Section 508 Compliance - Mambo

cozimek · April 20th, 2005, 20:31

hey everyone,

If we really want to have Mambo used by US gov't groups (and all those funded by US gov't), we need to make sure our Mambo sites are section 508 compliant. Has anyone made a Mambo site that was strictly 508 compliant that could share their struggles to make this happen? What would it take to get Mambo out of the box running on 508 compliant code?

Best,
Ryan

MasterChief · April 20th, 2005, 20:38

cozimek, can you give us the dot point version of what Section 508 requires.

eyezberg · April 21st, 2005, 00:31

http://www.section508.gov/

(or specifically for web: http://www.section508.gov/index.cfm?...tent&ID=12#Web )

cozimek · April 22nd, 2005, 04:18

Thanks eyezberg,

That's what I get for my US-centric view. =) Passing section 508 compliance tests is integral to being able to launch Mambo sites within gov't agencies. I'm not an accessibility expert, but if there are some here, I'd be happy to get their point of view.

-Ryan

YTW · April 23rd, 2005, 00:02

Short answer is Yes mambo is widely 508 compliant.

Though it would be nice indeed that the dev team also cares a bit about accessibility matters for 4.5.x series...

cozimek · April 24th, 2005, 12:55

YTW - thanks for the heads up.

What we're looking for are some case studies, reports, or any documentation or reviews that people have done in creating sites that are fully section 508 compatible. Has anyone run their sites through testers like Bobby or Alice? Did they pass off the initial install of Mambo, or was there a lot of tweaking that was necessary?

Best,
Ryan

MasterChief · April 26th, 2005, 20:03

Running tests from one site, while there are a number of warnings, the only glaring error is the lack of <label> tags for form elements. We can certainly attend to that.

YTW · April 26th, 2005, 23:54

Fantastic news !!!

Contact from, search, login, polls....will be labelled. great

Masterchief, please run WAI A testing, and you will also see that there are only very few errors. Bundle that with 508, and you have a strong message to send to the market

_Jay · April 27th, 2005, 07:36

fyi-

Get the Web Developer for Firefox. It has a built in tab for validation. Just visit a web page click tab for it to automatically check your page validation for accessiblity! It's very cool!

http://www.chrispederick.com/work/firefox/webdeveloper/
https://addons.update.mozilla.org/ex...info.php?id=60

[EDIT:] Found another cool one. https://addons.update.mozilla.org/ex...umpg=10&id=165

MasterChief · April 27th, 2005, 14:54

Thanks YTW, Jay. I've already flagged some of these to be fixed

I've also started a new section in the Advanced Templating chapter in the Dev Manual on Templating Standards. Please feel free to contact me about additions to this.

cozimek · April 28th, 2005, 04:36

Andrew, Joe, and YTW,

*tear

This is why I love open source! We are strong proponents of Mambo, and we want to see it grow professionally into the US gov't. If you could address the Label issues, this would be a strong step in the right direction. For clarification, for most Section 508 compliance issues, they are related to the front-end, not the back-end. So, the focus of energy should be on the front-end code, not the administrator code.

I'm glad to hear that people have found that sites are either close to or are passing Section 508 compliance without much tweaking to the core!

I'll keep you posted as we begin more US gov't work with Mambo.

Best,
Ryan

MasterChief · April 28th, 2005, 23:50

Question on the <label> compliance. If you take search box (aka search module) www.mamboserver.com for example, there is no text associated with the control apart from the module title or the prebuilt text in the control itself. Would you include a 'hidden' label in this instance?

MasterChief · April 28th, 2005, 23:55

OK that works (done on help.mamboserver.com). It now has no Priority 1 errors, one Priority 2 error (related to the fact that 'Read more...' occurs more than once) and one Priority 3 error (related to table summaries, which are not practicle for structural tables).

YTW · April 29th, 2005, 01:14

Great !!!

Priority II: Regarding the read more issue, we have a possible turnaround for that: http://www.55thinking.com/55thinking...ategory/71/83/

Have you enabled access keys for your menu systems ?

Priority III: Don't consider these validator as a bible. Nested tables are plain wrong when you think accessibility, be it with a table summary or not

I think 508 WAI A is easy, WAI AA may require some additional twinkings, but should not represent a big deal neither

Super Mother · April 30th, 2005, 13:29

MasterChief,
The changes you are referring to, in what version will they be available or are they available now in 4.5.2 specifically refereing to the label tags, etc..? Also the template standard information is this also available for us to read. thanks
Great product!!!

MasterChief · May 4th, 2005, 00:09

Next version (4.5.3) will be improved in relation to the label tags.

YTW · May 4th, 2005, 00:22

Nice to hear that news

ddebrum · June 2nd, 2005, 11:52

Not a Mambo user yet (still trying to get a testing environment working) but I am evaluating for Cal Poly State University in San Luis Obispo, CA (part of the California State University System). ADA is a MAJOR issue here and we are in the process of implementing a statewide mandate document for ADA compliance which will outline specific requirements for adhering toe ADA from an educational standpoint.

