NYS Forum IT Accessibility Committee December 2007 Newsletter

### Edited by Joel Obuchowski

Articles and ideas for future newsletters? Please e-mail them to Debi Orton dorton@goer.state.ny.us and Joel Obuchowski jobuchow@ins.state.ny.us

NEXT COMMITTEE MEETING

WHEN: Thursday, December 13, 2:30 - 4:00
WHERE: Forum Offices, 411 State Street
TOPICS: Validation Tool Status Report, Training Plans, Wiki status, event planning

As you know, we have spent most of the Autumn working on plans for the NYS-specific validation tool. Work is reaching a critical phase now, as we expect to have a product by the beginning of January. Training will be required, and we will need to plan for it. We will also need to discuss support and development of support resources. In addition, we have two events upcoming: Mike Short will present at the February CATA (Capital Area Technology Association) meeting, and we will be responsible for a full-day program at the Governor's AT Expo in May. We will need to settle on a topic (or a few topics) and make plans to deliver the sessions.

UPDATE ON NYS VALIDATION TOOL

Work is progressing with minimal slippage on the NYS Validation Tool.

The tool will consist of two components: a desktop version which allows agencies to validate intranets and development content behind firewalls, and an online version that allows agencies to validate content on their web sites. Evaluation of the desktop tool is complete, and The Forum has presented our change requests to HiSoftware. Evaluation of the online version of the tool began on 12/6 and is scheduled to close on 12/20.

The Forum has committed to providing two desktop licenses to each state agency (DOL is on that list), and access to the online tool is unrestricted for state agency staff and contractors working for state agencies.

Agency CIOs will receive a letter from The Forum asking him or her to designate an agency administrator. We expect that this person will distribute access to both the desktop and online versions of the tool. This will probably take place in mid-to-late January.

HiSoftware will provide limited hands-on training in Albany, primarily for people who are willing to provide support in the product for other state agency users, in addition to WebEx sessions to train people in both the online and desktop tool. Those sessions will be captured and will be available online for people who can't attend any of the hands-on or WebEx training sessions.

The IT Accessibility Committee will also be conducting several other awareness-raising events in the same time frame, to explain why accessibility is important and to explain the State's Mandatory Technology Standards and methods for achieving compliance.

We'll be providing a more detailed update at our December 13 committee meeting, which is open to anyone to attend.

UPCOMING EVENTS

The Forum and CATA Joint Holiday Party - December 19, 2007

Please be sure to register for The Forum/CATA Holiday Party. Last year's bash was a huge success, and expectations are high for this year's party. You'll find information on registering on The Forum's web site at http://www.nysforum.org.

FEATURE ARTICLE

Standard 7: Tables

In the past, tables were used a primary means to position text on a web page. With the advent of Cascading Style Sheets, more flexibility in formatting text became available. This innovation allows developers to create web pages with greater usability, where tables would be provided for what they were designed for, displaying tabular data.

7.1 All tables are required to have a summary attribute.

Since some sites still use tables for layout, the summary attribute is an easy way for non-visual users to distinguish which tables are used for the purpose of organizing information and which tables are used for layout. The summary attribute can describe the data in the table and how it is organized.

7.2 Tables used solely for formatting will specify that purpose using a summary attribute (e.g., summary="format" or summary="for layout only").

This checkpoint provides another way for individuals to easily distinguish between layout tables and data tables.

7.3 Tables with tabular data will use the scope attribute to identify both horizontal and vertical headings.

The scope attribute (scope="row" or scope="col") is intended to help orient the non-visual user in data tables. For example, in a table, column headings pertain to the entire column, while row headings pertain to the entire row. The concept behind scope is that future versions of assistive technology will be able to use the scope attribute to provide row and column context for the data contained in an individual cell.

7.4 Row and column headers will be identified for data tables.

This is a further contextual aide for dense data tables. As an example, consider a salary schedule for a state bargaining unit. These consist of 25-30 rows with up to 10-12 columns and except for column headings, each cell is a number. When row and column headers are identified properly, a screen reader user will hear the row heading and column heading voiced before the cell contents. In actuality, this is the same functionality being sought with the scope attribute, but is currently more widely supported.

For an example of how Checkpoints 7.3 and 7.4 are implemented, see http://www.goer.state.ny.us/cna/current/nyscopbassu/01appa.html

RESOURCES

Accessibility Kit for Sharepoint Now Available from Government Computer News

Users can now download software that will make Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 more accessible for people with disabilities, especially vision-impaired users.

The Accessibility Kit for SharePoint (AKS) went live this week and is available as a free download. The kit provides templates, master pages and controls that will make SharePoint-based Web sites easier to navigate for people with disabilities.

Microsoft hired HiSoftware to develop the kit. The software conforms to the World Wide Web Consortium's Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 1.0 Priority 1 and 2 checkpoints, which are collectively known as WCAG 1.0 AA. The guidelines are designed for Web content developers and developers of authoring tools.

The kit can also be used to address the exceptions that have been identified in Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act's Voluntary Product Accessibility Template for Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007.

Demonstration of Alternate Input

For those of you who have never seen someone control the computer with a head wand, you will want to check out http://www.maxdesign.com.au/2007/12/11/headwand-in-action/.

Thanks to Mike Hritcko for the tip!