Accessibility Policy

Purpose of the Policy
The County of Sacramento is committed to providing employees and the public, including individuals with disabilities, access to Web-based information and services either directly through the Web or through alternative channels.

This document states the Web Accessibility Policy for the County of Sacramento in the continued commitment to provide equal access to government services for individuals with disabilities.

Scope of this Policy
This policy applies to all entities under the jurisdiction of the Sacramento County Board of Supervisors. All County websites, whether centrally hosted and managed by the Office of Communications & Information Technology (OCIT), or hosted and managed by County agencies, departments or external vendors shall comply with this policy.

This policy applies to the presentation of information whether it is from a web page or a web accessed application on either the Internet or the Intranet.

Policy for Web Accessibility

It shall be the policy of the County of Sacramento that information and services on Sacramento County Government web sites be designed to be accessible to people with disabilities.

It is the responsibility of departments and agencies to become familiar with the guidelines for achieving these standards and to apply these standards in designing and creating any official County of Sacramento web site.

Effective Date of this Policy
The effective date for this policy is May 30, 2003.

Known Limitations of this Policy
Individuals with (or without) disabilities access the Web with widely varying sets of capabilities, software, and hardware. While this policy does provide the ability for individuals with disabilities to access Web-based information, this policy does not include requirements for the production of every known accessibility need, due to known limitations on existing technology. There may be other circumstances, independent of technology, that may limit accessibility of County websites.

While every effort will be made, it is understood that creating accessible formats for some historical documentation and graphical renderings maintained by the County may be technologically unfeasible.

Implementation of this Policy

NEW WEB PAGES & CONTENT
All new web pages, new documents and new forms posted shall comply with the standard effective May 30, 2003.

EXISTING WEB PAGES & CONTENT
Existing web sites and pages must be brought into compliance with the standard as part of any substantive site additions, updates or redesign. Substantive changes include, but are not limited to, changes to navigation structure, redesign of site ‘look and feel’ and addition of new content areas, programs or services. Priority for implementing accessibility standards should be given to services accessed by the citizen on a frequent basis and related information such as: major policy documents and reports, forms, materials associated with public meetings, human resources information, and top level department and agency pages.

Compliance Review for this Policy
The Web Development Steering Committee or its designated representatives will conduct a semi-annual review for compliance with this policy.

Waivers to this Policy
Any requests for waivers to the standard shall follow the current ITPB Policy on Exceptions to Policy. Requests for waivers must present a business case expressing the undue burden that would be imposed on the agency or department.

This policy will be updated as required when new regulations (or court cases) impacting accessibility are released.

Standards in order to Comply with the Policy

1. AVAILABILITY OF INFORMATION (ALTERNATE FORMAT) STANDARD
Each site shall contain a contact mechanism such as an email link so those individuals who have trouble accessing any portion of the site can report the problem to the site's Webmaster or a designated individual. A link to the following text must be available on the homepage for each web site.

If you have a disability and the format of any material on our website interferes with your ability to access some information contained on our site, please email the County of Sacramento webmaster at: (insert email address for website webmaster here.) The webmaster will refer your request to the appropriate Department or program for assistance. To enable us to respond in a manner that will be of most help to you, please indicate the nature of the accessibility need, your preferred format (electronic format, large print, etc.) the web address of the requested material, and your full contact information so we can reach you if questions arise while fulfilling your request.

2. WEB SITE CREATION STANDARD
The standard comprises Section 508 web accessibility guidelines and the World Wide Web Consortia (W3C) content guidelines of May 1999. These guidelines have been adapted for the County of Sacramento and shall be used to provide optimal access to web sites and content.

Compliance with the following set of standards will benefit not only our citizens with disabilities, but will also provide an additional benefit to those users who require keyboard access or use text-based browsers, low-end processors, slow modem connections and/or no multi-media capabilities on their computer.

• (a) Whenever possible, a text equivalent for every non-text element shall be provided (e.g., via alt”, “longdesc”, or in element content.). When a text equivalent cannot be provided, information on how to obtain an alternate format of the element must be included. An exclusion is allowed at this time for real time and stored audio and video media.
• (b) Equivalent alternatives provided for any multimedia shall be synchronized with the presentation.
• (c) Web pages shall be designed so that all information conveyed with color is also available without color, for example from context of markup.
• (d) Documents shall be organized so they are readable without requiring an associated style sheet.
  • Guideline to achieve this standard: use the DL, DT, and DD tags in place of the span tag if using Cascading Style Sheets for layout.
• (e) Redundant text links shall be provided for each active region of a server side image map.
  • Guideline to achieve this standard: Do not use server side image maps.
• (f) Client-side image maps shall be provided instead of server-side image maps except where the regions cannot be defined with an available geometric shape.
  • Guideline to achieve this standard: Avoid using image maps due to the complexity of making changes. If image maps are used then alt tags will be required in each map region.
• (g) Row and column headers shall be identified for data tables.
• (h) Markup shall be used to associate data cells and header cells for data tables that have two or more logical levels of row and column headers.
• (i) Frames shall be titled with the text that facilitates frame identification and navigation.
  • Guideline to achieve this standard: do not use frames.
• (j) Pages shall be designed with a frequency greater than 2HZ and lower than 55HZ to avoid causing the screen to flicker.
  • Guideline to achieve this standard: Do not use animated GIF files, Macromedia Flash, or java animation applets.
• (k) A text-only page, with equivalent information or functionality, shall be provided to make a web site comply with the provisions of this part, when compliance cannot be accomplished in any other way. The content of the text-only page shall be updated whenever the primary page changes
• (l) When pages utilize scripting languages to display content, or create interface elements, the information provided by the script shall be identified with functional text that can be read by assistive technology.
• (m) When a web page requires that an applet, plug-in or other application be present on the client system to interpret page content, the page must provide a link to a plug-in or applet that complies with section 508 items (a) through (l). Non-accessible PDF documents will require either text or html alternatives.
  • Guideline to achieve this standard: Have one central page, maintained by OCIT, to provide the links to sites such as Adobe and Real, and Macromedia. This will reduce the work required to keep links up to date countywide.
• (n) When electronic forms are designed to be completed on-line, the form shall allow people using assistive technology to access the information, field elements, and functionality required for completion and submission of the form, including all directions and cues.
• (o) A method shall be provided that permits users to skip repetitive navigation links.
  • Guideline to achieve this standard: The first link on every page allow user to skip the other links and jump right to the main content of the page. This link could be made invisible for the sighted user since the assistive technology screen reader would still pick it up. The skip navigation link should have meaningful text like “Select this link to skip to main content”.
• (p) When a time response is required, the user shall be alerted and given sufficient time to indicate more time is required.
  • Guideline to achieve this standard: Do not use the SetTimeOut or ClearTimeOut scripting methods for controlling how long a user can stay on a page.

