Relaunched Recovery.gov Fails Accessibility Standards

"It is unfortunate that recovery.gov, in its technical implementation, fails to meet long-standing, widely understood accessibility requirements."

I didn't think much of the previous version of recovery.gov, and it looks like I likely won't like the new version either. They're quite pretty, but poorly handled data tables and image maps really doesn't sound promising for accessibility.

Interested in testing the accessibility of your site? Here's a couple of free online tools that will get you started.

• Total Validator Service - Tests Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 1 (1-3), WCAG2 (A-AAA), and Section 508
• EvalAccess - Tests WCAG1 (1-3)
• Section 508 web accessibility checker - As the name would suggest, tests Section 508
• Cynthia Says - Tests Section 508, and WCAG1 (1-3)

You might also try the Firefox Accessibility Extension by the Illinois Center for Information Technology Accessibility, or the Web Accessibility Toolbar by Vision Australia.

A friend recently asked me about the accessibility of a new US government website he'd seen. He knew I'd been following the various discussions about federal government accessibility. Like others I've looked at, IT Dashboard doesn't do very well.

At first glance, you might think it was going to be accessible. Nice clean layout in a modern style... it should be accessible too, right? You might think that, but you'd be disappointed. Let's take it from the top.

• First thing I noticed while testing is that it seems to be forcing compatibility mode in Internet Explorer 8 (IE8) As of this posting it's not yet on the IE8 Compatibility View Blacklist
• Skip links: present, but invisible and don't work for me in Internet Explorer 8. (compatibility mode?)
• Text resizing: Nice clean text resizing links at the top of the page, but they don't seem to work in Internet Explorer or Firefox. I can see a refreshing of the screen, but I can't see any text changing.
• Page headings: Should have at least one H1 heading. It has none. The home page has one H2 heading.
• Default language: not defined
• Alternative text: Purely decorative images are given alt text, they should be put in the CSS.
• OnClick handler does not have focus-able element
• Color contrast: with a 4.5:1 ratio being a minimum value for AA rating this site has links with a 2.35:1 ratio. Unacceptable.
• Screen refreshing: There is no means that I can see to stop the screen from refreshing whenever the home page graphs reload. While this isn't particularly noticeable in normal browser viewing, my testing software resets about every thirty seconds. I have to think that accessibility software and add-ons would do the same.

While this is by no means a complete evaluation, it does show an alarming number of problems, some of them quite serious. My final problem with this site is the accessibility page. In my opinion this is the place where you explain how to use the accessibility features of a website. This is not the place to make political statements. This site's page begins with:

The Obama Administration has a comprehensive agenda to empower individuals with disabilities in order to equalize opportunities for all Americans.

It's only in the eighth paragraph that actual web accessibility features are mentioned. These three sentences are two little, and they are seven paragraphs too late. This is as good a summation of my opinion of the site as I could write.

Who cares about accessibility? The short answer is you should. If you don't, you're not alone. A lot of people don't give a lot of thought to accessibility, but they should too. Why should you worry about accessibility? For this discussion, let's leave the legal implications out entirely, they're important too, but that's another discussion. Let's just consider your audience. Who is your audience? Do you like your audience? How would you feel if I told you I was going to take some of them away? Lack of accessibility might be doing just that.

• Low color contrast? You could be losing the one in twelve adults that are color blind.
• No alt text? you're losing anyone who is visually impaired or has images turned off for bandwidth reasons.
• No captioning of audio? You've now lost anyone who has difficulty hearing.
• Didn't bother making keyboard navigation possible? You've lost anyone with manual dexterity problems, as well as people using some types of accessibility software.

I could go on. Each type of accessibility you ignore, is a portion of your audience that you aren't reaching. You'd never consider ignoring clients you talk to in person, but you're doing just that to your potential online clients.  Why accessibility? Because if you make your site accessible, you reach all of your audience.

I was putting together a list of resources that I regularly use for someone, and I thought it might be helpful for someone else.

Firefox Resources

• Web Developer -  all purpose testing. Extremely helpful when checking CSS, but also good with images, forms, and other HTML elements.
• Firefox Accessibility Extension - evaluate accessibility on web sites and other HTML documents
• WAVE Toolbar - another good accessibility testing tool
• IE Tab - open IE within a Firefox tab
• LinkChecker - the name says it all
• MeasureIt - find dimensions of online content or space
• ColorZilla - find the exact color you're seeing in the browser.
• HTML Validator - a great validation tool for testing web pages.
• Fangs Screen Reader Emulator - emulates a screen reader for testing accessibility and other usability factors.
• Split Browser - open two pages in the same window.
• Live HTTP Headers - know what your page is loading, and from where
• FireShot - superb screenshot tool.
• Firebug
• Colour Contrast Analyser
• Other helpful, extensions
  • All-in-One Gestures - makes browsing easier.
  • Profile Manager and Synchronizer - open multiple Firefox profiles at the same time.
  • Sage RSS Reader - a very nice RSS reader
  • Scribefire - designed as a blogging tool, it's also helpful for just collecting links and content in clean HTML.
  • IE View - switch from Firefox to IE in a click. No need to find the page again in IE, just open your current Firefox page in IE.
  • FoxView -open your current IE page in Firefox
  • OperaView - open your current Firefox page in Opera
  • Chrome View - open your current Firefox page in Chrome
  • Safari View - open your current Firefox page in Safari

Resources for Internet Explorer

• Internet Explorer Developer Toolbar - Not as well organized as Firefox's, but good
• Web Accessibility Toolbar for IE

Resources for Opera

• Opera Browser - A resource all by itself. If you're not familiar with it, it's another high quality browser that's useful to test pages in.
• Web Accessibility Toolbar for Opera

World Wide Web - Lawsuit Hits Target for Web Usability

A federal judge granted class-action status to a lawsuit alleging that Target Corp. is breaking California and federal law by failing to make its Web site usable for the blind.

Can't say I didn't see this coming. It's been law for a few years now, it was just a matter of time before someone sued.

I've been doing a fair bit of 508 compliance work lately, and I recently I found a very good tutorial by Jim Thatcher on the subject. His definitions and explanations are much clearer than others I've seen.