Archive - Edition 4: Accessibility

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508 – Any More Questions?
Commented List of Accessibility Resources

By Christine Wiegand, SAP Portals, Product Design Center, SAP Design Guild Team – 02/18/2002 • updated 01/20/2004

With the 508 edition of the SAP Design Guild, we hope to have added to the wealth of information available on this topic. To round off this edition, we are pleased to present here a commented overview of information on the Web about this important topic. Included are links to information about SAP's own accessibility Competence Center, official US government standards and guidelines, and similar initiatives undertaken by other technology companies.

 

Accessibility Competence Center (ACC)

In response to the need to ensure compliance with US federal regulations and, most importantly, to begin taking steps to make sure that SAP solutions meet the needs of all SAP users, SAP has established the Accessibility Competence Center (ACC) at SAP Labs in Palo Alto. Their Website (http://www.saplabs.com/accessibility) provides general information about accessibility and assistive technologies, specific information about US federal Section 508 regulations, and information about the accessibility initiatives at SAP. Moreover, you can find articles and newsletters detailing recent events involving the SAP accessibility program, upcoming accessibility-related events, a discussion board, and links to various accessibility guidelines, checklists, evaluation tools, and repair tools, all of which can be used by designers and developers of software and Websites.

For more information about the ACC, its tasks and projects see the respective articles in this edition of the SAP Design Guild.

 

Section 508 Standards

The primary resource on 508 issues is of course the Section 508 homepage at www.section508.gov. Using this Website, you can access resources for understanding and implementing the requirements of Section 508, such as

One of the resources are the Section 508 standards. In the General part the types of technology covered are defined and provisions that establish a minimum level of accessibility are set. The application section outlines the scope and coverage of the standards. It also explains what is exempt, defines terms, and generally recognizes alternatives to what is required in order to provide equal or greater access.

The Technical Standards section provides technical specifications and performance-based requirements, which focus on the functional capabilities of the technologies covered (software applications and operating systems, Web-based intranet and Internet information and applications, telecommunication products, video and multimedia products, self-contained closed products, desktop, and portable computers).

The Functional Performance Criteria section demands that at least one mode of operation has to be provided that does not require a certain sensual or physical ability; otherwise support for the respective assistive technology has to be provided. Sensory and physical abilities include vision, hearing, visual acuity greater than 20/70, speech, and fine motor control. These provisions allow people with impairments to access the information provided and to interact with their computers in ways that best suit their needs.

The last section addresses access to all information, documentation and support provided to end users of the covered technologies.

There also exists a summary page of these full standards for a quick overview.

 

W3C Standards

Another good information resource is the homepage of the Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI): www.w3.org/WAI/

The World Wide Web Consortium's (W3C) commitment to lead the Web to its full potential includes promoting a high degree of usability for people with disabilities. WAI, in coordination with organizations around the world, pursues accessibility of the Web through five primary areas of work: technology, guidelines, tools, education and outreach, and research and development.

One of the WAI resources are the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 1.0 (WCAG 1.0): www.w3.org/TR/1999/WAI-WEBCONTENT-19990505/ or www.w3.org/TR/WCAG10/

W3C published the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 1.0 as a recommendation in May 1999. These guidelines explain how to make Web content accessible to people with disabilities. They are intended for all Web content developers, that is, page authors and site designers, and for developers of authoring tools. This is a reference document for accessibility principles and design ideas.

The checklist of checkpoints for Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 1.0 (www.w3.org/TR/1999/WAI-WEBCONTENT-19990505/full-checklist.html) is a prioritized list of checkpoints for making Websites accessible. This list may be used to review a page or site for accessibility.

The Techniques for Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 1.0 (www.w3.org/TR/WAI-WEBCONTENT-TECHS) give detailed markup examples and explanations of how to implement the requirements of the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines. This document is the gateway to a series of related documents that provide techniques for satisfying the requirements defined in Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 1.0. This series includes

The Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 1.0 are not the W3C's last word on accessibility. There is a working draft under discussion (Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.0 - Draft -- www.w3.org/TR/WCAG20). This new version 2.0 of the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines builds on the previous version 1.0 and attempts to improve it. It has the same aim: explain how to make Web content accessible to people with disabilities. Incorporating feedback on WCAG 1.0, this working draft of version 2.0 focuses on checkpoints. It attempts to apply checkpoints to a wider range of technologies and to use wording that may be understood by a more varied audience.

 

Other Standards and Information

This is how other companies like Microsoft (Microsoft Accessibility Page: www.microsoft.com/enable; Microsoft Active Accessibility Support: support.microsoft.com/directory/content.asp?PR=enable or Sun Microsystems (Sun Microsystems Accessibility Program: www.sun.com/access) are involved in 508 issues.

 

Links for Color Palettes and Color Deficiencies

For information concerning color deficiencies and color palettes, please have a look at the following information sources:

If you would like more information, refer to our 508 link list in the Resources section. There, you will find further links regarding section 508 and accessibility.

 

 

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