Accessibility / Usability

The City of Baltimore strives to make its online information and services accessible for all users, including people with disabilities. This is the official accessibility statement for http://www.baltimorecity.gov. If you have any questions or comments regarding the accessibility and/or usability of this website, please Email The Webmaster.

Navigation Aids

baltimorecity.gov includes the following navigational aids for users of assistive technology as well as users with certain motor disabilities:

1. Skip navigation link. This link allows the bypassing of repetitive navigation links and directs the reader to the main content of the page.
2. Links are written to make sense when taken out of the context of the page.
3. Headings are marked up in logical order to facilitate heading navigation.

Expandable navigation menus

1. All menus which expand to reveal sub pages have a slight timed delay to ensure fine motor skills are not necessary to use them.
2. The top main navigation is usable without a mouse. You can tab through the items and use your down arrow key on any main level to reveal sub pages within. You can then use arrow keys or tab through the sub navigation. If this method is not easy for you, you may select the main level item and alternatively browse the pages within that section using a static section menu on that page. NOTE:  using the skip navigation link will bypass the left column section menu. If using a screen reader, it may be best for you to navigate by headings and listen for the "In This Section..." heading which contains the pages secondary navigation.

Standards Compliance

The Baltimore City website:

1. is built to fully comply with Federal Section 508 guidelines, Sub Section 1194.22 - Web-based intranet and internet information and applications and also features many other accessibility enhancements not required by Federal law.
2. is written in the latest XHTML standards for optimal parsing by assistive technologies such as screen readers.
3. uses proper structured semantic markup which allows for easier navigation through page content with and without assistive technologies.
4. is designed to scale well as font sizes are increased or decreased by the user.

Browser Support

baltimorecity.gov supports all major internet browsers. The following list outlines the major browsers we have tested for compatibility.

1. Firefox (2.0+)
2. Internet Explorer (6.0+)
3. Google Chrome (3.0+)
4. Safari (4.0+) / Safari for iPhone/iPod Touch
5. Opera (2.0+)

Browser recommendations:

In our opinion, your best experience on the baltimorecity.gov website will come from using any of the following web browsers:

1. Firefox (2.0+)
2. Google Chrome (3.0+)
3. Internet Explorer (8.0+)

Why do we recommend these browsers?

Although the baltimorecity.gov website will operate as intended in all major web browsers, there are some visual and performance gains with using our recommended browsers. As an example, for some features to work in versions of Internet Explorer less than version 7.0 and/or 8.0, extra code was introduced to allow for compatability of newer technologies. This extra code is called only for these versions of the browser and can impact performance. These performance issues are not limited to just the Baltimore City website, you can expect to find a better browsing experience on all websites using our recommended browsers.

 Additional Features for Accessibility & General Usability

1. All links on the website which link to an external resource have a small square icon with an upper right arrow indicating it is an external link. In addition, for users who cannot see these icons, we have included the text "(External Link)" which is hidden from normal view. This text will be read by all assistive technologies. Clicking these links will take you off the Baltimore City website.
2. In addition to displaying icons for external links, baltimorecity.gov also displays icons as well as hidden descriptive text on all links for resources such as PDF files, Word Documents, Zip Archive files and more.

Section 508 Compliance  & Monitoring

baltimorecity.gov is monitored for Section 508 accessibiliy compliance using automated tools as well as in house editors on a regular basis. It is also evalutated on an annual basis using a third party accessibility auditing partner. If you find any part of our website is not accessible for you, please Email The Webmaster to have your issue resolved.

Section 508 Certified

The baltimorecity.gov website has been evaluated and certified as fully compliant with Federal Section 508 guidelines, Sub Section 1194.22 - Web-based intranet and internet information and applications by WebAIM. Verification of our certification status can be found on the WebAIM website.