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ses5909 · Nov 26, 2008, 18:38

Notice: This is a discussion thread for comments about the SitePoint article, Section 508: Uncle Sam's Guide To Web Accessibility.
__________

Nice article. If you are developing is there a place to go through the government to get it "certified" as section 508 compliant? Or do you know if there is a tool that you can crawl a site that has most of the pages behind a login?

This is all of interest to me as I was just tasked to create a section 508 compliant site for the USDA and am in the learning process now.

dvduval · Nov 27, 2008, 07:27

Interesting. I can't say that I have spent enough time over the years working on this. I'm wondering if this is something that is more important to larger sites, or if there are smaller site owners that also spend a lot of time working with accessibility. For me, I just try to go through and make sure my html validates every so often, and also write good alt tags for the more important images when I remember to do that.

But there is so far to go on this. Think of this forum that is running vbulletin...
If we submit an image in a post, how can we add an alt attribute?
(I don't believe we can)

Stomme poes · Nov 27, 2008, 07:34

Were I tasked to build a section(508) compliant site, I would build the site ust in the normal way I do (there was nothing new to me in the article, except the necessity to add a link to where one can download a plugin) and then go over the (508) spec itself and check my site by it, making sure I didn't forget something. I'm a little surprised it didn't mention the "accessibility" panel that's now in Flash (for text versions) though that might have been because many web developers may be given the Flash and not have the fla, only the swf file.

One of the tools not listed in the article but kinda similar to Visicheck (which I also use) that I've started using is Mike's GrayBit. It still needs some work, as scripts and wrapped-up-with-negative-margins sidebars can have trouble, but it's a nice contrast checker.

ses, there used to be an online checker.. I think it was called Bobby but is offline now. Cynthia Says might no longer be available either but it's a rather robotic checker. Robots can't check that your page is accessible, but it can check for mistakes and omissions.

There are plenty of US government sites that are terrible as far as general accessibility (they may be plenty accessible to say screen readers and non-disabled visitors, but nobody else like Grandma). I can't say I'm terribly impressed with the michigan.gov site. It could be done better.

ro0bear · Nov 28, 2008, 07:16

Quote:

Originally Posted by ses5909

If you are developing is there a place to go through the government to get it "certified" as section 508 compliant?

I don’t know, but I do know if you have followed the W3C guidelines on accessibility then you can add a badge declaring the w3c level of accessibility you are complying to.

http://www.w3.org/WAI/WCAG1-Conformance

cydewaze · Dec 2, 2008, 13:04

Good article, and I'm glad to see 508 getting more exposure.

Working at a US Government agency, everything I do has to stand up to section 508 scrutiny. But the big problem is when we contract web jobs out, then have to spend hours (days even) "fixing" them so that they're 508 compliant. The more people know about 508, the better.

Stomme poes · Dec 3, 2008, 02:17

Um, if the law says sites must be section 508 compliant, then you need to outsource with that requirement. No way should you be wasting taxpayer money (lawlz) fixing what should have been done right in the first place! If a company says they can build a web project for you, tell them they'd better do it legally!

Hoping they'll hear the news hasn't done anything in... how long has section 508 been in the books? And don't people still ignore it?

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Nov 26, 2008, 18:38	#1
ses5909 _ Join Date: Jul 2003 Location: NoVa Posts: 7,259	Notice: This is a discussion thread for comments about the SitePoint article, Section 508: Uncle Sam's Guide To Web Accessibility. __________ Nice article. If you are developing is there a place to go through the government to get it "certified" as section 508 compliant? Or do you know if there is a tool that you can crawl a site that has most of the pages behind a login? This is all of interest to me as I was just tasked to create a section 508 compliant site for the USDA and am in the learning process now.

Nov 27, 2008, 07:27	#2
dvduval phpLD Fanatic Join Date: Mar 2002 Location: Atlanta Posts: 3,259	Interesting. I can't say that I have spent enough time over the years working on this. I'm wondering if this is something that is more important to larger sites, or if there are smaller site owners that also spend a lot of time working with accessibility. For me, I just try to go through and make sure my html validates every so often, and also write good alt tags for the more important images when I remember to do that. But there is so far to go on this. Think of this forum that is running vbulletin... If we submit an image in a post, how can we add an alt attribute? (I don't believe we can)

Nov 27, 2008, 07:34	#3
Stomme poes Site Point Member Join Date: Aug 2007 Location: Netherlands Posts: 2,677	Were I tasked to build a section(508) compliant site, I would build the site ust in the normal way I do (there was nothing new to me in the article, except the necessity to add a link to where one can download a plugin) and then go over the (508) spec itself and check my site by it, making sure I didn't forget something. I'm a little surprised it didn't mention the "accessibility" panel that's now in Flash (for text versions) though that might have been because many web developers may be given the Flash and not have the fla, only the swf file. One of the tools not listed in the article but kinda similar to Visicheck (which I also use) that I've started using is Mike's GrayBit. It still needs some work, as scripts and wrapped-up-with-negative-margins sidebars can have trouble, but it's a nice contrast checker. ses, there used to be an online checker.. I think it was called Bobby but is offline now. Cynthia Says might no longer be available either but it's a rather robotic checker. Robots can't check that your page is accessible, but it can check for mistakes and omissions. There are plenty of US government sites that are terrible as far as general accessibility (they may be plenty accessible to say screen readers and non-disabled visitors, but nobody else like Grandma). I can't say I'm terribly impressed with the michigan.gov site. It could be done better.

Dec 2, 2008, 13:04	#5
cydewaze SitePoint Evangelist Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: Maryland, USA Posts: 579	Good article, and I'm glad to see 508 getting more exposure. Working at a US Government agency, everything I do has to stand up to section 508 scrutiny. But the big problem is when we contract web jobs out, then have to spend hours (days even) "fixing" them so that they're 508 compliant. The more people know about 508, the better.

Dec 3, 2008, 02:17	#6
Stomme poes Site Point Member Join Date: Aug 2007 Location: Netherlands Posts: 2,677	Um, if the law says sites must be section 508 compliant, then you need to outsource with that requirement. No way should you be wasting taxpayer money (lawlz) fixing what should have been done right in the first place! If a company says they can build a web project for you, tell them they'd better do it legally! Hoping they'll hear the news hasn't done anything in... how long has section 508 been in the books? And don't people still ignore it?