Thread Subject: Re: Acquisitionofsoftwaretools and 508 compliance

Note

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From: Jim Tobias
Date: Thu, Mar 08 2007 5:20 AM

I'm not sure if I'm agreeing or disagreeing with Terry, but here goes. The
standard clearly requires accessible content in web-based materials, and it
also does so for video content and telecom content. What 508 doesn't do is
assign any responsibility to the tool used to create the content. We can
retain that perspective or change it to adopt a more WAI-like value chain
view (my preference), but it's just not the case that "content" is somehow
missing from the current standard.

Let's consider two methods of collaborating on a document. In the first,
the editors keep circulating drafts by email. The second is that drafts are
posted to a web server and editors log in, make changes, and review each
other's changes. To say that the first method is not covered but the second
one is, we are hamstringing the intent of 508, plus creating an unlevel
playing field.


***
Jim Tobias
Inclusive Technologies
+1.732.441.0831 v/tty
+1.908.907.2387 mobile
skype jimtobias

-----Original Message-----
From: = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = [mailto: = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = ]
Sent: Wednesday, March 07, 2007 1:15 PM
To: TEITAC Web/Software Subcommittee
Subject: Re: [teitac-websoftware] [teitac-general] Acquisition
ofsoftwaretools and 508 compliance

The FAR incorporates the Access Board standard. The current standard does
not address the products of tools - only the tool itself. Fed agencied are
required to post on the web in conformance to the Standard but not to make
sure all of the documents they create using S/W that they purchased per 508
standards.

Bottom line is agencies generally do not apply 508 to content except when it
is posted. This is a topic for the TEITAC to take on for the refresh.


----- Original Message -----
From: "William Loughborough" [ = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = ]
Sent: 03/07/2007 12:57 PM
To: "TEITAC Web/Software Subcommittee" < = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = >
Subject: Re: [teitac-websoftware] [teitac-general] Acquisition
ofsoftwaretools and 508 compliance



Truesdell Nick wrote:
> To clarify,
>
> Without question an authoring tool purchased by the federal government
> must itself be accessible to persons with disabilities. The part that
> may be outside of scope is the tool's ability to produce accessible
> content. The requirement in 508 is that the web content be accessible.
> Notably lacking is any prescription as to how that comes to be.
> William brought up two examples that are worth addressing in turn.
>
> In the case of XML/HTML/CSS, etc. editors the output is a text file
> that can be opened, reviewed, remediated, etc. As a matter of process
> a manual fixing of a file will prove to be tedious and those tools
> allowing for correction within the tool will certainly be looked upon
> more favorably. Hence the view that this is a "nice to have."
>
NOT just "nice to have". The use of a text editor like NotePad is clearly
unacceptable even though in theory one could do these forms of editing
therewith. The tools for making accessible content are a prerequisite for
that task, not a mere convenience. The whole idea of the regulations is to
make a level playing field and since the job is to make accessible content,
the tool must be able to do so else it's not a tool but a trial.
> The case of content management systems is different. In this case
> content is taken from a repository, dropped into a standardized
> presentation, and then subsequently displayed to the user. Here the
> only solution is to fix the template when possible or in the worst
> case scenario fix the tool itself.
>
Again it might be "possible" to "fix the template" but that's not the point.
These tools (all "authoring tools" including the "save to the Web" features
of word processors) MUST be fixed to provide accessible product or it is
clear that the Acquisition Regulations prohibit their purchase. Once we
specify the "product" (accessible Web materials) then it goes essentially
without saying that the tools used to craft it must have that as their
output.

Love.

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