Public Law Section 508

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Public Law Section 508

• By
• Reginald Metu
• Instructional Designer/Alternate Media
  Specialist, SBVC

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Public Law Section 508

• What is Section 508?
• The legislation referred to as "Section 508" is
  actually an amendment to the Workforce
  Rehabilitation Act of 1973. The amendment was
  signed into law by President Clinton on August 7,
  1998.
• Specifically, Section 508 requires that
  electronic and information technology that is
  developed or purchased by the Federal Government
  is accessible by people with disabilities.

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Public Law Section 508 cont

• The 1986 version of Section 508 established
  non-binding guidelines for technology
  accessibility while the 1998 version created
  binding, enforceable standards that will be
  incorporated into the Federal Procurement
  procedures.
• In addition to providing for enforceable
  standards, the amended Section 508 establishes a
  complaint procedure and reporting requirements,
  which further strengthen the law.

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Public Law Section 508 cont

• Most of you are here because you want to know
  what you need to make your Web presence
  accessible according to the standards that have
  been put in place for Section 508. In this
  introductory section we will discuss the nature
  of the important "Section 508" legislation that
  brings us together and what it means for
  information technology to be accessible.

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Public Law Section 508 cont

• Section 508 does not apply to the private sector
  or to agencies or establishments using federal
  funds. But because of the magnitude of federal
  purchasing power, it is believed that Section 508
  will promote competition in the technology
  industry by clarifying the Federal market's
  requirement for accessibility in products
  intended for general use.

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Public Law Section 508 cont

• Federal agencies must purchase electronic and
  information technology that is accessible to
  employees and the members of the public who are
  disabled - providing that it is not an undue
  burden on the agency. This means that if two
  companies are bidding a government contract and
  one is offering accessible solutions, then the
  accessible technology is likely to win the
  contract.

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Public Law Section 508 cont

• Senate Bill 105 added language to Government Code
  section 11135 codifying in state law the
  obligation of state agencies and entities
  receiving state funds to comply with the
  requirements of section 508 and its implementing
  regulations set forth in Part 1194 of Title 36 of
  the Federal Code of Regulations. The enactment
  of SB 105 makes the following changes in this
  area of the law
•  
• 1. The requirements of section 508 are now
  applicable regardless of whether or not
  California continues to receive funding under the
  Assistive Technology Act.

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Public Law Section 508 cont

• Provisions of Senate Bill 105 continues
• 2. The accessibility requirements of section 508
  will now apply to the development, procurement,
  maintenance, or use of electronic or information
  technology by a community college district using
  any source of state funds, not just those
  identified in Legal Opinion 01-17.
•  
• 3. Districts and entities that contract with
  districts for the provision of electronic or
  information
• technology or for the provision of related
  services must respond to, and resolve, any
  complaints regarding accessibility.

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Public Law Section 508 cont

• Provisions of senate bill 105 continues
• 4. Since these requirements have been
  incorporated into Government Code section 11135,
  which is the basic state nondiscrimination
  statute enforced by the Chancellor's Office,
  persons who feel accessibility issues have not
  been adequately addressed by the district or its
  contractors may file a discrimination complaint
  using the procedures set forth in title 5,
  sections 59300 et seq., of the California Code of
  Regulations.

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Public Law Section 508 cont

• Each of the California Virtual College regional
  centers, as well as the Professional Development
  Center at El Camino College, have received
  training in the technologies and techniques used
  to develop accessible Web based instructional
  resources and will be able to provide assistance
  to college staff in dealing with these issues.
  The High Tech Center Training Unit (HTCTU) at
  DeAnza College is also available to provide
  training and technical support to faculty and
  staff dealing with the issues of access to
  information technology. You can visit the HTCTU
  web site at http//www.htctu.fhda.edu.

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Designing and Creating Accessible WebPages
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Accessible WebPages

• What is it?
• Specific design elements that allow Web pages to
  be read by screen readers
• General elements of good design that allow for
  enhanced visual processing
• Who uses it?
• Blind and visually impaired
• Learning disabled
• People who have difficulty processing visual
  information

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Designing and creating accessible Web pages?