At this point that all boils down to compliance of Section 508 Priority 1 and 2 errors (Priority 3 is a judgment call at this time). Additionly we are implementing enterprise testing software that when installed will allow us to do a complete test of Mambo on our servers (ACCverify/Monitor).

As many of you know, strict adherence to XHTML development almost totally ensures compliance (almost).

I would be happy to share the CSU compliance info with this forum once it is finalized.

swordhert · June 2nd, 2005, 15:20

Quote:

Originally Posted by ddebrum

Not a Mambo user yet (still trying to get a testing environment working) but I am evaluating for Cal Poly State University in San Luis Obispo, CA (part of the California State University System). ADA is a MAJOR issue here and we are in the process of implementing a statewide mandate document for ADA compliance which will outline specific requirements for adhering toe ADA from an educational standpoint.

At this point that all boils down to compliance of Section 508 Priority 1 and 2 errors (Priority 3 is a judgment call at this time). Additionly we are implementing enterprise testing software that when installed will allow us to do a complete test of Mambo on our servers (ACCverify/Monitor).

As many of you know, strict adherence to XHTML development almost totally ensures compliance (almost).

I would be happy to share the CSU compliance info with this forum once it is finalized.

thanks man it would be realy usefull
info

kenmcd · June 2nd, 2005, 16:09

Quote:

Originally Posted by YTW

Great !!!

Priority II: Regarding the read more issue, we have a possible turnaround for that: http://www.55thinking.com/55thinking...ategory/71/83/

Have you enabled access keys for your menu systems ?

YTW,

I assume you are pointing out your unique "Read more about . . . " links.
Could you please point me to more info on this hack?

Thanks.

KM

April 20th, 2005, 20:31	#1
cozimek Join Date: Jun 2004 Location: Washington, DC Posts: 328	Section 508 Compliance hey everyone, If we really want to have Mambo used by US gov't groups (and all those funded by US gov't), we need to make sure our Mambo sites are section 508 compliant. Has anyone made a Mambo site that was strictly 508 compliant that could share their struggles to make this happen? What would it take to get Mambo out of the box running on 508 compliant code? Best, Ryan

April 20th, 2005, 20:38	#2
MasterChief Join Date: Oct 2003 Location: Australia Posts: 1,036	cozimek, can you give us the dot point version of what Section 508 requires. __________________ Andrew Eddie <>< Mambo Core Developer February 2003-August 2005 http://www.jamboworks.com ...

April 21st, 2005, 00:31	#3
eyezberg Join Date: Feb 2004 Location: France Posts: 2,188	http://www.section508.gov/ (or specifically for web: http://www.section508.gov/index.cfm?...tent&ID=12#Web ) __________________ joe http://www.eyezberg.com - Flash News

April 23rd, 2005, 00:02	#5
YTW Join Date: Oct 2003 Location: Madrid Spain Posts: 356	Short answer is Yes mambo is widely 508 compliant. Though it would be nice indeed that the dev team also cares a bit about accessibility matters for 4.5.x series... __________________ 55 Thinking - Strategy Design Technology Good looking, Fast and Usable web solutions http://www.55thinking.com/

April 26th, 2005, 20:03	#7
MasterChief Join Date: Oct 2003 Location: Australia Posts: 1,036	Running tests from one site, while there are a number of warnings, the only glaring error is the lack of <label> tags for form elements. We can certainly attend to that. __________________ Andrew Eddie <>< Mambo Core Developer February 2003-August 2005 http://www.jamboworks.com ...

April 22nd, 2005, 04:18	#4
cozimek Join Date: Jun 2004 Location: Washington, DC Posts: 328	Thanks eyezberg, That's what I get for my US-centric view. =) Passing section 508 compliance tests is integral to being able to launch Mambo sites within gov't agencies. I'm not an accessibility expert, but if there are some here, I'd be happy to get their point of view. -Ryan

April 24th, 2005, 12:55	#6
cozimek Join Date: Jun 2004 Location: Washington, DC Posts: 328	YTW - thanks for the heads up. What we're looking for are some case studies, reports, or any documentation or reviews that people have done in creating sites that are fully section 508 compatible. Has anyone run their sites through testers like Bobby or Alice? Did they pass off the initial install of Mambo, or was there a lot of tweaking that was necessary? Best, Ryan

April 26th, 2005, 23:54	#8
YTW Join Date: Oct 2003 Location: Madrid Spain Posts: 356	Fantastic news !!! Contact from, search, login, polls....will be labelled. great Masterchief, please run WAI A testing, and you will also see that there are only very few errors. Bundle that with 508, and you have a strong message to send to the market __________________ 55 Thinking - Strategy Design Technology Good looking, Fast and Usable web solutions http://www.55thinking.com/

