Michael Gaigg: Über UI/UX Design

Understand Web Content Accessibility Guidelines & Section 508

Posted by Michael Gaigg

So you know what Accessibility is and how it improves your ROI and why everybody benefits. Now what exactly is Section 508 and how does it correlate with W3C's Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG 1.0)? And most important, how can you create an accessible.htm that complies with these standards?

Overview: WCAG & Section 508

The main institutions involved (as shown in the illustration above) are:

• GSA (U.S. General Services Administration) represented by the IT Accessibility and Workforce (ITAW) who is the governments principal advocate and coordinator for Section 508 implementation. Other agencies and organizations may offer similar information, but ITAW is recognized as the governmentwide policy resource for Section 508.
• World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) represented by the Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI) who developed the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 1.0 that was approved in May 1999 and is currently the stable and referenceable version.
• Users that visit websites. In the illustration I mention Government websites as the institution with the biggest need, that is because the Accessibility Guidelines are mandatory for governmental implementations.

Before I continue to explain how the WCAG relate to the Section 508 Standards it is important to get a grasp of what the respective guidelines propose and which checkpoints are included.

Checkpoints: Section 508 Standards

The purpose of Section 508 Standards is explained by Authority 29 U.S.C. 794d: “The purpose of this part is to implement section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, as amended (29 U.S.C. 794d). Section 508 requires that when Federal agencies develop, procure, maintain, or use electronic and information technology, Federal employees with disabilities have access to and use of information and data that is comparable to the access and use by Federal employees who are not individuals with disabilities, unless an undue burden would be imposed on the agency. Section 508 also requires that individuals with disabilities, who are members of the public seeking information or services from a Federal agency, have access to and use of information and data that is comparable to that provided to the public who are not individuals with disabilities, unless an undue burden would be imposed on the agency.”

Checkpoints: Web Content Accessibility Guidelines

The guidelines as described by the W3C explain how to make Web content accessible to people with disabilities. “The guidelines are intended for all Web content developers (page authors and site designers) and for developers of authoring tools. The primary goal of these guidelines is to promote accessibility. However, following them will also make Web content more available to all users, whatever user agent they are using (e.g., desktop browser, voice browser, mobile phone, automobile-based personal computer, etc.) or constraints they may be operating under (e.g., noisy surroundings, under- or over-illuminated rooms, in a hands-free environment, etc.). Following these guidelines will also help people find information on the Web more quickly. These guidelines do not discourage content developers from using images, video, etc., but rather explain how to make multimedia content more accessible to a wide audience.”

Considerations when implementing for Section 508 Compliancy

Section 508 has three Levels of priority: Level 1, Level 2 and Level 3. WCAG has also three levels of priority, but they are slightly different and named A, AA, AAA. This is an important distinction especially when testing with automated tools like Bobby because - and be aware of this - Level A compliancy NOT EQUALS Level 1 compliancy. Here is why:
When the ITAW handed Paragraph 1194.22 to the WAI (step 1) and after the WCAG 1.0 were completed and handed back to the ITAW (step 2) the Access Board released a Note to §1194.22:

1. The Board interprets paragraphs (a) through (k) of this section as consistent with the following priority 1 Checkpoints of the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 1.0 (WCAG 1.0) (May 5, 1999) published by the Web Accessibility Initiative of the World Wide Web Consortium:
   

   Section 1194.22 Paragraph	WCAG 1.0 Checkpoint
   (a)	1.1
   (b)	1.4
   (c)	2.1
   (d)	6.1
   (e)	1.2
   (f)	9.1
   (g)	5.1
   (h)	5.2
   (i)	12.1
   (j)	7.1
   (k)	11.4

2. Paragraphs (l), (m), (n), (o), and (p) of this section are different from WCAG 1.0. Web pages that conform to WCAG 1.0, level A (i.e., all priority 1 checkpoints) must also meet paragraphs (l), (m), (n), (o), and (p) of this section to comply with this section.

Item 2 is especially important because it means that a discrepancy between WCAG and Section 508 exists that requires a Section 508 Level 1 conformant site has to meet more than just Level A of the WCAG.

Step 3 and step 4 complete the process to create accessible.htm - it is basically up to you to apply the guidelines and produce accessible code.

Best Practices for Accessiblity

Follow my Best Practices blog entries to get more in-depth knowledge on what exactly you need to do to meet all the Section 508 compliancy checkpoints as outlined by the WCAG. Blog entries available so far:

• Content
• Links

References

• Section 508 Standards; Authority: 29 U.S.C. 794d; http://www.section508.gov/index.cfm?FuseAction=Content&ID=12
• Chisholm, W., Vanderheiden, G., Jacobs, I. (editors); Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 1.0; http://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG10/