eLearning specifically and education, in general, must be accessible to everyone. The news, public interest stories, books, social media, employment opportunities, and online courses are all hosted online. It has become an inconvenience to use a paper copy. Since this is the medium of choice for information, it is even more critical that everyone has access to the best of their abilities. Making our website and eLearning content accessible may increase search engine optimization and the audiences we can reach, but that should not be the primary motivation. Learn how to take steps to make your online content more accessible so it meets 508 compliance guides.
Guidelines for 508 compliance
An excellent resource for guidelines for accessibility standards is W3.org The World Web Consortium (W3C) develops recommendations that are reviewed by the Accessible Platform Architects Working Group. These guidelines are called the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG).
Where to start:
- First, make use of headings to break up your content. Using headers is something I frequently forget!
- Use short phrases to describe images and buttons.
- Describe the data that is found in tables and graphs. Using text makes this information available to screen readers.
- For audio content, a transcript should be included on your website or eLearning. The authoring tool that I use most often to create eLearning modules, Articulate Storyline 360, has made this much easier by introducing text to speech, closed captions, and a handy place to include a transcript in the Articulate Storyline Player.
- Make sure that your color choice and text style are easy to read for people with low vision or color blindness. Check the contrast ratio at WebAIM Contrast Checker. W3.org has detailed information on each of the standards.
- One standard that I need to remind myself of constantly is that the user must have adequate time to read the content. As a fast reader, I tend not to allow enough time for individual pop-ups to be read.
There used to be a mall in Cincinnati, Ohio, which had video games and an arcade right inside one of the entrances. You had no warning as you entered the mall and were assaulted with flashing lights, strobe lights, loud noises, and other sights and sounds of an arcade. People with epilepsy and as yet undiagnosed seizure disorders were having seizures as they walked in the door. How is this pertinent? As gamification increases in elearning, we need to be careful not to cause seizures by including flashing lights and other content that may cause photosensitive reactions.
Ready to check your website or eLearning for 508 compliance?
- Make sure that you choose a font that is easy to read and of adequate size.
- Have adequate contrast between color blocks and text blocks and consider color blindness. Red-green color blindness is the most common. Check your color contrast.
- Use alternative-text for all images, buttons, tables, and graphs.
- Make sure that all content is accessible with a keyboard alone, i.e., a mouse is not needed.
- Avoid flashing lights or pages that flicker at more than 2 Hz or less than 55 Hz.
- Make sure there is a transcript for all audio content and audio content for all text or at least able to be read with a screen reader.
- Make sure all of your headings have a meaningful hierarchy.
- All forms that need to be filled in should have text labels.
- Have user controls to start, stop, and replay the audio.
- Make sure that your closed captions are accurate and well-timed. Auto-generated ones are usually not.
- Consider users with mobility issues when designing your menu or when including large headers.
- PDFs must be available in another form. They are not accessible to screen readers.
- Use a tool to check your website for accessibility.
- The screen reader will read nothing that is not initially on the page when it launches.
- Drop-down menus are not accessible on a screen reader.
508 Compliance
Section 508 is part of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, which requires all federal agencies and their contractors to make sure that their electronic content is available and accessible to all. The United States Access Board, where you can find the complete list of standards, is found here.
According to the Access Board, all public-facing content must comply with 508 compliance. For non-public-facing content, they require 508 compliance for content in the following eight categories:
- Emergency notifications
- Initial or final decisions adjudicating an administrative claim or proceeding
- Internal or external program or policy announcements
- Notices of benefits, program eligibility, employment opportunities, or personnel actions
- Formal acknowledgment of receipt
- Survey questionnaires
- Templates and forms
- Educational and training materials
