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Justice
Department ruled that web sites are public
accommodations and therefore fall under the
Americans
With Disabilities Act.
In June 2001, all
government web sites were required to comply with
Section
508 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973. Section 508
defines 16 accessibility requirements to which web sites
must comply. Section 508 is a simpler set of
requirements that do not require radical changes to the
structure of your site. The technologies most affected
by Section 508 guidelines are FLASH and Dynamic HTML.
Many web designers
confuse Section 508 requirements with the
World
Wide Web Consortium's (W3C) Web Accessibility
Initiative (WAI). While 11 of the 16 Section 508
requirements are based on WAI guidelines, Section 508
represents a lighter approach. Full compliance with the
WAI guidelines often calls for radical changes to a web
site. For example, WAI guidelines do not permit the use
of tables for page layout purposes and must use
Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) instead.
Who
are the disabled?
Consider the
following:
- 54 million Americans
have some form of a disability, 500 million worldwide.
- 27 million Americans
have a severe disability.
- 50% of Americans
with disabilities are over 65 years old.
- 5 million Americans
have a serious visual impairment.
- 1.8 million
Americans are legally blind.
- 10 million Americans
have some form of color blindness.
- 500,000 Americans
have motor skill problems that affect their ability to
use a mouse.
- The number of
disabled people is expected to increase 100% by 2030.
How
disabled people use the web:
- Vision impaired, color
blind, blind. People who fall into these
categories will use screen magnifiers and enlargers,
screen readers and talking web browsers.
- Hearing impaired and deaf. These
people are dependent upon the use of captions and
text equivalents to use web pages that have sound
files and video/audio files.
- Motor impaired. Many
people in this category cannot operate a mouse or if
they can, it is done with great difficulty. They are
dependent upon keyboard shortcuts and/or navigation
systems that are easy to use with adequate size and
spacing. Many use pointing devices other than a
mouse.
- Cognitive impairments.
These people require clear and simple language,
consistent design and navigation and even
supplemental audio.
5
Easy Steps To Get Started:
Imagine you
were hearing your site read aloud. Does it make sense?
Try reading your web pages left to right and top to
bottom as a screen reader would. Use the steps below
to improve accessibility to your pages.
- Use text equivalents for all
non-text items. Use descriptive text that
describes not only the graphic but the content of
it as well. The added benefit of this step will be
improved search engine rankings.
- Provide alternative
navigation for navigation systems that use graphic
images.
- Don't use color as your
primary means of distinguishing content. For
example do not say on a form "All required
items are in red". Use some other
distinguished character or heading.
- Clearly label your links.
Provide text in addition to graphics if you use icons or
images as your link.
- Provide javascript
alternatives to critical functions. For example,
provide text links elsewhere on the the page if
you use Dynamic HTML drop down menus.
Consider these factors as well:
- Blinking text can trigger
seizures in epileptics.
- Poor color choices may make
text unreadable to color blind visitors.
- Mouse dependent site
navigation can be difficult for visitors with
physical limitations. Consider using keyboard
shortcuts.
- Information contained in
sound files are inaccessible to hearing impaired
visitors.
If
your site is not accessible to disabled visitors you
are losing visitors and potential customers.
Admittedly, while following the advice outlined on
this page is relatively simple, complete adherence to
accessibility guidelines is for the professional
webmaster who is capable of altering the HTML code of
your site. If your site does not comply to the Section
508 guidelines
email us.
We will test your site and let you know what will be
necessary to bring your site into compliance. |
