Irony alert: Web Axe, a blog on web design accessibility, has reviewed the government's new official Section 508 website, which provides information for agencies on meeting federal requirements on ensuring their sites can be used by people with disabilities, and concluded that its not very accessibile itself.
What was "a great opportunity to move forward in the field of web accessibility," the review says, is instead a "failed attempt."
Among the issues, according to Web Axe:
- "No headings! Not one. Need headings in markup, period."
- "Labels for text inputs are incorrect; there's a label tag, but no text label! See the search text and email address for news signup."
- "Alternative text for many images need improvement, such as removing "Graphic for." Better yet, do not use a graphic when it's not needed..."
COMMENTS
Odd - THIS page has 181 violations of Section 508 + WCAG 2.0 Level AA errors! Examples include a text box with no label, a link that says "Click Here," no skip navigation past all the links common on all pages, and more.
The GOOD news is - THIS page is head-over-heels more accessible than section508.gov. For example THIS page makes excellent use of headings to form document structure (which helps navigation using screen readers).
Accessibility is a work in progress. And THIS page ranks high in "how we doing?" with room for improvement.
Terry Bennington 08/04/10 07:38 am ET