Working to Section 508: Understanding Web Pages

Lori Gillen

McKesson Health Solutions

Agenda

• Demo: Processing information slowly

• Cognitive barriers to the Web

• How to conquer these barriers– Section 508– Web Content Accessibility Guidelines

Demonstration

Cognitive barriers to the Web

• Reading disorders:– Inability to relate new ideas to those stored in

memory– Inability to distinguish or separate sounds in

spoken words– Inability to focus attention on reading material– Slow to process information from reading tasks

Section 508

• Refers to Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973

• Requires federal agencies or companies working with federal agencies to provide accessible electronic and information technology to federal employees and to the public that these agencies service

Section 508

• Consists of 16 individual standards that must be met for improved accessibility

• Most standards pertain to accessibility for people with low-vision

• Two standards pertain to people with cognitive disabilities– Flicker– Timed responses

Section 508

• Flicker– Avoid causing the screen to flicker. It can cause

seizures in people with photosensitive epilepsy– People with an attention disorder are too

distracted to concentrate when they see flicker– If you must have flicker, it should not be

greater than 2 cycles per second

Section 508

• Timed responses:– When a timed response is required, alert the

user and give a sufficient amount of time– Some people may need more time to read a

page than is given in the timed response– Some accessibility experts suggest that you

allot 15 minutes for a timed response

Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG)

• First recommended by the World Wide Consortium (W3C) in 1999

• Section 508 was drawn from these guidelines• Within guidelines are checkpoints for determining

accessible technology• Checkpoints are categorized by priority to

facilitate implementation into existing web sites

Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG)

• Priority 1 indicates that a web site MUST satisfy a specific checkpoint

• Priority 2 indicates that a web site SHOULD satisfy a specific checkpoint

• Priority 3 indicates that a web site MAY satisfy a specific checkpoint

Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG)

• These WCAG guidelines pertain to people with cognitive disabilities:– Provide context and orientation information– Provide clear navigation mechanisms– Ensure that documents are clear and simple

Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG)

• Provide context and orientation information• Why should you follow this guideline?

– To help users who cannot relate new ideas to those stored in memory

• What should you do?– Group related elements together using labels,

headers, names for frames

Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG)

• Provide clear navigation mechanisms• Why should you follow this guideline?

– To keep users who are easily distracted or who process information slowly from getting lost in the web site

• What should you do?– Provide a way to return Home

– Provide breadcrumbs

– Provide a site map

– Use navigational icons, ex. front and back arrows

Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG)

• Ensure that documents are clear and simple• Why should you follow this guideline?

– To help people who have trouble processing information quickly

– To facilitate usage for people whose native language may not be used on your site

• What should you do?– Use clear and concise language

– Present information in small manageable chunks

Resources

• URLS– http://www.access-board.gov/sec508/508standards.htm

– http://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG

– http://diveintoaccessibility.org

– http://jimthatcher.com/webcourse1.htm

– http://www.boston-ia.org

– http://www.paciellogroup.com

– http://www.trace.wisc.edu

Contact Information

Lori Gillen

McKesson Health Solutions

275 Grove Street, Suite 1-110

Newton, MA 02466

617.273.3167

lori.gillen@mckesson.com