The purpose of the Voluntary Product Accessibility Template is to assist
Federal contracting officials in making preliminary assessments regarding
the availability of commercial Electronic and Information Technology products
and services with features that support accessibility and Section 508 Standards.
Please contact us if you have any questions
or need clarification on the web programming services we offer and how we
can accomodate your needs.
The first table of the Template provides a summary view of the Section
508 Standards. The subsequent tables provide more detailed views of each
subsection, as provided by the VPAT template at ITIC. Since
ACI only provides programming services, just the first three tables are
applicable to our business, and the rest have been excluded from this
page.
Section 1194.21 Software Applications and Operating
Systems - Detail
Voluntary Product Accessibility Template |
| Criteria |
Supporting Features |
Remarks and Explanations |
| (a) When software is designed to run
on a system that has a keyboard, product functions shall be executable
from a keyboard where the function itself or the result of performing
a function can be discerned textually. |
standard on all custom client/server or standalone application
development |
Adheres to VB and Microsoft programming standards |
| (b) Applications shall not disrupt or
disable activated features of other products that are identified as
accessibility features, where those features are developed and documented
according to industry standards. Applications also shall not disrupt
or disable activated features of any operating system that are identified
as accessibility features where the application programming interface
for those accessibility features has been documented by the manufacturer
of the operating system and is available to the product developer. |
custom developed solutions are designed to never interfere
with concurrent applications |
Most products developed by ACI deal with database activity
and file manipulation. Modification of lower-level OS features
or external applications is never attempted. |
| (c) A well-defined on-screen indication
of the current focus shall be provided that moves among interactive
interface elements as the input focus changes. The focus shall be
programmatically exposed so that Assistive Technology can track focus
and focus changes. |
standard on all custom client/server or standalone application
development |
Adheres to VB and Microsoft programming standards |
| (d) Sufficient information about a user
interface element including the identity, operation and state of the
element shall be available to Assistive Technology. When an image
represents a program element, the information conveyed by the image
must also be available in text. |
standard on all custom client/server or standalone application
development |
Adheres to VB and Microsoft programming standards |
| (e) When bitmap images are used to identify
controls, status indicators, or other programmatic elements, the meaning
assigned to those images shall be consistent throughout an application's
performance. |
standard on all custom client/server or standalone application
development |
Adheres to VB and Microsoft programming standards |
| (f) Textual information shall be provided
through operating system functions for displaying text. The minimum
information that shall be made available is text content, text input
caret location, and text attributes. |
standard on all custom client/server or standalone application
development |
Adheres to VB and Microsoft programming standards |
| (g) Applications shall not override
user selected contrast and color selections and other individual display
attributes. |
standard on all custom client/server or standalone application
development |
Adheres to VB and Microsoft programming standards |
| (h) When animation is displayed, the
information shall be displayable in at least one non-animated presentation
mode at the option of the user. |
N/A |
Animation is rarely, if ever, used in ACI applications |
| (i) Color coding shall not be used as
the only means of conveying information, indicating an action, prompting
a response, or distinguishing a visual element. |
standard on all custom client/server or standalone application
development |
Adheres to VB and Microsoft programming standards |
| (j) When a product permits a user to
adjust color and contrast settings, a variety of color selections
capable of producing a range of contrast levels shall be provided. |
standard on all custom client/server or standalone application
development |
Adheres to VB and Microsoft programming standards |
| (k) Software shall not use flashing or blinking
text, objects, or other elements having a flash or blink frequency
greater than 2 Hz and lower than 55 Hz. |
compliant |
Flashing and blinking is not used in ACI
applications |
| (l) When electronic forms are used,
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. |
standard on all custom client/server or standalone application
development |
Adheres to VB and Microsoft programming standards |
Section 1194.21 Software Applications and Operating
Systems - Detail
Voluntary Product Accessibility Template |
| Criteria |
Supporting Features |
Remarks and Explanations |
| (a) When software is designed to run
on a system that has a keyboard, product functions shall be executable
from a keyboard where the function itself or the result of performing
a function can be discerned textually. |
standard on all custom client/server or standalone application
development |
Adheres to VB and Microsoft programming standards |
| (b) Applications shall not disrupt or
disable activated features of other products that are identified as
accessibility features, where those features are developed and documented
according to industry standards. Applications also shall not disrupt
or disable activated features of any operating system that are identified
as accessibility features where the application programming interface
for those accessibility features has been documented by the manufacturer
of the operating system and is available to the product developer. |
custom developed solutions are designed to never interfere
with concurrent applications |
Most products developed by ACI deal with database activity
and file manipulation. Modification of lower-level OS features
or external applications is never attempted. |
| (c) A well-defined on-screen indication
of the current focus shall be provided that moves among interactive
interface elements as the input focus changes. The focus shall be
programmatically exposed so that Assistive Technology can track focus
and focus changes. |
standard on all custom client/server or standalone application
development |
Adheres to VB and Microsoft programming standards |
| (d) Sufficient information about a user
interface element including the identity, operation and state of the
element shall be available to Assistive Technology. When an image
represents a program element, the information conveyed by the image
must also be available in text. |
standard on all custom client/server or standalone application
development |
Adheres to VB and Microsoft programming standards |
| (e) When bitmap images are used to identify
controls, status indicators, or other programmatic elements, the meaning
assigned to those images shall be consistent throughout an application's
performance. |
standard on all custom client/server or standalone application
development |
Adheres to VB and Microsoft programming standards |
| (f) Textual information shall be provided
through operating system functions for displaying text. The minimum
information that shall be made available is text content, text input
caret location, and text attributes. |
standard on all custom client/server or standalone application
development |
Adheres to VB and Microsoft programming standards |
| (g) Applications shall not override
user selected contrast and color selections and other individual display
attributes. |
standard on all custom client/server or standalone application
development |
Adheres to VB and Microsoft programming standards |
| (h) When animation is displayed, the
information shall be displayable in at least one non-animated presentation
mode at the option of the user. |
N/A |
Animation is rarely, if ever, used in ACI applications |
| (i) Color coding shall not be used as
the only means of conveying information, indicating an action, prompting
a response, or distinguishing a visual element. |
standard on all custom client/server or standalone application
development |
Adheres to VB and Microsoft programming standards |
| (j) When a product permits a user to
adjust color and contrast settings, a variety of color selections
capable of producing a range of contrast levels shall be provided. |
standard on all custom client/server or standalone application
development |
Adheres to VB and Microsoft programming standards |
| (k) Software shall not use flashing or blinking
text, objects, or other elements having a flash or blink frequency
greater than 2 Hz and lower than 55 Hz. |
compliant |
Flashing and blinking is not used in ACI
applications |
| (l) When electronic forms are used,
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. |
standard on all custom client/server or standalone application
development |
Adheres to VB and Microsoft programming standards |
Note to 1194.22: The Board interprets paragraphs (a) through (k) of this
section as consistent with the following priority 1 Checkpoints of the
Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 1.0 (WCAG 1.0) (May 5 1999) published
by the Web Accessibility Initiative of the World Wide Web Consortium:
Paragraph (a) - 1.1, (b) - 1.4, (c) - 2.1, (d) - 6.1, (e) - 1.2, (f) -
9.1, (g) - 5.1, (h) - 5.2, (i) - 12.1, (j) - 7.1, (k) - 11.4.
