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Re: Section 508 Testing/Section 508 Refresh

for

From: Karlen Communications
Date: Jun 6, 2011 11:12AM

I would second that.

The refresh of Section 508 includes all file formats with specifics on what
the standards for an accessible document are. While I disagree with their
position on Excel/spreadsheet based documents as we move forward it is
always a good idea to include all content in an audit/quality assurance
process.

Validation tools can only tell you if the coding is missing anything and
testers with a specific checklist should also go through the digital
content. I say testers with specific goals/checklists because we all read
content differently and you are looking for global "compliance' rather than
adaptive technology or person specific compliance...which is not possible to
achieve.

Cheers, Karen

-----Original Message-----
From: <EMAIL REMOVED>
[mailto: <EMAIL REMOVED> ] On Behalf Of Duff Johnson
Sent: June-06-11 12:48 PM
To: WebAIM Discussion List
Subject: Re: [WebAIM] Section 508 Testing/Section 508 Refresh

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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