What is 508 Compliance Accessibility?
508 Compliance Accessibility is a set of guidelines for designing and developing online content to be more accessible for people with disabilities. These guidelines are mandated by the U.S. federal government, under the Section 508 Amendment to the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, and include recommendations for making applications, websites and other digital assets more accessible to those with visual, hearing and physical impairments.
Benefits of 508 Compliance Accessibility
508 Compliance Accessibility can help improve the user experience for people of all abilities. By following the guidelines, organizations and businesses are better able to provide equal access to their online content, products, and services. This in turn can help organizations reach and serve a wider customer base, and ensure that people with disabilities have an equal opportunity to access their content.
Elements of 508 Compliance Accessibility
Some of the key elements of 508 Compliance Accessibility include:
- Alternative text for images
- Descriptive link text
- Keyboard navigation
- Contrast and color
- Semantic structure
- Multimedia captioning
Organizations and developers who work on websites and other online content should strive to make them accessible to people with disabilities. This can be achieved by making sure that their websites, applications and other assets adhere to the guidelines set out in the Section 508 Amendment.
Making Your Content 508 Compliant
The first step in making sure your online content is 508 compliant is evaluating your current content to identify any potential accessibility barriers. After identifying any issues, the next step is making the changes needed to ensure that your content meets the standards set out in the 508 Amendment. These changes may include making changes to the text size or font, adding alternative text for images, providing captions for videos and ensuring that keyboard navigation is available.
By making sure that your content is 508 Compliant, you can ensure that you are providing an equal opportunity for people with disabilities to access and use your content, products and services.