April 27th, 2005, 07:36	#9
_Jay Join Date: Mar 2005 Posts: 74	fyi- Get the Web Developer for Firefox. It has a built in tab for validation. Just visit a web page click tab for it to automatically check your page validation for accessiblity! It's very cool! http://www.chrispederick.com/work/firefox/webdeveloper/ https://addons.update.mozilla.org/ex...info.php?id=60 [EDIT:] Found another cool one. https://addons.update.mozilla.org/ex...umpg=10&id=165

April 27th, 2005, 14:54	#10
MasterChief Join Date: Oct 2003 Location: Australia Posts: 1,036	Thanks YTW, Jay. I've already flagged some of these to be fixed I've also started a new section in the Advanced Templating chapter in the Dev Manual on Templating Standards. Please feel free to contact me about additions to this. __________________ Andrew Eddie <>< Mambo Core Developer February 2003-August 2005 http://www.jamboworks.com ...

April 28th, 2005, 04:36	#11
cozimek Join Date: Jun 2004 Location: Washington, DC Posts: 328	Andrew, Joe, and YTW, *tear This is why I love open source! We are strong proponents of Mambo, and we want to see it grow professionally into the US gov't. If you could address the Label issues, this would be a strong step in the right direction. For clarification, for most Section 508 compliance issues, they are related to the front-end, not the back-end. So, the focus of energy should be on the front-end code, not the administrator code. I'm glad to hear that people have found that sites are either close to or are passing Section 508 compliance without much tweaking to the core! I'll keep you posted as we begin more US gov't work with Mambo. Best, Ryan

April 28th, 2005, 23:50	#12
MasterChief Join Date: Oct 2003 Location: Australia Posts: 1,036	Question on the <label> compliance. If you take search box (aka search module) www.mamboserver.com for example, there is no text associated with the control apart from the module title or the prebuilt text in the control itself. Would you include a 'hidden' label in this instance? __________________ Andrew Eddie <>< Mambo Core Developer February 2003-August 2005 http://www.jamboworks.com ...

April 28th, 2005, 23:55	#13
MasterChief Join Date: Oct 2003 Location: Australia Posts: 1,036	OK that works (done on help.mamboserver.com). It now has no Priority 1 errors, one Priority 2 error (related to the fact that 'Read more...' occurs more than once) and one Priority 3 error (related to table summaries, which are not practicle for structural tables). __________________ Andrew Eddie <>< Mambo Core Developer February 2003-August 2005 http://www.jamboworks.com ...

April 29th, 2005, 01:14	#14
YTW Join Date: Oct 2003 Location: Madrid Spain Posts: 356	Great !!! Priority II: Regarding the read more issue, we have a possible turnaround for that: http://www.55thinking.com/55thinking...ategory/71/83/ Have you enabled access keys for your menu systems ? Priority III: Don't consider these validator as a bible. Nested tables are plain wrong when you think accessibility, be it with a table summary or not I think 508 WAI A is easy, WAI AA may require some additional twinkings, but should not represent a big deal neither __________________ 55 Thinking - Strategy Design Technology Good looking, Fast and Usable web solutions http://www.55thinking.com/

April 30th, 2005, 13:29	#15
Super Mother Join Date: Apr 2005 Posts: 1	Changes to label tags etc MasterChief, The changes you are referring to, in what version will they be available or are they available now in 4.5.2 specifically refereing to the label tags, etc..? Also the template standard information is this also available for us to read. thanks Great product!!!

May 4th, 2005, 00:09	#16
MasterChief Join Date: Oct 2003 Location: Australia Posts: 1,036	Next version (4.5.3) will be improved in relation to the label tags. __________________ Andrew Eddie <>< Mambo Core Developer February 2003-August 2005 http://www.jamboworks.com ...

May 4th, 2005, 00:22	#17
YTW Join Date: Oct 2003 Location: Madrid Spain Posts: 356	Nice to hear that news __________________ 55 Thinking - Strategy Design Technology Good looking, Fast and Usable web solutions http://www.55thinking.com/

June 2nd, 2005, 11:52	#18
ddebrum Join Date: May 2005 Posts: 18	Not a Mambo user yet (still trying to get a testing environment working) but I am evaluating for Cal Poly State University in San Luis Obispo, CA (part of the California State University System). ADA is a MAJOR issue here and we are in the process of implementing a statewide mandate document for ADA compliance which will outline specific requirements for adhering toe ADA from an educational standpoint. At this point that all boils down to compliance of Section 508 Priority 1 and 2 errors (Priority 3 is a judgment call at this time). Additionly we are implementing enterprise testing software that when installed will allow us to do a complete test of Mambo on our servers (ACCverify/Monitor). As many of you know, strict adherence to XHTML development almost totally ensures compliance (almost). I would be happy to share the CSU compliance info with this forum once it is finalized.

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