Steps Toward Ensuring Your Website is Section 508 Compliant
What is a Section 508 compliant website?
A website is considered to be Section 508-compliant if it complies with the revised Section 508 of the Workforce Rehabilitation Act of 1973, which requires that all federal agencies make their electronic and information technologies accessible to individuals with disabilities, whether or not they work for the federal government.
Why is Section 508 compliance important for websites?
Section 508 compliance is important for websites because it makes them more accessible to people with disabilities and, as a result, helps them gain more traffic and conversions.
If you fail to comply with Section 508 requirements for your website, not only will you be ignoring the accessibility requirements of a wide range of your audience, but you will also be putting your website at an unavoidable danger of having less visitors, fewer website statistics, and a smaller target market.
How to ensure Section 508 compliance for your website
The 2017 revision of Section 508 in particular makes it possible to assess compliance with the international standards known as the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.0 AA.
Similar to the original Section 508, WCAG 2.0 AA does not specify any particular website 508-compliant tasks that must be completed in order to comply with Section 508 and achieve accessibility.
Instead, the governing regulations merely specify what functional requirements accessible websites must meet. Making your website Section 508-compliant, therefore, requires adherence to WCAG 2.0 AA standards, which include the following:
- Making it easy to navigate and access a website using a keyboard
Websites that comply with Section 508 enable keyboard navigation for their users. The owners of these websites are aware that many people who use digital resources either have a variety of motor limitations or use screen readers, and these users rely primarily on visual cues that can only be accessed with a keyboard to navigate and access page content.
Keyboards increase accessibility because their buttons, links, and input fields can be easily controlled with the arrow, tab, or other available keys. They also make it possible for users to navigate a website by simply jumping through page sections, headers, paragraphs, and other page elements.
Because they permit user interactions with the website using assistive technology, websites that can be accessed and navigated using a keyboard have higher levels of Section 508 compliance.
- Ensure alternative text (ALT) is provided for all images and videos
Website Section 508 compliance also requires the use of alternative text whenever images and videos are used on the site. Alternative text (ALT) refers to a description of what is depicted in the image or video.
ALT enhances the 508 compliance of a website because screen readers are able to read the text, which helps people with disabilities know what the image or video is all about. It gives context to the images that people with visual impairments are not able to see.
For a website to be Website 508 compliant, all ALT descriptions must be accurate, descriptive, and beneficial to individuals with visual impairments. Should the picture or video have any links, including the potential for a new webpage to open if the image or video is clicked, the ALT should appropriately reflect the link's destination.
- Make sure that the website has screen reader capability
The ability of the website to be accessed by screen readers is one of the crucial elements in the Section 508 compliance checklist to utilize when developing a website. With the use of a screen reader, site visitors with visual impairments are able to access the website's content. Typically, screen readers turn digital text into synthetic speech.
Websites with screen reader features assist users with visual impairments as well as people who use screen readers to hear the information read out on the site.
- Transcription and captioning of videos and audios
Transcripts and captions are used on websites that adhere to Section 508 standards to portray spoken content from videos and audios in written form. People with hearing impairments can understand the content of the video or audio owing to the closed captioning.
Get help with making your website Section 508 compliant today
In addition to the stages listed above for Section 508 compliance, there are other significant items on the Section 508 compliance checklist you should be aware of while creating a Section 508 compliant website. These include avoiding flickering objects on the screen, making sure there are no time restrictions, and using the right color and contrast.
ADACP can assist you in creating a website that satisfies every need on the Section 508 compliance checklist. Call them at (626) 486-2201 if you have any questions about the requirements for Section 508 compliance for your website.