Source: http://jimthatcher.com/webcoursec.htm
Timestamp: 2017-02-25 08:59:21
Document Index: 712675330

Matched Legal Cases: ['§1194', '§1194', '§1194', '§1194', '§1194', '§1194', '§1194', '§1194', '§1194', '§1194', '§1194', '§1194', '§1194', '§1194', '§1194', '§1194', '§1194']

Beginning in June of 2001, all government web sites were required to conform to these standards. Any contractor doing
web development for the Federal government must build web sites that conform to these standards. Any company doing business
with the Federal government or with states receiving technical assistance funds (Tech Act states) would do best to put
forth an accessible web presence.
The full set of Section 508 final standards is available on the Access Board web site (http://www.access-board.gov/)
at http://www.access-board.gov/sec508/standards.htm.
The specific standards for the web are in §1194.22 of that document entitled "Web-based Intranet and Internet Information
and Applications." For ease of reading and understanding use the Access Board guides, http://www.access-board.gov/sec508/guide/1194.22.htm.
As of this writing (October 2007), the Section 508 Standards are being revised but they probably will not be formalized
and in effect for perhaps a year. There is an Access Board site that addresses the revision, http://www.access-board.gov/sec508/update-index.htm,
and a Wiki that is used by the Advisory Committee (TEITAC) drafting the revision, http://teitac.org/wiki/TEITAC_Wiki. Here is the summary of the standards:
§1194.22 (a) Offer Text Equivalents
Every image on your web site must have alternative text including alt="" for images that do not carry important information
or that are redundant. Audio content must have captions and/or transcripts. Use the longdesc attribute and/or in-line text
to describe images like charts or graphs where the alt-text does not carry equivalent information.
§1194.22 (b) Present Synchronized Multimedia
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.
§1194.22 (c) 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, images with alt-text or other context
in addition to using color.
§1194.22 (d) Stay Independent of Style Sheets
Style sheets are effective in adding font variations and colors to your web pages. But don't substitute style changes
for the structural elements of HTML like headings, paragraphs, and lists.
§1194.22 (e) Provide Redundant Links for Server-Side Maps
§1194.22 (f) Use Client-Side Image Maps
Because polygons can be used to describe any area to as much detail as desired, it makes sense to use only client-side
image maps instead of server-side maps. Be sure to include the alternative text for each area of the map and
the main map image itself. The later may will be alt="" since the important information and function is in the regions
of the map. §1194.22 (g) Label Row and Column Headers
Use the table header markup (th) for header cells of your data table and for corner cells where the scope
in ambiguous add the scope attribute, with the value row or col. Instead, you may
use a td element for header cells when you add the scope attribute, scope="row" or scope="col",
to specify header cells.
§1194.22 (h) Use the Headers Attribute in Complex Tables
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
use such complex data tables, include the id attribute on every header cell and the headers attribute
on every data cell. The value of the headers attribute is a (space separated) list the id's of all header
cells for that data cell.
§1194.22 (i) Supply Frame Titles (attributes and elements)
In order to facilitate reasonable navigation of a frame site each frame element in the frameset needs a meaningful title attribute.
Each frame page needs to have a title element.
§1194.22 (j) Reduce Flicker
Don't use animated gifs, Flash, or other features that cause a portion of the screen to flicker. This condition can cause
seizures in people with photosensitive epilepsy.
§1194.22 (k) Offer a Text-only Alternative (LAST RESORT)
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.
§1194.22 (l) Write Accessible Scripts
§1194.22 (m) Specify Accessible Applets and Plug-ins
§1194.22 (n) Design Accessible Forms
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 on-screen prompting text is adequate. Use
the title attribute on the input control when the prompting text is inadequate or dispersed.
§1194.22 (o) Offer Skip Navigation
Provide a method for users to skip over navigation links. This can be done with a "skip navigation" link at the top of
each page. Also, mark up heading text with HTML headings (h1, h2, etc.) to facilitate simple
headings navigation to the main sections of your page. §1194.22 (p) Alert Users to Timed Responses