• Web designers
• Follow specific practices and guidelines, e.g.,
  including alt tags
• Use good design practices in relation to
  contrast, placement of elements, etc.
• Use Bobby or one of the other accessibility
  checkers

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Designing and creating accessible Web pages?

• The full set of Section 508 final standards is
  available on the Access Board Web site at
  http//www.access-board.gov/sec508/508standards.ht
  m.
• The specific standards for the Web are in
  1194.22 of that document entitled "Web-based
  Intranet and Internet Information and
  Applications."

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Designing and creating accessible Web pages?

• Offer Text Equivalents
• A text equivalent for every non-text element
  shall be provided (e.g., via "alt", "longdesc",
  or in element content).
• Every image on your Web site must have
  alternative text including alt"" for images that
  do not carry important information or are
  redundant. Audio content must have captions
  and/or transcripts. Use the longdesc attribute
  and/or the D-link to describe graphics like
  charts or graphs where the alt text does not
  carry equivalent information.

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Design and creating accessible Web pages?

• Present Synchronized Multimedia
• Equivalent alternatives for any multimedia
  presentation shall be synchronized with the
  presentation.
• Text equivalents for multimedia content must be
  synchronized with the presentation, i.e.,
  captions must be included. Web authors are
  encouraged to include transcripts of audio
  content as well as synchronized alternatives
  because those transcripts permit searching and
  extracting.

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Design and creating accessible Web pages?

• Remain Independent of Color
• Web pages shall be designed so that all
  information conveyed with color is also available
  without color, for example from context or
  markup.
• Do not convey important information with color
  alone. Use font, special characters, or other
  context in addition to using color.

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Effective Color/ Text Contrast

• LighthHouse International Website_at_
• ( has numerous guide regarding color contrast and
  uses).
• http//www.lighthouse.org/color_contrast.htm

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Design and creating accessible Web pages?

• Stay Independent of Style Sheets
• Documents shall be organized so they are
  readable without requiring an associated style
  sheet.
• Style sheets are effective in adding font
  variations and colors to your Web pages. But
  dont substitute style changes for the structural
  elements of HTML like headings, paragraphs, and
  lists.
• If you use CSS for positioning or page-wide
  color controls, check out your pages with style
  sheets disabled to be sure that information is
  not lost.

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Design and creating accessible Web pages?

• Provide Redundant Links for Server-Side Maps
• Redundant text links shall be provided for each
  active region of a server-side image map.
• If you must use a server-side map, make sure
  there are equivalent text links for every active
  region on the map.

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Design and creating accessible Web pages?

• Use Client-Side Image Maps
• Client-side image maps shall be provided instead
  of server-side image maps except where the
  regions cannot be defined with an available
  geometric shape.
• Because a polygon can be used to describe any
  area to as much detail as desired, it makes sense
  to use only client-side image maps in all cases.
  Be sure to include the alternative text for each
  area of the map.

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Design and creating accessible Web pages cont
Label Row and Column Headers Row and column
headers shall be identified for data tables. If,
in your data table, you have table headers at the
tops of columns and/or the ends of rows, use the
header (TH) markup to indicate them.
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Design and creating accessible Web pages?

• Use the Headers Attribute in Complex Tables
• Markup shall be used to associate data cells and
  header cells for data tables that have two or
  more logical levels of row or column headers.
• It is probably not a good idea to use tables
  that have more than one logical level of row or
  column headers. If you do, include markup on each
  cell with the headers attribute to indicate the
  meaning of the cell and the id attribute to
  identify the header information.

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Design and creating accessible Web pages?

• Supply Frame Titles (attributes and elements)
• Frames shall be titled with text that
  facilitates frame identification and navigation. 
• In order to facilitate reasonable navigation of
  a frame site each frame element in the frameset
  needs a meaningful title and name attribute. Each
  frame page needs to have a TITLE element.

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Design and creating accessible Web pages?

