Software Development

Web Accessibility FAQ

1. Why do I have to do this?
   • The web accessibility requirement is established by federal ADA and Section 508 law (Titles I & II of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and Section 508 of Title IV of the Workforce Investment Act of 1998 (PL 105-220) and North Dakota Human Rights statute (NDCC § 14-02.4 (1999)) also defines as discriminatory any action that prevents individuals with disabilities from access to benefits enjoyed by any person. To reduce the risk of legal action against the state or a state agency, the state created a policy that set June 30, 2003 as the date for all existing state agency sites to be brought into compliance. You can find the most recent web accessibility policy at www.nd.gov/ea/standards/ under the E-Government Team (EGT).
2. What happens if I don’t comply?
   • ITD produces an agency summary report on a semi-annual basis and published to all agency heads and the State Information Technology Advisory Committee.
3. How to determine if our site is ADA accessible?
   • There are several software validation tools that you may use to check the accessibility of a web site. The most common of these tools is Bobby. Bobby is a comprehensive web accessibility software tool designed to help identify barriers to accessibility and encourage compliance with existing accessibility guidelines. A free version of this tool (called WebXact) is available on the Watchfire web site (webxact.watchfire.com). This freeware version may be used to check individual pages of a site. To check the entire site at once, a copy of Bobby must be purchased. The ITD E-Team has a full copy of Bobby and an online work request may be submitted requesting an accessibility check of your agency site.
   • The results of the Bobby tool are not intended for the inexperienced web developer. The interpreter will need strong HTML skills.
   • Additional information may also be found on the Web Development page of the ITD Software Development web site (http://www.nd.gov/itd/software/web-dev.html).
4. Can ITD check our site for accessibility and whom should I contact.
   • The ITD E-Team has a full copy of Bobby and you can submit an online work request asking for an accessibility check of your agency site.
5. What do we need to do to get the site compliant?
   • There are 3 levels of compliance: Level I, Level II, and Level III. The state compliance requirement is at level II. All priority I and II errors need to be resolved.
6. Who can do this?
   • There are a few options for the agency to achieve compliancy with their websites;
     1. Complete the work within the agency by trained and experienced web designers.
     2. Work with a vendor that has knowledge of accessible web development.
     3. Submit a work request to ITD.
   • Keep in mind that even small changes made to web pages without checking for compliancy, could result in accessibility issues. For instruction on how to use Bobby to run your own accessibility checks, see the Accessibility section on the ITD web site (http://www.nd.gov/itd/software/web-dev.html).
7. Can ITD help me get this done and how do I get it started?
   • Yes, ITD can help. ITD can work with your department to bring your current site to a level of compliance through an upgrade or a re-design. (See question 8.) For ITD assistance, your agency lead IT coordinator must submit an online work request. The online work request system is available in the Support section of the ITD home page (http://www.nd.gov/itd/index.html).
8. How much will it cost to make my site accessible?
   • It depends on what changes are needed to the current site to achieve compliance. ITD will first determine the status of your site by doing an accessibility compliance check on your site using an accessibility tool such as ‘Bobby’, to determine the web site level of compliance. An estimate is then prepared based on the changes required. Dependent on the compliance information obtained from the Bobby tool, an estimate may be prepared for either an upgrade to the site keeping generally the same design or for a redesign of the site. Occasionally a re-design is the lower estimate due to the extensive work necessary to upgrade the existing html code.
9. Do I have to comply with the accessibility standard if I know the intended audience for the site does not include people with disabilities?
   • In most cases it is less costly to address the accessibility issues during initial development. As it cannot be known for certain that an individual with a disability will never access a web site it is best to address the compliance issues. Doing so may provide a simple means of compliance or development. There are some products that are not accessible and, wherever possible, it is suggested to replace them with accessible versions. GIS (Geographic Information System) is currently not an accessible product and the National Access Board has acknowledged the fact that it has become a universal tool and it’s not accessible, but accepts its need and use. ESRI, a developer of GIS software, is currently working on the development of an accessible version.
10. I want my site to use enhanced graphics and visually stimulating features. How can I do this and still make it accessible?
    • Flash and Shockwave are the 2 most commonly used methods of site enhancement. However, due to their nature it’s very difficult and in some cases impossible to make these types of animation accessible. So, at this time, ITD recommends that an accessible alternative to be used.
11. What are some examples of visually appealing web sites that also meet accessibility guidelines?
    • ND Information Technology Department,
    • ND Office of State Tax Commissioner,
    • ND Department of Veterans Affairs,
    • ND Office of the Governor,
    • ND AMBER Alert,
    • ND Enterprise Systems,
    • ND Geographic Information Systems,
    • ND Department of Labor
12. What if the software tools used (like GIS) do not meet accessibility guidelines?
    • There are some products that are not accessible and, wherever possible, it is suggested to replace them with accessible versions. GIS (Geographic Information System) is currently not an accessible product and the National Access Board has acknowledged the fact that it has become a universal tool and it’s not accessible, but accepts it need and use. ESRI, a developer of GIS software, is currently working on the development of an accessible version.
13. Where can I find additional information about accessibility on the web?
    • WebAIM,
    • W3C Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 1.0,
    • Web Content Accesibility Guidelines 2.0
    • Usability.gov,
    • The Access Board – a federal agency committed to accessible design,
    • Designing More Usable Web Sites – trace.wisc.edu
    • How People With Disabilities Use the Web
    • Design Of HTML Pages To Increase Their Accessibility To Users With Disabilities
    • World Wide Access: Accessible Web Design
      
14. Where can I get training?
    • WebAIM How-To and Resources,
    • ITTATC Web Accessibility Course,
    • How to read the Bobby report
15. When is the test run? Will I have a chance to fix problems?
    • If your site is tested by the automated testing process, the tests are generally run the first few working days of the month. Since the formal reports are only done semi-annually, the other five months worth of tests is your opportunity to fix any problems before they show up on the formal report.
    • If your site is tested by the manual testing process, then the test is only run on the semi-annual month. This gives agencies no chance to make changes prior to the formal report.
    • Nothing is perfect including testing. Therefore, if sites have a compliance rate of greater than 95%, it is clear the agency is doing its best to meet requirements and they are treated as fully compliant.
16. What is the difference between automated and manual tests. What software and version is used to do the testing? Why is it when I check the site myself, it appears to be compliant?
    • Bobby version 4.X contained a scripting tool that allows ITD to kick off the testing process and produce the results of the tests without any other intervention. This takes very little time to perform. Unfortunately, when Bobby 5.X was released, that scripting tool was no longer available. That means that testing a site requires someone to manually start the test, and manually export the results. This takes a considerable amount of time and since ITD does not currently charge anyone for these tests we can't afford to do all 100+ sites in this manner.
    • If your site is tested using the older version of Bobby, we have found that it occasionally finds a false positive. In other words, when the same page is tested using a newer version, no error is found. Generally, from a testing standpoint, the errors are few enough that we aren't too concerned about them. If a site becomes consistently poor or the number of false errors are high enough we will usually recommend shifting the site to the manual process.
17. Why is my site listed as untestable? What does this mean?
    • Untestable simply means that for whatever reason, we could not reliably test the site. This does not indicate the site is non-compliant. We simply could not get an accurate test that we feel comfortable with.