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Standards Review and Recommendation Publication
SRRPUB11
State Web Site Guidelines
Drafting an Accessibility Policy
As of August 18, 2005 Version 4.0
This section of the guideline is intended to provide information and resources to assist a state agency or institution of higher education
develop an accessibility policy for their Web site. The accessibility policy is actually two documents:
- A policy that visitors to the Web site can access.
- A technical guideline for internal staff to use to ensure that the Web site/Web pages comply with that policy.
Accessibility is important. Assume that the target users of
the Web site/Web pages includes people of different abilities, including
people with disabilities. A Forrester Research report entitled "The Wide Range of Abilities and Its Impact On Computer Technology" revealed that 57% of working-age adults in the United States are likely to benefit from the use of accessible technology. It is estimated that 4 million Texans have disabilities. For additional information visit the Governor's Committee on People with Disabilities.
This guideline covers:
Step 1 - Selecting an accessibility standard.
Step 2 - Developing the technical guide. This includes authoring tools, test and evaluation tools, training, and other resources.
Step 3 - Drafting an Accessibility Policy.
Step 1
Selecting an accessibility standard
The first step is to select a standard. The current standards are:
- The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) version 1.0:
- The Federal Government Section 508 standards.
The Section 508 standards for web-based technology and information are based on the access
guidelines developed by the W3C Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI). Many of these provisions ensure access for people with vision
impairments who rely on various assistive products to access computer-based
information, such as screen readers, which translate what is on a computer screen
into automated audible output, and refreshable Braille displays. Certain conventions,
such as verbal tags or identification of graphics and format devices, like
frames, are necessary so that these devices can "read" them for the
user in a sensible way. The standards do not prohibit the use of web site graphics
or animation. Instead, the standards aim to ensure that such information is
also available in an accessible format. Generally, this means use of text labels
or descriptors for graphics and certain format elements. (HTML code already
provides an "Alt Text" tag for graphics which can serve as a verbal
descriptor for graphics). The standard also addresses the usability of multimedia
presentations, image maps, style sheets, scripting languages, applets and plug-ins,
and electronic forms.
The W3C is working with the international community to develop a single standard, that all nations can support, and they are working with the U.S. Federal government to ensure they meet Section 508 compliance with the new Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.0 (draft).
The current W3C Conformance levels are:
- Conformance Level "A": all Priority 1 checkpoints are satisfied. Priority 1 checkpoints are what a Web content developer must satisfy. Otherwise, one or more groups will find it impossible to access information in the document. Satisfying this checkpoint is a basic requirement for some groups to be able to use Web documents.
- Conformance Level "AA": all Priority 1 and 2 checkpoints are satisfied. Priority 2 checkpoints cover issues that a Web content developer should satisfy. Otherwise, one or more groups will find it difficult to access information in the document. Satisfying this checkpoint will remove significant barriers to accessing Web documents.
- Conformance Level "AAA": all Priority 1, 2, and 3 checkpoints are satisfied. Priority 3 checkpoints cover issues that a Web content developer may address. Otherwise, one or more groups will find it somewhat difficult to access information in the document. Satisfying this checkpoint will improve access to Web documents.
While the current W3C Conformance Level "A" makes information accessible,
some people will still have problems accessing the information content.
If an organization has not already selected a standard, it should consider selecting the Section 508 standard. The Department is drafting changes to T.A.C. Section 206 to comply with new requirements of House Bill 2819 (79th Regular Session) that would align the Texas Web standards with the Section 508 standards.
The Section 508 standard is supported by products from software and test/evaluation tool vendors. Health and human services agencies in Texas are required by House Bill 2292 (78th Regular Session) to comply with federal accessibility standards for persons with disabilities (Section 508). Additional information about the standards is available in the accessibility guideline.
Step 2
Technical Guidelines
The next step is to develop the technical guide for the organization. The technical guide is for internal use and will indicate what Web design software (authoring tools), test and evaluation tools and other procedures will be followed before Web pages are posted to the Web site.
Assess the current Web design software (authoring tools) being used by the organization. Do the authoring tools support accessibility features that help prompt developers/content providers in producing accessible pages. If not, does a newer version have this capability or should the organization change Web authoring tools/design software. The Web design person/team should also have access to a screen reader, as part of the test and evaluation process.
Test and Evaluation Tools
The number of test and evaluation tools is growing almost daily, however organizations need to understand the limitations of the automated tools. Some testing tools are free, but may be suited only for small to medium size Web sites. Other testing tools are expensive, but are able to check thousands of Web pages and send the results to different parts of the organization.
Testing tools, such as accessibility checkers can often help with an initial identification of barriers on a site. Because no tool can perform a complete automated test of accessibility, and because false positives and false negatives are possible on some sites, claims of a particular conformance level must also rely on manual checking. In using any evaluation tool or logo, it is important to examine what
document version the tool or logo is synchronized with, and any additional information about how it is intended to be used. The free online testing tools only work with Web pages that are on the Internet, where as purchased tools allow the design team or content providers to test Web pages before they are placed on the active Web site.
