Evaluation of website accessibility of state vocational rehabilitation agencies

Journal of Rehabilitation,  Jan-March, 2008  by Steven R. Sligar,  Xiaoming Zeng

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Table 1
State VR Websites and Indicators of Accessibility (N=80)

Agency     Bobby      A       AA      AAA
           Approved   (%)     (%)     (%)

General    6 (12)     0 (0)   1 (2)   2 (4)
Blind      0 (0)      0 (0)   0 (0)   0 (0)
Combined   6 (8)      0 (0)   1 (1)   2 (3)

Agency     508      Others    None      Total
           (%)      (%)       (%)       (%)

General    3 (6)    14 (28)   25 (49)   51 (100)
Blind      3 (12)   17 (59)   9 (31)    29 (100)
Combined   6 (8)    31 (39)   34 (43)   80 (100)

Note. Percents do not sum to 100 due to rounding

Table 2
Frequencies and Percentages of Agencies with Three Levels
of WCAG Compliance.

           None    A         AA        AAA     Total
                   (%)       (%)       (%)     (%)

General    5 (9)   36 (71)   9 (18)    1 (2)   51 (100)
Blind      2 (7)   18 (62)   7 (24)    2 (7)   29 (100)
Combined   7 (9)   54 (68)   16 (20)   3 (4)   80 (100)

Note. Percents do not sum to 100 due to rounding.

Table 3
VR Websites and WCAG Compliance

Priority   Description                          General *   Blind **

1          Provide alternative text for all
             images                             13 (24)     11 (38)
           Provide alternative content for
             each OBJECT                        1 (2)       1 (3)
           Provide alternative text for all
             image map hot-spots (AREAS)        2 (4)       0 (0)
           Provide alternative text for all
             image-type buttons in forms        1 (2)       0 (0)
           Give each FRAME a title              1 (2)       0 (0)
           Provide alternative text for each
             APPLET                             0 (0)       0 (0)
           Each FRAME must reference an HTML
             file                               0 (0)       0 (0)

2          Use relative sizing and
             positioning, rather than
             absolute                           37 (73)     19 (66)
           Create link phrases that make
             sense when read out of context     21 (41)     12 (41)
           Make sure event handlers do not
             require use of a mouse             15 (29)     6 (21)
           Explicitly associate form controls
             and their labels with the LABEL
             element                            11 (22)     7 (24)
           Use a public text identifier in a
             DOCTYPE statement                  10 (20)     3 (10)
           Do not use the same link phrase
             more  than once when the links
             point to different URL             13 (25)     2 (7)
           Nest headings properly               1 (2)       1 (3)
           Do not cause a page to redirect to
             a new URL                          1 (2)       0 (0)
           Include a document TITLE             1 (2)       0 (0)
           Avoid blinking text created with
             the BLINK element                  1 (2)       0 (0)
           Do not cause a page to refresh
             automatically                      0 (0)       0 (0)
           Provide a NOFRAMES section when
             using FRAMES                       0 (0)       0 (0)
           Avoid scrolling text crated with
             the MARQUEE element                0 (0)       0 (0)

3          Separate adjacent links with more
             than white space                   45 (88)     24 (83)
           Provide a summary for tables         34 (67)     17 (59)
           Identify the language of the text    28 (55)     13 (45)
           Include default, place holding
             characters in edit boxes and
             text areas                         25 (29)     10 (35)
           Client-side image map contains a
             link no presented elsewhere on
             the page                           8 (16)      2 (7)

Priority   Description                          Total ***   p value

1          Provide alternative text for all
             images                             24 (30)     .243
           Provide alternative content for
             each OBJECT                        2 (2)       .682
           Provide alternative text for all
             image map hot-spots (AREAS)        2 (2)       .280
           Provide alternative text for all
             image-type buttons in forms        1 (1)       .448
           Give each FRAME a title              1 (1)       .448
           Provide alternative text for each
             APPLET                             0 (0)       N/A
           Each FRAME must reference an HTML
             file                               0 (0)       N/A

2          Use relative sizing and
             positioning, rather than
             absolute                           56 (70)     .509
           Create link phrases that make
             sense when read out of context     33 (41)     .986
           Make sure event handlers do not
             require use of a mouse             21 (26)     .394
           Explicitly associate form controls
             and their labels with the LABEL
             element                            18 (22)     .791
           Use a public text identifier in a
             DOCTYPE statement                  13 (16)     .280
           Do not use the same link phrase
             more  than once when the links
             point to different URL             15 (19)     .041
           Nest headings properly               2 (2)       .682
           Do not cause a page to redirect to
             a new URL                          1 (1)       .448
           Include a document TITLE             1 (1)       .448
           Avoid blinking text created with
             the BLINK element                  1 (1)       .448
           Do not cause a page to refresh
             automatically                      0 (0)       N/A
           Provide a NOFRAMES section when
             using FRAMES                       0 (0)       N/A
           Avoid scrolling text crated with
             the MARQUEE element                0 (0)       N/A

3          Separate adjacent links with more
             than white space                   69 (86)     .494
           Provide a summary for tables         51 (64)     .472
           Identify the language of the text    41 (51)     .386
           Include default, place holding
             characters in edit boxes and
             text areas                         25 (31)     .638
           Client-side image map contains a
             link no presented elsewhere on
             the page                           10 (12)     .253

Note. Percents do not sum to 100 due to rounding. The
checkpoints are categorized by priority level and ranked by
frequency of violations from the highest to lowest.

* General N=51 (%) ** Blind N=29 (%) *** Total N=80 (%)

COPYRIGHT 2008 National Rehabilitation Association
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