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Key watchwords for Web designers when it comes to Section 508.
Federal Web masters by now understand they must strive to ensure their department or agency Web sites are at least minimally compatible with assistive technologies used by people with disabilities.
Specifically, they must address the areas described in Section 1194.22
“Web-based intranet and internet information and applications” within the accessibility standards promulgated by the Access Board pursuant to section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act.
But according to one accessibility expert, government Web masters should keep in mind three key words—clarity, compatibility and usabil-ty—when designing Web sites that are supposed to be accessible to people with disabilities.
Clarity
First, Web designers should focus on the clear standards and guidelines available on the Web today from the GSA and other organizations, said Mike Paciello, founder and chief technology officer of WebAble Inc. a Boston-based provider of Web accessibility technology, consulting, and training.
Paciello is considered an authority on web accessibility and assistive technology. And he spoke at the Section 508 and You conference, presented by Post Newsweek Tech Media Group and the General Services Administration on September 10, 2001.
Web designers must also educate or train people who will update and maintain each Web site, about the guidelines and standards and what they actually mean, he said.
Compatibility
Second, Web designers must focus on the compatibility of Web sites with assistive and adaptive technologies now available.
Just like people without disabilities, individual users may have specific preferences with regard to the screen reader software they use, for example. So it’s important to make sure the Web pages created by Federal Web designers are compatible with the types of products currently in use.
Paciello recommends that Web masters “perform a close inspection of their Federal Web sites using HTML 4.0 or 4.1 because all Clinger-Cohen [Act] concepts for accessibility were put into 4.0,” he said.
Usability
Third, Web designers must focus on usability.
“We need to start infusing usability methods that engage people with disabilities into mainstream product design. I’m not just talking about website design, nor am I talking software application design, but in actual product design,” he says, adding Federal agencies should undoubtedly involve people with disabilities in the design and testing of their Web sites.
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| “All of us need to focus on user needs, user requirements and the entire user testing process to ensure accessibility. It’s nothing more than attitude.” —Mike Paciello Founder and Chief Technology Officer WebABLE |
1. Perform an inspection of your site for HTML 4.0, usability, and accessibility compliance.
2. Prioritize what must be migrated first by the amount of traffic and/or by the Web site’s need to comply with 508 regulations. Then, plan a staged rollout of accessibility, which includes:
a) Enhancing the home page, critical path pages, and high-traffic pages for most important accessibility errors.
b) Inspecting all new pages, and creating accessibility templates.
c) Enhancing medium-traffic pages.
According to Paciello, there are numerous testing and certification software tools available to help judge a Web site’s accessibility, but like with all first generation software tools, these products are still considered in their infancy.
For now, he recommends Web designers use one or more of these tools as a way to conduct a “first pass, high-level overview” of accessibility on their web sites. But clearly, “the only really good way to ensure accessibility is to incorporate strict usability testing including people with disabilities in the process,” he says.
“All of us need to focus on user needs, user requirements and the entire user testing process to ensure accessibility,” Paciello said. “It’s nothing more than attitude.”
Tools to Aid Accessibility
Even though there is no testing or certification element built into Section 508 yet, there are several testing software tools available to help—some even free-of-charge—for government procurement professionals and industry suppliers to help determine whether products or Web pages are accessible to people with disabilities.
This list comes from Mike Paciello, founder and chief technology officer of WebAble Inc. a Boston-based provider of Web accessibility technology, consulting, and training, who cautions that these tools should only be used in early testing. Both government and industry suppliers should enlist the help of disabled individuals or groups to make sure their products are truly accessible, he says.
Among the tools now available are the following:
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