Introduction

With the publication of the Section 508 Standards on December 21, 2000, all government Websites, i.e., intranet and internet information and applications, developed after June 21, 2001, are required to be Subsection 1194.22-compliant.

This document describes a core set of tools that can assist Web authors in meeting the accessibility requirement. The goal of this paper is to provide tools and techniques sufficient for a web author to comply with the 16 items of Subsection 1194.22.

It is important to note that no set of automated tools alone can ensure that a web page is fully compliant. Compliance with Section 508 can only be assured when accessibility is part of the initial design, and when each standard is validated. Most tools only provide assistance with conformance with industry standards. Most tools alert the author's attention to specific issues, and can ensure consistency in design of presentation.

The top list is from nonprofit organizations usually funded by the federal government , or from a standards organization. A second list provides information on a few commercial products that address specific Section 508 compliance issues.

Guides

The reference below is for documents that provide web authors technical guidance for meeting Section 508 standards. These guides not only apply to Section 508, but lead to effective web design techniques. By following these guidelines, the resulting web pages are more universally usable and will operate on more platforms, such as a cellphone internet browser.

The Section 508 Checklist from: http://www.webaim.org/standards/508/checklist, is a guide that lists each item of Subsection 1194.22 and describes what it means to pass or fail. Web authors will find the guide handy to have as they develop their web pages. If a web author uses nothing else, he or she should use the Section 508 Checklist.

Access Board Guide: at http://www.access-board.gov/sec508/guide/1194.22.htm is a "how-to"guide from the organization that wrote the Section 508 Standards. The guide gives the reason for each item, along with specific examples of how to implement each standard.

Validation

Validation includes both conformance with industry standards, and compliance with Section 508. Conformance with industry standards, such as the W3C html and css standards, promote web design that is consistent among browsers, and is more easily maintained. Plus, assistive browsers and screenreaders rely on industry standards for accurate interpretation of web pages.

For a full list of the W3C standards go to: http://www.w3.org/TR/

The W3C has several validating services. For a full list go to: http://www.w3.org. One useful tool for assisting with validation for accessibility standards is HTML Tidy at:
http://www.w3.org/People/Raggett/tidy/.

Currently, most public accessibility validation tools check for W3C/WAI standards. As newer versions of accessibility validating tools are released, more and more of them will address Section 508.

A-Prompt: This accessibility validator currently has an option for Section 508-checking. Go to http://aprompt.snow.utoronto.ca/. A-Prompt is a tool that assists with the design of web pages with a wide range of users in mind. Authors may also include HTML access features that optimize access to users with disabilities. It was developed by a joint collaboration between the Adaptive Technology Resource Centre at the University of Toronto, and the Trace Centre at the University of Wisconsin.

Of course, on-line accessibility checking tools are available, such as, Bobby at: http://bobby.watchfire.com/bobby/html/en/index.jsp or, Wave: http://www.wave.webaim.org/index.jsp

Each of these tools focuses on the WAI standard. Versions for Section 508- validating are being planned. Keep in mind, that even though these tools are useful to ensure that every non-text image has "alternative text", tools cannot ensure that the text is appropriate, or relative to the context of the non-text element. These two tools are best at assisting the Web designer to meet Item (A) of Section 508, Subsection 1194.22.

Design

An effective method of designing web pages for accessibility is to review the web site under the differing conditions that a disabled person might encounter. One useful tool for performing reviews is Opera at http://www.opera.com/. A fast and highly standards-compliant Web browser, Opera, allows you to toggle images, style sheets, scripting, and can table "on and off" with a single mouse click. These features allow site managers to check alt-text, see how tables linearize, and ensure that pages work with style sheets turned off. The Windows version even offers a preview of what pages will look like when printed. Versions for Mac, Windows, Linux, etc. are all freely downloadable.

Lynx at http://lynx.browser.org/. This text-only browser is very useful for testing how well pages will work on various non-graphical devices to include: screenreaders, phones, Personal Digital Assistants, or braille printers.

The two tools shown above are particularly useful for meeting the elements of standards of Subsection 1194.22 items, as with the following:

(a) A text equivalent for every non-text element shall be provided (e.g., via "alt", "longdesc", or in element content).
and

(d) Documents shall be organized so they are readable without requiring an associated style sheet.
and:

(f) 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.
and:

(i) Frames shall be titled with text that facilitates frame identification and navigation.
and:

(l) 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.

Again, these tools alone do not fully meet the Section 508 Standards. The alt attributes used for images need to be reviewed for meaning and context. The alt attribute should at least contain all graphical text. It may need to include reference information, such as associative columns and row headings for an element of a graphical data table. If the alt attribute is being used for a graphical link, then appropriate meaning needs to be included such as: "click here for the purchase form". The words "click here" do not tell the visually-impaired user enough information. Users need to know what he or she will get if they do click on the image. Graphics that only provide visual layout do not need alternative descriptions. This type of image should only have a null alt attribute, alt=" ". The null alt attribute tells the screen reader to ignore the corresponding image.

Other more specialized tools are necessary for other items of Subsection 1194.22. These tools will be described below.

(b) Equivalent alternatives for any multimedia presentation shall be synchronized with the presentation.