• Reduce Flicker
• Pages shall be designed to avoid causing the
  screen to flicker with a frequency greater than 2
  Hz and lower than 55 Hz.
• Dont have animated gifs or other features that
  cause a portion of the screen to flicker. This
  condition can cause seizures in people with
  photosensitive epilepsy.

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Design and creating accessible Web pages?

• Offer a Text-only Alternative (LAST RESORT)
• A text-only page, with equivalent information or
  functionality, shall be provided to make a Web
  site comply with the provisions of this part,
  when compliance cannot be accomplished in any
  other way.  The content of the text-only page
  shall be updated whenever the primary page
  changes.
• If you cannot meet some aspect of the 508
  Standards, as a last resort, you can create a
  text-only site.  The text-only site must have all
  the information of the main site, must be updated
  with the same frequency as the main site, and
  must be immediately and obviously accessible from
  the main page.

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Design and creating accessible Web pages?

• Write Accessible Scripts
• When pages utilize scripting languages to
  display content, or to create interface elements,
  the information provided by the script shall be
  identified with functional text that can be read
  by assistive technology.
• One way to check your site for Section 508
  compliance on this standard is to be sure
  essential information is not lost when JavaScript
  functions are turned off. If you use mouse-over
  highlighting or if there are alternatives for the
  links in your mouse-over menus, essential
  information will not be lost.

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Design and creating accessible Web pages?

• Specify Accessible Applets and Plug-ins
• When a Web page requires that an applet, plug-in
  or other application be present on the client
  system to interpret page content, the page must
  provide a link to a plug-in or applet that
  complies with 1194.21 (a)(1-11).
• Applets and plug-ins must satisfy the Section
  508 software standards. In particular, they must
  be completely usable without a mouse. As focus
  moves from object to object, assistive technology
  must be able to determine the role and default
  action of each focused object. Test your use of
  applets or plug-ins using only the keyboard.

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Design and creating accessible Web pages?

• Design Accessible Forms
• When electronic forms are designed to be
  completed online, the form shall allow people
  using assistive technology to access the
  information, field elements, and functionality
  required for completion and submission of the
  form, including all directions and cues.
• Make certain you label form elements carefully,
  placing the text labels close to the controls.
  Use the LABEL element to programmatically
  associate prompts with input elements when the
  text prompt and the control are separated.

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Design and creating accessible Web pages?

• Offer Skip Navigation
• A method shall be provided that permits users to
  skip repetitive navigation links.
• Provide a method for users to skip over
  navigation links. This can be done with a "skip
  navigation" link at the top of your page. Or, use
  well-programmed frames instead.

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Design and creating accessible Web pages?

• Alert Users to Timed Responses
• When a timed response is required, the user
  shall be alerted and given sufficient time to
  indicate more time is required.
• If you expect a response from a user in a
  certain prescribed time, alert the user to that
  fact and allow for additional time.

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Technical vs. User Accessibility

• Technical Accessibility
• Web page conforms to accessibility standards
• Access technology will report on-screen
  information
• User Accessibility
• Intuitive site navigation
• Consistent design layout
• Content appropriate and meaningful to audience

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Check your Web site for 508 compliance

• Bobby website _at_
• http//bobby.watchfire.com/bobby/html/en/index.
  jsp
• A-Prompt Website _at_
• http//aprompt.snow.utoronto.ca/
• WebAIM website _at_
• http//www.webaim.org/

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Work Cited/ Resources

• NC State University, The Center for Universal
  Design (1997). http//www.design.ncsu.edu8120/cu
  d/univ_design/principles/udprinciples.htm
• Bobby website _at_
• http//bobby.watchfire.com/bobby/html/en/index.
  jsp
• 3. A-Prompt Website _at_
• http//aprompt.snow.utoronto.ca/
• 4. WebAIM website _at_
• http//www.webaim.org/
• Lighthouse International website _at_
• http//www.lighthouse.org/color_contrast.htm
• Web Content Accessibility Guidelines
• http//www.w3.org/TR/WCAG10/
• Ralph Black, Legal Opinion M03-09 _at_
• HTTP//WWW.CCCCO.EDU