SECTION 508 COMPLIANCE
HORNE is committed to full compliance with Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, per the 1998 Amendments, and the Architectural and Transportation Barriers Compliance BoardÕs Electronic and Information Technology Accessibility Standards at 36 CFR 1194.
HORNE creates functional, aesthetically pleasing websites using industry standard development methodology. This allows us to fully comply with all relevant technical standards in 36 CFR 1194.
HORNE's Approach to 508 Compliance for Web-Based Internet and Intranet Work
All Web-based Internet and intranet work performed by HORNE is fully compliant with 36 CFR 1194.21. Our Web development team performs 508 compliance
work utilizing the Firefox Accessibility Extension to test each page for compliance.
While HORNE uses software tools to test compliance, it's our belief that human eyes and ears, coupled with years of experience, is still necessary, as well. HORNE employs electronic and human testing to ensure we meet the letter and spirit of the 508 compliance regulations, in addition to any unique accessibility preferences requested by a client. Manual 508 compliance by human beings, combined with the use of the Firefox Accessibility Extension testing, ensures that we meet or exceed requirements and expectations. We do a combination of both methods, using manual 508 compliance review, followed by the Firefox Accessibility Extension testing.
HORNE's Approach to 508 Compliance for Documentation
HORNE complies with the US Department of Health and Human Services policies and standards for 508 compliance covering documents. Those standards are
available at this Web address: http://www.hhs.gov/web/policies/index.html.
Document formats covered by these standards include MS Word, MS Excel (includes documents and presentations), MS PowerPoint, Adobe PDF (includes PDF files and forms), and HTML documents and forms. We employ the same rigid testing procedure for documents that we use for Web-based applications, using a combination of manual methods and software tools.
The tables below detail HORNE's 508 compliance.
Web-based Intranet and Internet Information and Applications (Part 1194.22)
The following table provides details on how HORNEÕs products fulfill the technical standards to fully comply with Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act
of 1973, per the 1998 Amendments, and the Architectural and Transportation Barriers Compliance BoardÕs Electronic and Information Technology
Accessibility Standards at 36 CFR 1194.
| Section 508 Standards for Web-based Intranet and Internet Information and Applications | Description of Compliance in HORNE's Products |
|---|---|
| (a) A text equivalent for every non-text element shall be provided (e.g., via “alt” or “longdesc” or in element content). | Images, icons and other visual elements representing user action options and application responses always include descriptive labels or textual explanations. |
| (b) Equivalent alternatives for any multimedia presentation shall be synchronized with the presentation. | When an audio portion of a multimedia production is captioned, as required in provision (a), the captioning will be synchronized with the audio. Text for the captioning is from a text transcript of the presentation and is the textual equivalent of the auditory events. Captions would include speech as well as other sounds in the environment. |
| (c) Web pages shall be designed so that all information conveyed with color is also available without color, for example from context or markup. | Colors are not utilized; instead we use a combination of text styling (i.e., bold, italics, etc.) and shapes to communicate emphasis on a word or a phrase. |
| (d) Documents shall be organized so they are readable without requiring an associated style sheet. | All Web pages are tested for accessibility with and without the use of the Cascading Style Sheet (CSS). In addition, the dependency on the style sheet is very minimal thus maximizing accessibility. |
| (e) Redundant text links shall be provided for each active region of a server-side image map. | An equivalent text link is provided in addition to the image mapping links. For example, a page may allow the user to select a state from an image of the United States map. In addition, a list of the states as text links are also provided which has the same action as the image mapping. |
| (f) Client-side image maps shall be provided instead of server-side image maps except where the regions cannot be defined with an available geometric shape. | In most cases, client-side image mapping is more than sufficient. However, for GIS mapping, a server-side image mapping is required. With advancements in Web browsers and JavaScript, the use of the server-side image mapping is declining. |
| (g) Row and column headers shall be identified for data tables. | Column headers are identified using the TH tag and the TD tag for the data (TD). |
| (h) Markup shall be used to associate data cells and header cells for data tables that have two or more logical levels of row or column headers. | When data is displayed as a grid format, ID attribute from the TH tag is associated to the HEADER attribute in the data cells (TD). |
| (i) Frames shall be titled with text that facilitates frame identification and navigation. | In the FRAME tag, the TITLE attribute is used to provide a summary of the content in the FRAME. |
| (j) Pages shall be designed to avoid causing the screen to flicker with a frequency greater than 2 Hz and lower than 55 Hz. | The following elements are not used when building a Web page. – Animated gifs – Blink and marquee tags – Flash animations |
| (k) A text-only page, with equivalent information or functionality, shall be provided to make a website comply with the provisions of this part, when compliance cannot be accomplished in any other way. The content of the text-only page shall be updated whenever the primary page changes. | If complex Web pages are required for rich design, then text-only pages are developed. As the primary page changes, so does the text-only page. |
| (l) When pages utilize scripting languages to display content or to create interface elements, the information provided by the script shall be identified with functional text that can be read by assistive technology. | As a practice, we try to avoid writing too many scripting languages on a Web page. However, sometimes this is unavoidable. For such cases, all scripting languages contain a functional description. |
| (m) When a Web page requires that an applet, plug-in or other application be present on the client system to interpret page content, the page must provide a link to a plug-in or applet that complies with §1194.21(a) through (l). | Some Web pages require the reader to open a PDF document. For such cases, a Web page contains a link to download the necessary application to read the PDF document. |
| (n) When electronic forms are designed to be completed online, the forms 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. | All online forms must use label tags that are associated to the input fields. In addition, index attribute must be used in order for the user to use the TAB key. |
| (o) A method shall be provided that permits users to skip repetitive navigation links. | Users must be given a choice to skip repetitive areas on a Web page. For example, the navigation of the site should not be repeated every time the user views a page. |
| (p) When a timed response is required, the user shall be alerted and given sufficient time to indicate more time is required. | Instead of automatically refreshing a page, we give the user the option to turn off the auto-refresh and manually update the page. |
Documentation and Other Items
HORNE fully complies with the US Department of Health and Human Services policies and standards for 508 compliance. http://www.hhs.gov/web/policies/index.html
| Section 508 Standards | Description of Compliance in HORNE's Products |
|---|---|
| (a) HTML Forms | http://www.hhs.gov/web/policies/webstandards/htmlforms.html |
| (b) PDF Forms | http://www.hhs.gov/web/policies/webstandards/508pdfforms.html |
| (c) Excel Presentations | http://www.hhs.gov/web/policies/webstandards/508excelpresentations.html |
| (d) PDF Files | http://www.hhs.gov/web/policies/checklistpdf.html |
| (e) Word Document | http://www.hhs.gov/web/policies/checklistword.html |
| (f) PPT Document | http://www.hhs.gov/web/policies/checklistppt.html |
| (g) HTML Document | http://www.hhs.gov/web/policies/checklisthtml.html |
| (h) Excel Document | http://www.hhs.gov/web/policies/checklistexcel.html |