A useful free tool for this item is the MAGpie program. MAGpie is useful for adding captions, subtitles and audio descriptions 12 September, 2005 12:10 PM c="../images/external_link_icon.gif" alt="Link to Non-Government site" width="14" height="9" /> http://ncam.wgbh.org/webaccess/magpie/

(c) Web pages shall be designed so that all information conveyed with color is also available without color, for example from context or markup. A package that can be used to view a Web page from the point of view of people with different types of color blindness is Imagej. http://rsb.info.nih.gov/ij/

Tables

(g) Row and column headers shall be identified for data tables.

(h) 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.
http://www.w3.org/WAI/ER/WG/tablin/

This tool allows the linearizing of tables or re-arrangement of columns and rows.

(k) 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.

There are several ways of implementing item (k). One method to reduce the amount of hand translation is the BETSIE program:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/education/betsie/index.html the BBC Education Text to Speech Internet Enhancer, to create a text-only version of the HTML pages on web sites. BETSIE linearizes tables, translates ALT values, and removes JavaScript from web pages.

The way that BETSIE works is as follows. Normally, to look at a web page, you tell the browser what page you want to see and the browser gets that page from the right machine on the Internet. When you want to look at a web page with BETSIE, you tell the browser to ask BETSIE for the right page. BETSIE gets the page, but before sending it on to you, BETSIE makes various changes in the HTML code of the page, removing unnecessary formatting and images. What you get is the text content of the page, unmolested and placed at the top. All the links on the Navigation Bar are moved to the bottom, so that the links aren't the first thing you have to deal with each time.

BETSIE is a PERL script CGI program that is coded to have structured knowledge of the Web layout standards for a given Website. Thus, it knows where an item such as "navigation links" is located. Based on this knowledge, BETSIE is able to restructure the Web pages for that site to support screenreaders. At the time of this writing, the National Weather Service has not implemented BETSIE. To see BETSIE in action on a U.S. Federal Government site go to the National Science Foundation site at: http://www.nsf.gov/home/pubinfo/access.htm.

So far, we have addressed accessibility in general and discussed tools that support specific items of the Section 508 Standard for Web applications. Other items of the standard cannot be addressed by a tool at all, or at least, cannot be assured of compliance without manual checking. Below we will briefly review these items, and make some practical suggestions on how to meet the specific standard item. Note: neither this section, nor any part of this document, is intended to duplicate nor to replace the detailed work that the Access Board has done in its guide.

(e) Redundant text links shall be provided for each active region of a server-side image map.

The simplest way of meeting this standard, the case when a client-side image map just cannot be used because of a technical requirement that can only be met with a server-side image map, is to provide an alternative html page with the same corresponding links as anchors.

(j) Pages shall be designed to avoid causing the screen to flicker with a frequency greater than 2 Hz and lower than 55 Hz.

The key word in this standard is the word "designed." There is no software package that will test or correct this type of flicker. The developer needs to be aware of flashing or other events that may cause flicker.

(m) 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) through (l).

This standard requires awareness of the functionality of the plugin software. It is simply saying that all plugin software needs to be Section 508 compliant. See the Access Board's scope Website for more information on software standards.

(n) When electronic forms are designed to be completed on-line, 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.

Providing clear instructions adjacent to the <input> or <text> tags is a reliable way of making forms accessible. Other techniques include use of the value and title attributes, and use of the <label> element. Such sites as the Webaim can give details on how to implement accessible forms.

(o) A method shall be provided that permits users to skip repetitive navigation links.

This is a very important standard for users who are reading the web page with a screen reader or navigating via the key-board. The minimal requirement is to provide a link at the beginning of the html that allows the user to skip the horizontal or left hand side vertical links directly to the page content. As the DOC/CIO Web resources page at http://www.osec.doc.gov/webresources/ demonstrates, skip navigation links can also be used to improve navigation by providing additional links to other key areas of the page. On the web resources page there are links to skip the navigation bar, and hidden links to jump directly to the standards or policy lists.

Note: Many accessibility experts now suggest providing visual cues of the skip navigation links, which will assist users who either rely on a screenreader to speak the anchors, or who are using the keyboard to navigate the screen.

(p) When a timed response is required, the user shall be alerted and given sufficient time to indicate more time is required.

This standard is met by programming prompts for more time, or not by placing time limits in the web application.

Commercial Tools

Because of the demand for Section 508 compliance there are several products on the market to assist developers of web pages. The August 2001 Government Computer News published an article comparing many of these products at:
http://www.gcn.com/20_23/reviews/16783-1.html.

NOAA is making use of several products in relation to existing software purchases. Here we will mention Macromedia and Adobe. The mentioning of these products is not an endorsement, the products are being discussed because of their widespread use within NOAA.

The Adobe 5.0 has many accessibility features built in the package. It does particularly well with documents created with the Adobe 5.0 tools. Older documents, however, especially documents scanned from hard copy, are difficult for the reader to produce text that a screenreader can interpret.

PDF documents are most accessible and can be made to meet the Section 508 Standard when markup is included in the document structure. This is most effective and easily done by relying on standard structure features from the word processor. For details on how to achieve compliant PDF documents see the "white paper" and booklet from Adobe at:
http://access.adobe.com.

One of the most effective low cost tools is the Macromedia extensions: The 508 Accessibility Suite for Dreamweaver. UltraDev is a free extension from UsableNet Inc. for the popular Web authoring programs from Macromedia Inc. of San Francisco, at:
http://www.macromedia.com/macromedia/accessibility/.

A major advantage of these products is their ability to incorporate accessibility in the design of the page. Developers who are comfortable with working with the Section 508 Checklist and the Macromedia extensions, automatically design accessibility into their sites with little extra effort.