site, the complexity of a site, and the authoring tool that was used to make a site. Periodic upgrades or reviews of sites can be good opportunities to review the accessibility of sites. When compared with the broader audience that a site is available to, and the greater usability for other users as well, accessible sites can be cost-effective.

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Will these guidelines become a requirement?

Are there legal consequences for not making a site accessible? These guidelines are a specification developed by the W3C, an international, vendor-neutral industry consortium, and have been developed under W3C process. W3C is not a legislative body and the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines specification is not a regulation. The guidelines may be informally or formally adopted by different kinds of organizations to clarify what level of accessibility that organization requires for particular Web sites. If you would like to learn more about specific laws or policies in different countries which have bearing on accessibility requirements for Web sites, some of these are available in the policy references section of the WAI site. Please contact the relevant legal authority for more details on obligations and/or enforcement.