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Re: Section 508 Testing/Section 508 Refresh

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From: Duff Johnson
Date: Jun 6, 2011 10:51AM

Jennifer,

By all means, consider your web-pages... but do not neglect your PDF files!

I've heard several stories about agencies which (chose) to ASSUME the subject of a Section 508 compliance audit would be HTML/CSS/JavaScript... only to discover that the auditors are interested in ALL the content, not just the stuff posted in HTML.

For many government agencies, PDF documents comprise 30% (or more) of the content they place online. In some cases the proportion is closer to 90%.

It's important to review and address inaccessible PDFs because they are a common source of complaints. Accessible PDF is entirely achievable, but it requires systematic attention, just like everything else.

Duff Johnson
Appligent Document Solutions, CEO

US Committee for ISO/DIS 14289 (PDF/UA), Chair

22 E. Baltimore Ave
Lansdowne, PA 19050
+1 610 284 4006
+1 617 553 1934 (direct)
<EMAIL REMOVED>
http://www.appligent.com
http://www.twitter.com/duffjohnson



On Jun 6, 2011, at 12:20 PM, McDonald, Jennifer wrote:

> The company that I work for has been notified that our website and
> web-based applications will be tested to determine "how well it complies
> with the standards of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 as amended in
> 1998". We do work on behalf of the Department of Education. Has anyone
> been through this before? While we feel confident that we're indeed
> accessible, we're wondering which standards they'll use to test by.
> I've been performing all of my analysis based on WCAG 2 - and I've been
> researching Section 508 Refresh. Do they use real people to test
> objectively? Or do they run it through a validator?
>
> If anyone has had any experience with a government accessibility review
> I would love to hear about it.
>
> Thanks,
>
> Jennifer McDonald
> Great Lakes Higher Education Corporation
> Ecommerce - Assistant Web Producer
> Web Design and User Experience
>
>
>
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