Testing for 508WCAG Website Accessibility Certifications Session Code: T0108

1
Testing for 508/WCAG Website Accessibility
Certifications Session Code T0108

• By
• Glenn A. Smith
• And
• Mary Jean Smith

2
Introduction to Web Access Overview

• Assistive Technology
• Web Standards 1194.22
• Web Development
• Web Testing
• Web Certification

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Assistive Technology Products

• Screen Readers
• JAWS for Windows
• Window Eyes
• Hal
• Screen Magnification
• ZoomText
• MAGic
• SuperNova
• Voice Recognition
• Dragon NaturallySpeaking

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508/WCAG aka W3C Becomes Law

• June 21, 2001
• Intent was to address EIT access problems
• Disabled federal employees and the disabled
  general public
• Private Industry was strongly recommended to make
  Web sites accessible.

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Section 508/WCAG Websites Standards
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Dual Phase Testing

• Unit Testing Tool
• Can test code at prototype stages of testing the
  elements against the code standards.
• Test again at development stages to determine
  continued compliance.
• Test again at the completion of the development.
• Final testing can produce a report to the level
  of compliance and keep record of the accessible
  web compliance from build to build.
• "cont'd

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• Functional Testing
• Test elements for proper performance.
• Test navigational tags to meet navigational
  standards.
• Test to determine if alt text is intuitive or
  accurately applied.
• Make sure that all elements within tables are
  properly marked up and associated with column and
  row headers.

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Skip Nav Links

• A method shall be provided that permits users to
  skip past repetitive navigation links.
• Often referred to as anchor tags
• Allow the virtual cursor to move to displayed
  text or form controls
• Used to skip to link contents or search results
• Frequently ignored or inoperable

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Electronic Forms
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. Combo
Boxes Checkboxes Edit Boxes Radio Buttons List
Boxes Button Controls
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Electronic Forms

• Labeling and use of the form fields
• The form control must be properly labeled.
• The control type must be identified.
• The state of the control must be spoken.
• The control needs to perform without cursor
  interruption.
• Instructions on how to use the form should be
  included.

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Alternative Text

• Link titles
• Graphics
• Electronic form titles
• Header titles
• Symbols
• Anchor tags
• Photographs

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Scripts

• When pages use 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.
• Scripts are used to send messages or perform to
  the user. The scripts that convey a message must
  be sent in such a way that the screen reader can
  speak it.
• Some script functions are used for mouse
  attributes.
• They must not interfere with keyboard access.

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Row Column Headers

• Columns
• All tables must be marked up properly. When
  navigating between the columns the screen reader
  reads the headers read properly.

• Rows
• All tables must be marked up properly. When
  navigating between the rows the screen reader
  reads the row headers properly.

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Associating Cells w/ Headers

• Markup shall be used to associate data cells and
  header cells for data that have two or more
  logical levels or row or column headers.
• Many of the tables used on a webpage or a web
  application are data tables.
• Specific textual or numerical values may be
  available in the cell content field within a
  table grid.
• As the focus moves between columns and cells in a
  row, the information contained in the content
  cell must be read by the assistive technology.
• The same key combinations used to navigate and
  read column and row headers are used to read the
  cell contents.

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Infrequently Violated Standards

• Bitmap Server Side
• Bitmap Client Side
• Frames
• Timed Responses
• Stylesheets
• Applets
• Text Only Alternative
• Blinking Cursor

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Assessing a Website for Compliance

• Functional testing with AT expert
• Testing the standard using assistive technology
• Test website concept and design with AT expert
• Ingestion of 508 standards in development life
  cycle
• The automated testing tool and where it needs to
  be introduced

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Applying Accessibility into Web Life Cycle

• Introduce 508/WCAG standards at requirements
  stage.
• Identify 508/WCAG standards that apply to the
  project.
• Implement an automated test tool to do
  pre-testing on web design concepts.

"cont'd
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• 508/WCAG standards are now incorporated into the
  products life cycle beginning with the first
  stage.
• Implement two-phase testing process
• Unit testing using an automated testing tool,
• Functional testing to be applied by AT expert

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Differences Between the Two Test Tools

• InFocus 5.0 Community Edition
• Community edition is a free version of InFocus
  available under open source license.
• InFocus core services provide
• API level access to testing functionality
• Access to the InFocus core source code
• API documentation and example integration code
• InFocus Desktop provides
• Single page testing
• Ability to modify and configure test sets
• Single page reporting and data export

"cont'd
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• HiSoftware AccVerify
• AccVerify testing tool (subscription service)
• Customize configuration (subscription service)
• Basic Best Practices (not available)
• Advanced best practices and web standard training
  (not available)

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AMP 2008
What is AMP?

• SSB BART Groups Accessibility Management
  Platform (AMP) 2008 provides a web-based platform
  for the implementation and management of
  accessibility across an enterprise.
• AMP is provided in hosted and customer
  installable forms.
• AMP is scalable from
• One to one million developers
• One hundred to one hundred million pages.

"cont'd
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• AMP provides support for a variety of domestic
  market accessibility standards including U.S.,
  E.U., U.K., Australian and Japan.
• AMP is on-demand and self-service, drastically
  reducing the cost of administering an
  accessibility program.

