ADA guidelines for webpages?

[majola]

Dear Prentiss,

Thank you for your webpage! I feel like announcing to all the listserv about
the wonderful comprehensive Webpage construction Links you so generously
share--saving eons of time. I have visited many of these sites, but you have
me beat by miles! Hope you don't mins if I forward your URL to a library
support staff Listserv to which I belong, It  will be so helpful to those on
the list constructing pages for their libraries and for personal use!

--Marcia @ Tukwila
LTA

Prentiss Riddle wrote:

> > Date: Wed, 13 May 1998 12:26:54 -0700
> > From: Wilfred Drew <drewwe at MORRISVILLE.EDU>
> > Subject: Re: ADA guidelines for webpages?
> >
> > Thanks for all of the suggestions for links to sites that
> > have information about amking sites accessable.  I guess
> > what I am after is the actual ADA policy and official
> > recommendations.  I am already doing most of the things
> > suggested by the various sites.  Need the official word on
> > the subject.
>
> I've been on the trail of the same thing, and it seems to be an elusive
> beast.
>
> An announcement of an ACRL/NEC conference entitled "Widening the Door:
> Access to Web-Based Resources for Users with Disabilities" last April
> mentioned "a recent Department of Justice ruling" on ADA and web
> design.  It took some effort to find anyone associated with the
> conference who could give us a citation, but eventually they referred
> us to:
>
>         National Disability Law Reporter, vol. 10, issue 6, 9/11/97 (?)
>
> The NDLR contained a short article which read:
>
>         "More and more businesses are using Internet web pages as a
>         marketing tool.  To what extent does the ADA require such pages
>         to be acessible to people visual impairments?  In response to
>         an inquiry from a United States senator, the Justice Department
>         advised that ADA requirements do apply to Internet web pages
>         Entities subject to Title II or III of the statute must provide
>         effective communication, the agency said, regardless of whether
>         they generally communicate via print, audio or computerized
>         media such as the Internet.  If a covered entity uses the
>         Internet to communicate regarding its programs, goods, or
>         services, then those communications should be offered through
>         accessible means.  One way to do so is to provide web page
>         information in text format that is accessible to screen reading
>         devices that are used by people with visual impairments.
>         Another acceptable option, according to the Justice Department,
>         is to make known, in a screen-readable format on the web page,
>         the availability of other accessible formats such as Braille or
>         large print."
>
> I haven't seen the full NDLR ssue myself; apparently there's a more
> complete (?) version available for a fee.
>
> But exactly what the DOJ said and whether it represented a mandate on
> web design is still unclear to me.  I'm in the same boat as you -- I
> believe I'm doing the right thing already, and wish it were a bit easier
> to find out whether there's a letter of the law I should be adhering to
> as well.
>
> -- Prentiss Riddle ("aprendiz de todo, maestro de nada") riddle at rice.edu
> -- Webmaster, Rice University / http://is.rice.edu/~riddle
> -- Opinions expressed are not necessarily those of my employer.