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Casual Articles - Section 508 - Your site is compliant, but is it accessible?
Corporate gifts are a tough thing to get right. Your workers have worked hard all year for you. They’ve come in early stayed, stayed late and skipped lunches. In may ways, you and your employees are family. Lord knows your employees see each other as much as their own family.So it’s the end of the year and you’re company
Only with a meaningful text equivalent will the site be accessible to blind people.
How can you confirm your website's accessibility?
Automated tests are insufficient because they cannot judge the meaning of words. They merely check to see if words exist, which is a good start.
How can you really know if your web site is accessible? Try it out, test it under real-world conditions. Observe a real disabled person in action. Then you will know if yo
Being a part of a huge business world is indeed a great challenge. Standing out, making a name, and being remembered is not an easy task. So to make this happen, you have to be smart in playing the game called business. Imagine this scenario: say you are a freelance web designer.One night, you went to a friend’s party. Whi
Section 508 was enacted to eliminate barriers in information technology, to make available new opportunities for people with disabilities, and to encourage development of technologies that will help achieve these goals. The law applies to all Federal agencies when they develop, procure, maintain, or use electronic and information technology. (Summary of the law from Section508.gov)
Simply put, the government wants information technology (including web sites) to be accessible to people with disabilities like blindness, deafness, dyslexia, and quadriplegia. Section 508 suggests how to do that.
But there's a catch.
Compliance with Section 508 does not guarantee accessibility
Notice the difference between validation and verification.
- Valid - met the Section 508 requirements
- Verified - accessible by disabled people
Perhaps you use a Section 508 checklist to guide your web development. Checklists assume that web sites which comply with the law will be more accessible. But Section 508 requirements leave a lot of room for interpretation. They leave a lot of room for good and for bad design decisions, as the following example demonstrates.
Example of inaccessible compliance
Section 508 §1194.22a requires that "a text equivalent for every non-text element shall be provided."
For example, we could create an image to comply with Section 508.
Inaccessible but compliant:
< img src="http://example.com/product348.jpg" alt="image" />
Is the previous HTML code compliant? Yes. Accessible? No, because the alt-tag is meaningless. It does not describe the product in the picture.
Accessible and compliant:
< img src="http://example.com/product348.jpg" alt="wool socks" />
Only with a meaningful text equivalent will the site be accessible to blind people.
How can you confirm your website's accessibility?
Automated tests are insufficient because they cannot judge the meaning of words. They merely check to see if words exist, which is a good start.
How can you really know if your web site is accessible? Try it out, test it under real-world conditions. Observe a real disabled person in action. Then you will know if you
Building a home internet business should not be something that is feared, especially when you consider the rewards that it can offer. If you manage to get it right, which isn’t overly difficult and will require persistence, you will have built a home internet business that will basically run itself and provide you with money like
Simply put, the government wants information technology (including web sites) to be accessible to people with disabilities like blindness, deafness, dyslexia, and quadriplegia. Section 508 suggests how to do that.
But there's a catch.
Compliance with Section 508 does not guarantee accessibility
Notice the difference between validation and verification.
- Valid - met the Section 508 requirements
- Verified - accessible by disabled people
Perhaps you use a Section 508 checklist to guide your web development. Checklists assume that web sites which comply with the law will be more accessible. But Section 508 requirements leave a lot of room for interpretation. They leave a lot of room for good and for bad design decisions, as the following example demonstrates.
Example of inaccessible compliance
Section 508 §1194.22a requires that "a text equivalent for every non-text element shall be provided."
For example, we could create an image to comply with Section 508.
Inaccessible but compliant:
< img src="http://example.com/product348.jpg" alt="image" />
Is the previous HTML code compliant? Yes. Accessible? No, because the alt-tag is meaningless. It does not describe the product in the picture.
Accessible and compliant:
< img src="http://example.com/product348.jpg" alt="wool socks" />
Only with a meaningful text equivalent will the site be accessible to blind people.
How can you confirm your website's accessibility?
Automated tests are insufficient because they cannot judge the meaning of words. They merely check to see if words exist, which is a good start.
How can you really know if your web site is accessible? Try it out, test it under real-world conditions. Observe a real disabled person in action. Then you will know if yo
I was attending my first meeting with a new client. The meeting started well enough with pleasantries but then, unexpectedly, things got rough. One of the SMEs looked directly at me and, in a condescending manner, with his best haughty look, challengingly asked, “You aren’t going to make us play with Play Dough huh, are you?”<
Perhaps you use a Section 508 checklist to guide your web development. Checklists assume that web sites which comply with the law will be more accessible. But Section 508 requirements leave a lot of room for interpretation. They leave a lot of room for good and for bad design decisions, as the following example demonstrates.
Example of inaccessible compliance
Section 508 §1194.22a requires that "a text equivalent for every non-text element shall be provided."
For example, we could create an image to comply with Section 508.
Inaccessible but compliant:
< img src="http://example.com/product348.jpg" alt="image" />
Is the previous HTML code compliant? Yes. Accessible? No, because the alt-tag is meaningless. It does not describe the product in the picture.
Accessible and compliant:
< img src="http://example.com/product348.jpg" alt="wool socks" />
Only with a meaningful text equivalent will the site be accessible to blind people.
How can you confirm your website's accessibility?
Automated tests are insufficient because they cannot judge the meaning of words. They merely check to see if words exist, which is a good start.
How can you really know if your web site is accessible? Try it out, test it under real-world conditions. Observe a real disabled person in action. Then you will know if yo
My experience of working with small businesses is that sales growth relies on relationship building. This is a skill that you need to employ continuously, with all your business contacts.ProspectsYou are surrounded by prospective customers who do not know you nor do they know what benefits you offer. Wh
For example, we could create an image to comply with Section 508.
Inaccessible but compliant:
< img src="http://example.com/product348.jpg" alt="image" />
Is the previous HTML code compliant? Yes. Accessible? No, because the alt-tag is meaningless. It does not describe the product in the picture.
Accessible and compliant:
< img src="http://example.com/product348.jpg" alt="wool socks" />
Only with a meaningful text equivalent will the site be accessible to blind people.
How can you confirm your website's accessibility?
Automated tests are insufficient because they cannot judge the meaning of words. They merely check to see if words exist, which is a good start.
How can you really know if your web site is accessible? Try it out, test it under real-world conditions. Observe a real disabled person in action. Then you will know if yo
It is bad enough the company downsized and after 25 years you were let go. Your situation may be better or worse. If you're reading this article then you probably need a new job. One of the great things about a job search is many of you will become good at taking rejection. If you are not good at it yet read on.Do you know
Only with a meaningful text equivalent will the site be accessible to blind people.
How can you confirm your website's accessibility?
Automated tests are insufficient because they cannot judge the meaning of words. They merely check to see if words exist, which is a good start.
How can you really know if your web site is accessible? Try it out, test it under real-world conditions. Observe a real disabled person in action. Then you will know if your web site is accessible or merely compliant.
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