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AMP 2008

• InFocus 5.0
• Accessibility Best Practices
• eLearning courses
• Online Audit Access
• Standards Management

Core Functionality

• Audit Methodology
• Reference Library
• Organization Management Tools

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AMP History

• Continuous development on Accessibility
  Management Platform since 2000
• Internal deployment since 2000
• All SSB BART Group domain knowledge is stored in
  AMP.
• Access to AMP gives our customers immediate
  access to all of current best practices, courses,
  and auditing techniques.
• External deployment since 2006
• Web based report and license access for customer
• Web based best practice and training access added
  in 2008

"cont'd
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• Five hundred individual accessibility best
  practices (527)
• One hundred knowledge domains (101)
• AMP provides access to over
• Seven thousand audits (7191)
• Forty-two thousand human validated accessibility
  violations (42,733)
• Statistics provided as of April 2008

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Standards and Platforms

• Platforms
• Compiled Software
• JFC and SWT Java Applications
• .Net Applications
• MFC Windows Native Applications
• Macintosh Applications
• BMC Remedy Applications

• Standards
• WCAG 1.0
• WCAG 2.0
• Section 508 Original
• Section 508 Refresh
• JIS Standards
• NFB Standards

"cont'd
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• Web
• HTML
• XML
• JavaScript
• CSS
• AJAX
• Adobe Flash and Flex
• Adobe Acrobat Documents
• Streaming Audio and Video

• Stand Alone Systems
• Telecommunications Hardware
• IVR Systems
• Agent Systems
• Digital Imaging

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InFocus 5.0

• InFocus 5.0 Community Edition
• Community edition is a free version of InFocus
  available under open source license.
• InFocus Core Services provide
• API level access to testing functionality
• Access to the InFocus core source code
• API documentation and example integration code.
• InFocus Desktop provides
• Single page testing
• Ability to modify and configure test sets
• Single page reporting and data export.

"cont'd
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• InFocus 5.0 Professional Edition
• All Community Edition Features
• InFocus Desktop provides
• Site and application crawling
• Single and multi-page fixing
• Real time test and tolerance updates for all
  accessibility tests
• Full AMP integration for issue escrow and
  monitoring.
• AMP Integration provides
• Site monitoring and benchmarking
• Differential issue analysis
• Enterprise class reporting on system
  accessibility
• Ability to analyze systems with a mix of multiple
  media types, such as a web site containing HTML,
  Flash and PDF content

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Online Audit Access

• AMP provides online access to all SSB BART Group
  audit and testing results for an organization.
• Benefits
• Web-based escrow and distribution of
  accessibility testing
• Prioritization of all violations found within an
  audit

"cont'd
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• Access to specifications for all best practices
  required to achieve compliance
• Detailed page level and module level audit
  results including line number references
• Percentage based compliance reporting for
  relevant standards

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Standards Management

• Standards Management Benefits
• Automatic standards management and updates
• Automatic propagation of real time best practices
  and tests to AMP and InFocus Desktop
• Code level guidance for implementation teams

"cont'd
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• Unit based testing specification for QA teams
• No cost maintenance of standards over time as
  litigation, legislation and technology change
• Standard model for performing cost benefit
  analysis across requirements and prioritizing
  implementation activities

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Audit Methodology

• AMP provides online access to SSB BART Group
  audit methodology and audit report generation
  platform.
• Allows organizations to audit systems for
  accessibility using the same techniques employed
  by SSB BART Group
• Provides support for the implementation of
  accessibility directly into a customers QA
  process.
• Audit report generation platform provides
• Overview of Compliance
• High Level Guidance
• Compliance Percentages
• Code Level Guidance
• Prioritization of Issues
• Defensible Documentation

"cont'd
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• Audit Phases
• Test System Set-up
• Data Set Creation
• Groundwork
• Test Set Capture
• Use Case Creation
• Testing
• Global Testing
• Manual Testing
• Use Case Testing

• Reporting
• Analysis
• Authoring
• Delivery
• Report Delivery
• VPAT Creation
• Project Management

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Reference Library

• The reference library contains methodology
  reference manuals,, accessibility testing tools,
  and whitepapers on common accessibility issues.
  Examples include
• Online Color Contrast Testing Tools
• Overview of Validity of Alternative Interfaces

"cont'd
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• Methods for the Provision of Keyboard Focusable
  Text in AJAX Applications
• Overview of Treatment of Dynamic Client Side
  Content Changes in JAWS
• Techniques For The Creation of Accessible
  Simulated Dialogs
• Provision of Compliant Skip Links

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Organization Management

• AMP provides the ability to manage organizations
  and user groups in a simple web based fashion.
  Management tools allow for the maintenance of
• Users and Groups
• Systems and Reports
• Best Practices and Standards
• System Licenses
• Training Courses
• Certifications

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Thank You for Listening

• Glenn A. Smith
• President
• 2BAccessible Div. of VSSI
• Tel [phone]
• email Glenn_at_vssi.biz
• WWW.2baccessible.com
• Mary Jean Smith
• Vice President
• SSB/Bart Group
• 703-637-8955
• Mary.Smith_at_ssbbartgroup.com
• www.ssbbartgroup.com