Section 508, Americans With Disabilities And Web Sites
Section 508 will not get the little guy in trouble, but details in the Americans With Disabilities Act may cause trouble. How this will affect the future of your web site?
There are lawsuit happy people looking for people with web sites that those with different abilities [blind, unable to use hands/arms, even those with alternative browsers for specific disabilities] cannot access. Section 508 has resulted in heavy penalties for government web sites. This law is a US law and it is aimed ONLY at US government web sites and companies which are funded in whole or in part by taxpayers, but it is only a matter of time before the casual web designer or the beginning webmasters will pay the price with loss of traffic.
Section 508 will not get the little guy in trouble. If you are a stay at home mom or working on the web for a second source of income, that law is not aimed at you. So if someone approaches you with the scare tactic that you MUST change your site now under the 508 law, they are just trying to scare you. 508 is only for the US government sites and those that use taxpayers money.
The law which does apply to the not-so-big-fish in the US would be the Americans With Disabilities Act [ADA] that specifies any business with public accommodations and commercial facilities requires reasonable accommodations be provided in meeting the needs of individuals with disabilities. The Internet IS making use of public accommodations and if you sell ANYTHING on your site it is also a commercial facility. Big corporations have already been fined under this law.
Don't think of accessibility compliance as a burden, but think of it as an opportunity to expand your audience. There are many people in the world who cannot access certain sites because it is totally incompatible with what they are using. If they cannot access you, they will go elsewhere. If they have a bug up their butt, they may even try to sue you.
The laws are designed to make things a bit more fair for those with conditions beyond their control in order for them to live as normal a life as possible. As the Internet is a public universe on its own, it is not exactly something that can be forced upon the entire world, but the US government and most Western European/EU nations have their own laws in regards to disability access on the Internet.
The Internet is filled with information that may be needed by anyone at any time to help them keep up with the changes going on in the world. Your particular web site just might be a vital bit of information someone might need to move on with their life, but if they cannot access it you have blocked their abilities even further.
Or suppose you are just selling an item and not supplying information. If you are the only person selling a unique item, you will block a certain percentage of the population from being able to buy it. If others are selling it, then you will lose that customer to someone who makes their site more accessible.
The Internet is one big marketplace and open world. No one owns it or controls it. However, it is in your best interest, especially if the point of you having a web site is to get as much traffic as possible, to make sure as many people as possible can use it. Or, if you are not in an area where such laws apply and you don't really care much about being told what to do, there is nothing to stop you from not applying the access methods.
By making these changes, you can also make sure it is compatible with those who are accessing your site via PDA, cellphone or other alternative connections.
What Can You Do To Comply?
The biggest thing to come into compliance with access issues it to make sure your web site code is correct. Go to W3C and analyze your web pages before you upload them to your site.
Terms of use Copyright © 2003-2005 Watchfire Corporation. All Rights Reserved
Another check you should run periodically is a link check. You can find it free through W3C. When your page is dragging down with links that go nowhere, spiders do tend to take it our on your site and it does nothing for those with access issues to click on a bad link only to go back to where they started.
Some of the things which will make it more useful would be to add a css style sheet which helps define all of your web pages {and also make them load a bit faster.} Make sure when you use tables that you include a summary statement about what is in the table as well as specifically detail rows and columns. Make sure all images have an "alt" and "title" within the image code so you can describe the picture. Also, use the "title" with the web link tag to describe where the link will be going. Make sure all the links on your page can be accessed using only your TAB key. Those few simple things can make all the difference in the world to your site.
 |
JCE Enterprises Related Sites |