As with any new software, the users (development team and/or content providers) will require training on any new authoring or test and evaluation tools. For additional information about on-line tutorials and accessibility classes in Texas visit the following:
- PESO Working Group - meets the second Wednesday of the month.
- Accessibility Internet Rally (AIR) University/AIR-Texas - provides accessibility training for community
colleges, state and local government agencies and school boards.
- Section 508 - on-line training course developed for the Information
Technology Technical Assistance and Training Center (ITTATC).
- The Georgia Research in Accessible Distance Education (GRADE) project has a free online tutorial
that provides information about making distance learning accessible to all students (note: a number of the topics covered can also help design teams dealing with multimedia content).
- Additional information about authoring tools with accessibility features and evaluation and repair tools is available at the UT Accessibility Institute.
Additional tools:
- Organizations should use the Simple Tool for Error Prioritization (STEP) for Section 508 compliance. The tool uses the output of Section 508 compliance tools (e.g., Bobby, WAVE) and evaluates the accessibility errors to determine both the severity of the errors and the effort to fix them. The tool is available on the Section 508 web site.
- The Accessibility Toolbar is another asset to assist with accessibility evaluation, and it is available at
http://www.nils.org.au/ais/web/resources/toolbar.
Several guidelines are available to assist in developing the technical guideline:
Next, identify what additional accessibility features will be included in the Web site design. Some design considerations include the following:
- Pages containing navigation links in the header have "Skip to main content" links that will provide users with screen readers a method for bypassing the navigation menu and going directly to the main content when a page is accessed.
- If the organization will be posting Adobe Acrobat PDF documents, the content providers must follow the Adobe accessibility guide.
- Primary content of the Web site can be brought to focus using access keys.
After the organization has selected the authoring, test and evaluation tools, and any special access features, it needs to document the procedures that content providers will follow before Web pages are posted to the Web site.
Example guideline from the University of Texas.
Example guideline from the Texas Department of Insurance.
Additional resources on designing for accessibility and usability are available in the accessibility guideline.
Step 3
Drafting the Accessibility Policy
The next step is to draft the Accessibility Policy. The accessibility policy will inform visitors what accessibility standard the organization has adopted, if it uses any access keys, what testing tools are used and any special coding to assist visitors.
Example Language:
The (Organization Name) is committed to making its Web sites
accessible to all users, and we are committed to making our Web site/Web pages compliant
with Section 508 standards.
We have included several features
designed to improve accessibility for users with disabilities. Some
of these features are described below:
- Images on the site contain 'alt tags' with descriptions of the
image, which aid users who listen to the content of the site by
using a screen reader, rather than reading the site. Text
transcripts accompany audio clips of speeches and remarks.
- A 'skip to' link provides users with a method for bypassing the
header and going directly to the main content each time a page is
accessed.
- Major reports and other special publications that are made
available on our Web site are generally available in html.
In some cases we may publish a document using Adobe Portable
Document Format (PDF). When posting PDF files, we follow the "How to Create
Accessible Adobe PDF Files" and may post the document with two
links.
- To improve the accessibility of our Web site we test any major redesign with screen readers JAWS and Home page Reader), use the W3C validators for html, and Cascading Style Sheets (CSS). We use the Accessibility Toolbar, Simple Tool for Error Prioritization (STEP), and Bobby for testing and evaluation tools. The results of these reviews have been incorporated into the Web site design. We welcome comments on how to improve the site's accessibility for users with disabilities.
- If you use assistive technology and the format of any material
on our Web sites interfere with your ability to access the
information, please use the following point(s) of contact for
assistance. To enable us to respond in a manner most helpful to
you, please indicate the nature of your accessibility problem, the
preferred format in which to receive the material, the Web address
of the requested material, and your contact information.
Contact Information
Provide contact information for the organization. Note: This should list a contact telephone number and e-mail address (e.g., dirinfo@dir.state.tx.us - if the organization does not want employees names listed). Large organizations may want to list a contact for organizational programs and a different contact for Web accessibility issues. The human resources department in a large organization may be the best contact, or individual contacts for each major program area. In a small organization it may be a single contact for both program and Web accessibility issues. Example:
If you need additional assistance please contact one of the following:
For program information (_______________)
(XXX-XXX-XXXX) or via e-mail at: (_______________)
For assistance with our Web site (_______________) (XXX-XXX-XXXX) or via e-mail at: (_______________)
If the organization has a TDD number - provide that information or provide a link to Relay Texas.
Link to the Governor's Committee on People with Disabilities.
Provide a link to the Governor's Committee on People with Disabilities Web site. Example:
Please visit the Governor's
Committee on People with Disabilities for additional information about accessibility programs in Texas.
Good examples of accessibility policies from:
State of Texas
agencies and institutions of higher education that need assistance with checking
their Web site for accessibility can contact:
DIR Standards and Architecture
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