The
Business Problem
The State of
Maine fully
supports the
American with
Disabilities Act
regarding
reasonable
accommodation in
the workplace,
and recognizes
the commitment
to meeting the
needs of its
employees and
citizens with
disabilities.
The Maine Web
Accessibility
Policy (http://www.maine.gov/oit/accessibility/policy/webpolicy.htm)
is designed to
meet or exceed
all Federal
Section 508
requirements.
The Maine
Standards exceed
the minimum
requirements in
many areas,
incorporating a
number of WCAG
"Priority 2" and
"Priority 3"
Checkpoints as
well as
additional
requirements
identified
through
practical
experience
working with
Maine citizens
with
disabilities.
To that end, an
Accessibility
Standing
Committee was
formed to
evaluate and
advise the Chief
Information
Officer
regarding
technological
developments and
products
relating to
compliance with
the ADA and
other relevant
laws. A critical
goal for the
Committee was
that each agency
would have
access to web
testing and
accessibility
tools on at
least one
computer.
The committee
sought software
that could be
used to evaluate
the improvement
of State
Websites over
time, to inform
agencies about
the level of
compliance of
their sites, and
to identify
potential
problem areas.
The
Accessibility
Committee was
seeking a tool
to help web
coordinators to
understand the
current
accessible
status of their
site and to
correct existing
problems. The
State was
eagerly seeking
efficient,
economical
solutions to
assist
webmasters to
validate and
repair their
sites. Like
every state,
Maine has
thousands of
pages across
hundreds of
websites. Most
pages were not
considered fully
accessible
according to 508
or WC3
standards.
To support this
goal and the
State's ongoing
initiative to
ensure that all
State web pages
are accessible
to all users,
including those
with
disabilities,
the State
Accessibility
Committee
purchased a
package of Web
accessibility
testing software
from HiSoftware
in the fall of
2004. Although
verification and
repair software
is not necessary
to develop
accessible
sites, most
webmasters have
little time to
manage their
sites; learning
all they need to
know about
accessibility
and retrofitting
their sites to
be accessible is
more than most
webmasters have
time to achieve.
HiSoftware’s
AccVerify
facilitates
understanding of
accessibility
requirements as
well as making
testing and
repair easier.
Additionally,
using
HiSoftware’s
verification
solutions is an
important step
in continuing to
meet the
accessibility
standards as new
pages are added
to web sites and
multiple people
work on sites.
The Solution
The State of
Maine purchased
an unlimited
license for
AccMonitor
Compliance
Server and has
begun a rollout
of
AccVerify/AccRepair
at several of
its
installations.
AccVerify
provides for the
verification of
accessibility
policy and
standards
required for Web
Sites under the
Rehabilitation
Act Section 508
and W3C® WCAG
1.0 Priority 1-3
guidelines.
AccRepair uses
the reporting
and verification
components of
AccVerify to
launch a repair
“wizard”
interface, which
prompts the user
to correct
accessibility
errors.
AccRepair also
uses a library
that “learns” as
repairs are
made. These
applications are
available as a
stand-alone
desktop solution
and as an
integrated
add-on for
Microsoft
FrontPage.
AccMonitor
Compliance
Server is an
automated
accessibility
testing solution
for Web sites or
for use in
conjunction with
intranet servers
or file servers.
Using a crawler,
AccMonitor tests
sites for
compliance with
Section 508 and
W3C
accessibility
standards.
AccMonitor
spiders, or
crawls over,
entire Web sites
and reports on
their
accessibility
status.
AccMonitor
particularly
benefits
organizations
that need to
monitor multiple
servers that
host information
via the World
Wide Web.
AccMonitor is a
server solution
that is designed
to run with no
user interaction
once configured.
AccMonitor can
be scheduled to
crawl Web sites
daily, weekly,
or monthly. It
also allows
users to log-on
for on demand
reports on the
accessibility
status of their
Web pages.
The Bottom
Line
HiSoftware’s
solutions
provided the
comprehensive
testing and
reporting
features that
State Webmasters
required,
through a simple
to use
interface.
Additionally,
HiSoftware’s
applications
provided great
flexibility in
user-driven and
automated
reporting, and
also provided
flexibility for
Enterprise Wide
deployment and
mass
distribution.
AccVerify is
part of a larger
State initiative
for website
accessibility
and design
standards.
Agencies are now
required to use
standard website
templates, which
have been
designed to be
fully
accessible. Each
agency is also
required to
develop a
website
management plan
and to designate
a single Web
Coordinator who
is responsible
for ensuring
that standards
are met. The
initiative also
includes
quarterly
AccMonitor
testing and
training
workshops. There
is no time
deadline for
full
accessibility at
this time, but
an understanding
each agency will
choose a
reasonable
deadline for
accessibility
compliance and
will be working
towards meeting
this goal.
"As one of the
trainers for
HiSoftware with
our state web
coordinators, I
feel HiSoftware
was the tipping
point in
involving more
web coordinators
in checking for
accessibility on
their agency web
pages, in
sharing
knowledge to
help solve
problems
together, and
opening up the
discussion of
how to best to
offer equal
access to
government web
sites for all
citizens of
Maine." Ellen
Wood, Chair of
the Web
Accessibility
Sub Committee,
Maine State
Library Web
Coordinator
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