Heads up! To view this whole video, sign in with your Courses account or enroll in your free 7-day trial. Sign In Enroll
Preview
Start a free Courses trial
to watch this video
Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 (generally referred to as Section 508) defines how federal agencies must comply in terms of accessibility of technology.
Related Discussions
Have questions about this video? Start a discussion with the community and Treehouse staff.
Sign upRelated Discussions
Have questions about this video? Start a discussion with the community and Treehouse staff.
Sign up
Section 508 of
the Rehabilitation Act of 1973,
0:00
generally referred to as section 508,
defines how federal
0:04
agencies in the United States must comply
in terms of accessibility of technology.
0:09
And it's a set of standards that
you're fairly likely to come across at
0:14
some point in your career
as a web professional.
0:18
Even if you don't work directly for
a federal agency, one might
0:21
contract the work of building a website or
application out to your company.
0:25
Partly because it's specific to the US,
we won't delve as far into Section 508 but
0:30
we'll cover the basics.
0:34
And as usual, you'll find additional
information in the teachers notes.
0:36
At Section508.gov,
0:41
you'll find all the information you
could ever want on Section 508.
0:43
Let's start with the Learn section.
0:48
Here, you'll find information on
the law itself, standards that guide
0:51
specific implementation and other
forms of federal accessibility wisdom.
0:56
Pay attention to that last section,
Accessible Meetings.
1:01
We're not just dealing
with web content here.
1:06
If you need to comply with section 508
that includes things like meetings and
1:09
documents.
1:14
Backing up to the homepage and
focusing on the Build section now,
1:16
we can see that there's guidance
broken into three sections.
1:21
Electronic Documents, Web Pages and
Video and Social Media.
1:25
While our focus in this
course is on web development
1:29
these are all vital parts of opening up
access to information from the government.
1:33
Stepping into the Web Pages sections
leads to a robust list of tips and
1:38
links to resources that should be
helpful in a variety of situations.
1:43
Ranging from starting a new site,
1:48
to evaluating the accessibility
of an existing one.
1:50
Here in the US, we've got a number of
accessibility standards that apply to
1:55
different organizations, largely those
related to government and education.
1:59
See the teacher's notes for
a list of federal and regional guidelines.
2:04
It's not feasible for us to try and
2:09
cover every single law that governs
accessibility standards in the world.
2:11
So, my advice is to Google
accessibility laws in your local.
2:16
If one is available, consider speaking
with an accessibility professional.
2:20
Lawsuits over inaccessible
content do happen.
2:25
But we should be taking steps that
make them totally unnecessary anyway.
2:29
If we build projects the right way, so
2:33
that they're accessible to as many
people as possible from the start,
2:35
there will never be cause for
a user to feel they've been left out.
2:39
If your unsure, start by using WCAG
levels A and AA as a baseline.
2:43
And make adjustments if there
are any additional requirements.
2:48
Your probably itching to try your
hand at making something to test
2:52
against the criteria
we've been talking about.
2:55
The next stage we'll walk
through techniques we can employ
2:58
to satisfy many of
the WCAG's success criteria.
3:01
Take your time.
3:04
Get comfortable with some of
the terms we've discussed.
3:06
Review what you've learned, and
I'll see you in the next stage.
3:09
You need to sign up for Treehouse in order to download course files.
Sign upYou need to sign up for Treehouse in order to set up Workspace
Sign up