508 Compliance
Section 508 Amendment of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 addresses issues of accessibility on the Internet. The purpose of 508 compliance is to make Internet and information technology accessible to people with disabilities. There are some added benefits to adhering to the 508 compliance rules. Making certain that all standard usages of the meta-tags and alt tags contain the proper keyword information will contribute positively to the quality and ranking of the site within search engine algorithms. One tool that can be used to perform an accessibility preview is Wave (web accessibility evaluation tool). It’s available for free at: http://wave.webaim.org/. Making sure that you strictly adhere to the accessibility requirements will help you avoid potential legal penalties. Although not covered by Statute 508 of the Rehabilitation Act, color blindness is an accessibility issue that should be addressed by testing the site using a color blindness simulator. The website http://colorfilter.wickline.org/ provides a free colorblind test.
By Jack Johnston, MA TESOL, MBA, MSML