RE: [SEC508] 508 Issues...

["Mark D. Urban" <docurban@nc.rr.com>]

OK – some clarification for Tammy:

 

The confusion is that there are Technical Standards  (Subpart B of the reg) which must be met.  Some of these require a characteristic:

 

e.g. 1192.22(a)  A text equivalent for every non-text element shall be provided (e.g., via "alt", "longdesc", or in element content).

 

For this one, you use whatever is the standard best practice of the technology in question and insert the characteristic.  (for XHTML, this would be the W3C spec ALT attribute)  Testing is simply identifying that the attribute is there and conveys the information in the non-text element.

 

Some of Subpart B requires a Function:

 

e.g. 1192.21(i) When electronic forms are used, the form shall allow people using assistive technology to access the information, field elements, and functionality required for completion and submission of the form, including all directions and cues.

 

These standards require that it work with assistive technology (such as - BUT NOT ONLY - Magic, JAWS, Zoomtext, Dragon NS, etc).   Testing for these standards is not YES/NO, but rather “it provides the information to AT via this mechanism (such as MSAA), and it provides all the information needed to access the information, etc..”  You then check to see that the information is being forwarded correctly to the AT by using an AT product with which you are conversant, such as Magic.

 

Does that help?   Note I haven’t gotten into Subpart C – the Functional Performance Criteria.  That’s a lesson for another day ;-)

 

 

Regards,

 

-Mark D. Urban

 

919-395-8513 (cell)

Chair, North Carolina Governor's Advocacy Council for Persons with Disabilities

Keep up with the latest in worldwide accessibility at (http://www.icdri.org/)

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From: sec508-admin@trace.wisc.edu [mailto:sec508-admin@trace.wisc.edu] On Behalf Of Tammy Mosey
Sent: Thursday, November 03, 2005 11:41 AM
To: sec508@trace.wisc.edu
Subject: [SEC508] 508 Issues...

 

We are complying with the 508 standards for 1194.22 for software development. I am a bit lost MIke, you stated in one of your notes :
"if it does not work in assistive technology, you have
> a
> major problem." THEN "It's not Tammy's responsibility to enforce compliance by assistive
technologies and browsers. That is a task that the w3c doesn't even
claim."

I must test the software as part of my job , test it for 508 compliance, and yes if it
doesn't work in asst. tech, then we do have a problem, I need to send it back to be fixed.

If its not my responsibility to enforce, by using asst. tech then how will we know if it works for Assts. tech ?

We do follow standards 508 here. But I need to check and make sure it was followed,: it will tab thru flash, it will tab thru questions and answers, etc....

We follow the provisions, but if it doesnt work, then what.

Tammy













Tammy M. Mosey
Software Tester