YEARS AGO, WHEN I had my own web site, I discovered the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) had some very specific requirements for ADA-compliant sites.
A quick visit to https://www.ada.gov/pcatoolkit/chap5toolkit.htm provides 99% of the things any web developer needs to know about compliance. The information is free, so there is no excuse for not knowing what’s required.
ADA-COMPLIANT PAGES are designed so that a screen reader can “read” and “speak” what is written.
When it comes to graphics, the ADA requires that site developers “Add(ing) a line of simple HTML code to provide text for each image and graphic will enable a user with a vision disability to understand what it is. Add a type of HTML tag, such as an “alt” tag for brief amounts of text or a “longdesc” tag for large amounts, to each image and graphic on your agency’s website.”
I'm not certain HOW that can be accomplished on blog sites ssuch as "Blogger" but most commrcial web sites don't use such applications.
While “alt” has been around since (at least) HTML 2 (it is described in my Netscape 2 Unleashed book as “a text string that will be displayed in browsers that cannot support images”), “longdesc” is new to me. It is described, and examples provided, at https://www.w3.org/TR/html-longdesc/
It appears that not everyone must be ADA-compliant. If the site is a government site, it must be compliant. If the site received public money, it must be compliant.
PDF. Portable Document Format (PDF) documents are, as far as browsers are concerned, images. Screen readers can’t “read” images, so a PDF page needs a link to an HTML or RTF document containing the same information. Easily accomplished with a link — or link to the PDF file at another URL.
Who needs to be compliant?
The Department has consistently interpreted the ADA to cover Web sites that are operated by public accommodations and stated that such sites must provide their services in an accessible manner or provide an accessible alternative to the Web site that is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week. (http://tinyurl.com/ya2e6z4p) The specific case in point was a ticket agency.
From the same site: Although the language of the ADA does not explicitly mention the Internet, the Department has taken the position that title III covers access to Web sites of public accommodations. The Department has issued guidance on the ADA as applied to the Web sites of public entities, which includes the availability of standards for Web site accessibility. See Accessibility of State and Local Government Websites to People with Disabilities (June 2003), available at www.ada.gov/websites2.htm. As the Department stated in that publication, an agency (and similarly a public accommodation) with an inaccessible Web site also may meet its legal obligations by providing an accessible alternative for individuals to enjoy its goods or services, such as a staffed telephone information line. However, such an alternative must provide an equal degree of access in terms of hours of operation and range of options and programs available. For example, if retail goods or bank services are posted on an inaccessible Web site that is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week to individuals without disabilities, then the alternative accessible method must also be available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Additional guidance is available in the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG), available at http://www.w3.org/TR/WAIWEBCONTENT (last visited June 24, 2010), which are developed and maintained by the Web Accessibility Initiative, a subgroup of the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C®).
The Department did not issue proposed regulations as part of its NPRM, and thus is unable to issue specific regulatory language on Web site accessibility at this time. However, the Department expects to engage in rulemaking relating to Web site accessibility under the ADA in the near future.
Bottom line If a site is ADA-compliant, it is more accessible to customers. If the site lacks ADA-compliance, the ADA may soon mandate that the site be upgraded to comply with ADA regulations.
The ADA regulations are not onerous and they do make the web site available to more people. Assuring ADA compliance when initially building a site is just good business; it’s also less expensive — time and money — than re-engineering a site.
PLAGIARISM is the act of appropriating the literary composition of another, or parts or passages of his writings, or the ideas or language of the same, and passing them off as the product of one’s own mind.
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