AccessComputing

Can more than one Section 508 standard apply to a product or technology?

Yes. The Access Board's , developed in accordance with Section 508, divides information technology into several categories and delineates accessibility standards for each category. For example, one category in Section 508 addresses software applications and operating systems, and another addresses web-based intranet and internet information and systems.

What is a "skip navigation" link?

Many websites have redundant navigation systems across multiple pages. Usually these navigation systems include several links across the top and/or down the left side of the page. For screen reader users and users navigating by keyboard, these links can become burdensome if there is no way to efficiently skip past them. A sighted user can jump visually past these links and begin reading the main content of the page. A "skip navigation" link is a technique for facilitating similarly efficient access for users with certain disabilities.

Which set of web accessibility standards or guidelines should I comply with?

Web accessibility is comprehensively covered by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) in their  (WCAG), which includes guidelines and checkpoints (called success criteria). There have been multiple revisions of WCAG. Most laws, policies, and legal settlements or resolutions identify either or Level AA as the standard by which accessibility is measured.

Can information technology function as assistive technology?

Yes.

"Information technology" (IT) is "any equipment or interconnected system or subsystem of equipment, that is used in the automatic acquisition, storage, manipulation, management, movement, control, display, switching, interchange, transmission, or reception of data or information. Information technology includes computers, ancillary equipment, software, firmware and similar procedures, services (including support services), and related resources."

Are electronic whiteboards accessible to people with disabilities?

Many distance learning courseware packages include a whiteboard tool. The purpose of an electronic whiteboard is the same as that of a blackboard or whiteboard in a school. Instructors and students write or draw on the board in order to share their ideas and to deliver instruction. Electronic whiteboards work as graphical chat tools. They allow multiple users to draw, paint, and share existing graphical files in real time. Unfortunately, exclusively graphical workspace is not accessible to users of screen readers.

What is wrong with using HTML tables for layout?

HTML tables were originally intended to be used for presenting tabular data, not for layout. The (W3C®) discourages use of tables for layout because they are striving for a web in which content and structure are completely separate from presentation. This allows content to be rendered meaningfully across a wide variety of devices. In the W3C's world view, cascading style sheets (CSS) is the vehicle by which presentation and layout are defined.

Does CSS positioning eliminate the need for a "skip navigation" link?

With CSS, navigational menus can appear visually at the top of a document, despite their location at the bottom of the document in the HTML source code. This technique is gaining popularity because by placing the main content first in the document's source code, websites can potentially attain better search engine placement. This technique also eliminates the need for a "skip navigation" link, since screen readers don't read the navigation links until the end. However, it creates the opposite problem: The need for an efficient means of jumping quickly to the navigation system.

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