In 1998, the US Congress amended the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 to require US Federal agencies to make their electronic and information technology (EIT) accessible to people with disabilities. The law (29 U.S.C. § 794 (d)) applies to all US Federal agencies when they develop, procure, maintain, or use electronic and information technology. Under Section 508, agencies must give disabled employees and members of the public access to information that is comparable to access available to others. The appropriate code is 36 CFAR Part 1194.22.
ExtraView provides extensive support to build Section 508 compliant applications. ExtraView’s inbuilt functionality automatically provides this support, but it is the responsibility of the administrator to ensure that they configure their application specific functions to support Section 508.
As guidance, this page states the current regulations in 36 CFAR Part 1194.22 and provides guidance on how ExtraView applications support Section 508.
1194.22 Web-based intranet and internet information and applications
(a) A text equivalent for every non-text element shall be provided (e.g., via “alt”, “longdesc”, or in element content).
Every button, clickable image, link, help tip and other navigation elements have a help tip that can be interpreted by screen reader and other equivalent disability supporting software. ExtraView relies upon the manufacturers of supported internet browsers to support screen reading software. ExtraView may be customized extensively with the addition of User Defined Fields (UDFs). For each and every field that an administrator creates, they should create the appropriate text equivalent within the data dictionary, using the Help Text attribute.
(b) Equivalent alternatives for any multimedia presentation shall be synchronized with the presentation.
ExtraView is not designed to support multimedia presentations, hence this requirement is not applicable.
(c) Web pages shall be designed so that all information conveyed with color is also available without color, for example from context or markup.
All colors are configurable by the administrator, and it is thus their responsibility to set appropriate colors and styles that are unambiguous. For example, administrators may configure required field entries to contain markup characters as well as color. A single behavior setting can ensure that all required fields may be displayed as follows:
-
Without Section 508 compliance –
Required Field Name -
With Section 508 compliance –
*Required Field Name*
The specific markup used is completely configurable by the administrator.
(d) Documents shall be organized so they are readable without requiring an associated style sheet.
Documents stored within ExtraView can be configured so that they do not require any style sheets. For example, administrators should configure standard Text Area fields to store documents, as opposed to configuring HTML Area fields which may contain style sheet information.
(e) Redundant text links shall be provided for each active region of a server-side image map.
There are no server-side generated image maps within the ExtraView application, hence this requirement is not applicable.
(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.
There are no server-side generated image maps within the ExtraView application, hence this requirement is not applicable.
(g) Row and column headers shall be identified for data tables.
The ExtraView application adheres to this requirement when generating all data tables, such as those found in reports. Note that this requirement is adhered to when outputting data to the user’s internet browser, but the user may also output data to spreadsheets and Adobe PDF documents that do not adhere to this requirement.
(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.
There is no built-in feature that requires data tables with more than one logical level, although it is possible for the administrator to configure such elements. ExtraView Corporation’s recommendation is that the administrator of a Section 508 site should not configure tables with more than a single logical level.
(i) Frames shall be titled with text that facilitates frame identification and navigation.
ExtraView uses one or at most two frames on every screen. These may be configured with identification text. When there are two frames on a screen, the first frame is always the navigation and is always placed at the top of the screen, and the second frame contains data, reducing any confusion for a disabled user.
(j) Pages shall be designed to avoid causing the screen to flicker with a frequency greater than 2 Hz and lower than 55 Hz.
This is never an issue with the ExtraView application as it fundamentally presents alpha-numeric information and static images.
(k) A text-only page, with equivalent information or functionality, shall be provided to make a web site 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.
While it is expected that the administrator configures screens that adhere to Section 508, the administrator can also configure text-only pages whenever needed, and link these to their configuration. For example, there is an optional help button on each screen which can access text content specific to the installation, and each UDF title may become a clickable link to a 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.
Given ExtraView’s presentation of HTML pages that are all generated on a server and displayed in a user’s internet browser, all elements are generated with the appropriate attributes that are required by assistive screen reader technology.
(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).
This is not applicable within the ExtraView product.
(n) When electronic forms are designed to be completed on-line, the form 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 forms, whether inbuilt into ExtraView, or configured by an administrator are specifically generated by the server to meet this requirement. All fields have titles and input elements that support Section 508 requirements providing the administrator adheres to best practices when configuring the screens.
(o) A method shall be provided that permits users to skip repetitive navigation links.
The only place where repetitive navigation links are used are within forms that input and update records. By default these are at the top and bottom of the form. However, a single behavior setting allows the administrator to turn off the bottom navigation link, thereby creating a compliant form.
(p) When a timed response is required, the user shall be alerted and given sufficient time to indicate more time is required.
The only place where a timed response is required is an optional administrator defined timeout for inactive users. The timer for this input is controlled by the administrator who can ensure timeouts never occur for any user.
Voluntary Product Accessibility Template (VPAT)
In January 2009, the Information Technology Industry Council (ITI) asked for the development of a specification that could be used for ITI’s Voluntary Product Accessibility Template (VPAT). This VPAT has been embraced by the U.S. General Services Administration as a way to simplify government market research on IT products with accessible features.
The VPAT for ExtraView may be seen here.