From W3C priority one checkpoints:

• 4.1 - Clearly identify changes in the natural language of a document's text and any text equivalents (e.g. captions).
• 6.2 - Ensure that text equivalents for dynamic content are updated when the dynamic content changes.
• 6.3 Ensure that pages are usable when scripts, applets, or other programmatic objects are turned off or not supported. If this is not possible, provide equivalent information on an alternative accessible page.

3. PORTABLE DOCUMENT FORMAT (PDF) STANDARD

This section of the standard refers specifically to document image files that are created using the Portable Document Format. PDF is specified here because it is so widely used. The standard is intended to apply to any document image file, however, regardless of its format.

PDF Documents
PDF is a commonly used format for making documents available over the Internet. Some PDF documents cannot be converted to speech output that is readable by assistive technologies, while other PDF documents cannot be converted to speech output accurately. In order to make information posted on County web sites usable by assistive technologies, the following requirements apply to the use of non-accessible PDF documents:

Each non-accessible PDF document posted on a County web site requires either:

1. an equivalent version of the document also be posted in ASCII or HTML text format and that a link to the alternate version of the document be prominently displayed next to the link leading to the non-accessible PDF document file; or,
   
2. a text explanation of how an accessible version of the non-accessible PDF document may be obtained be prominently displayed next to the link leading to the non-accessible PDF document. At a minimum, the explanation shall identify a telephone number or an email address which can be contacted to request an accessible version of the document; the format(s) in which the accessible version of that document may be obtained (e.g., ASCII text file, HTML text file); and the maximum number of business days before the accessible version of the document will be sent to the requesting individual.

EXCEPTION: An exception to the requirements in (1) and (2) above shall be allowed in the following circumstance: those non-accessible PDF documents that depict information that, by its very nature is graphical, such as maps, building plan drawings, historical documents and pictorial diagrams, are exempt from the requirement to post an accessible version. However, a brief text description of the general nature of the information contained in the non-accessible PDF document shall be prominently displayed next to the link leading to the non-accessible PDF document.

PDF Forms
This section of the standard refers specifically to electronic forms that are created using the Portable Document Format. PDF is specified here because it is so widely used.

The standard is intended to apply to any electronic form, however, regardless of its format.

Some forms created as PDF files cannot be accurately converted to speech output that is usable by assistive technologies. In order to make forms posted on County web sites accessible by assistive technologies, the following requirements apply to the use of non-accessible PDF forms:

Each form posted on a County web site as a non-accessible PDF file requires an equivalent version of the form also be posted in a format that allows a person using speech output to access the form's field elements, information, and functionality required for completion and submission of the form, including all directions and cues. A link to the alternate form shall be prominently displayed next to the link leading to the non-accessible PDF form.

EXCEPTION: An exception to the requirements shall be allowed in the following circumstance: If a non-accessible PDF form is made available only to provide a means to distribute it electronically so that users can print it and fill it out by hand, then an accessible alternative is not required. The web page with this PDF form must state that the PDF form is made available only to provide a means to distribute it electronically so that users can print it.

WEB DESIGN & CONTENT GUIDELINES FOR ACHIEVING THE POLICY STANDARDS

1. 1. Maintain a standard page layout and navigation method throughout the site whenever possible. Layout should be easy to scan and make limited use of columns and table cells.
2. Avoid the unnecessary use of icons, graphics and photographs and minimize the file size of images.
3. Provide a link to contact information which should include department/contact name, mailing address, phone number, fax number (if applicable) and e-mail link.
4. Use informative hyperlink text that provides information regarding the destination of the link.
5. Use standard sans-serif fonts such as Arial and Verdana and avoid the use of serif, italic and stylized fonts.
6. Avoid the use of acronyms and technical language. Write clearly and concisely.
7. Provide clear instructions on how to download forms or access information. If a plug-in or download is necessary, provide directions.