RE: Sec. 508 vs. WAI

Thank you all for your help!

Warmly,
Hy
-----Original Message-----
From: Lars Ballieu Christensen [mailto:lbc@sensus.dk]
Sent: Wednesday, March 26, 2003 12:03 PM
To: 'Larry G. Hull'; 'Hy Cohen'
Cc: w3c-wai-ig@w3.org
Subject: RE: Sec. 508 vs. WAI


Hi Both

You may want to check out this page by Jim Thatcher:
http://www.jimthatcher.com/sidebyside.htm

Jim has compiled quite an extensive review of the differences between
the US section 508 requirements and the W3C/WAI requirements.

Best regards

Lars
--
Lars Ballieu Christensen
Consultant, Sensus ApS
European Accessibility Consultants
Tel: +45 48 22 10 03 - GSM: +45 40 32 68 23
Mail: lbc@sensus.dk - URL: www.sensus.dk

-----Original Message-----
From: w3c-wai-ig-request@w3.org [mailto:w3c-wai-ig-request@w3.org] On
Behalf Of Larry G. Hull
Sent: 26. marts 2003 20:45
To: Hy Cohen
Cc: w3c-wai-ig@w3.org
Subject: Re: Sec. 508 vs. WAI


Hy,

Section 508 is a law that applies to Federal agencies while the WAI
guidelines are an industry standard.

Section 508 overlaps a portion of the WAI guidelines albeit with some
differences.

Section 508 speaks of compliance while the WAI guidelines speak of
conformance, a subtle but possibly important distinction. I'm not a
lawyer.

WCAG conformance may but need not imply Section 508 compliance.

More specifically, the Access Board says,

"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:

  (please view the following table in a monospaced font)

Section 1194.22 Paragraph	WCAG 1.0 Checkpoint

	(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

2. Paragraphs (l), (m), (n), (o), and (p) of this section are
different from WCAG 1.0.  Web pages that conform to WCAG 1.0, level A
(i.e., all priority 1 checkpoints) must also meet paragraphs (l),
(m), (n), (o), and (p) of this section to comply with this section."

Larry (all comments are mine and may not represent views of my agency)

>Good morning everyone,
>
>What are the differences between Sec. 508 and WAI guidelines?
>
>If I am WAI compliant am I also 508 compliant, or visa-versa?
>
>Thanks,
>
>Hy
>
>--------------------------------
>Hy Cohen and Guide Dog, "Layla",
>hy@miplet.com


--
Larry G. Hull                      Larry.G.Hull@nasa.gov
Code 588                             * MIME Welcome *
NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center       301/286-1768 (FAX)
Greenbelt, MD 20771                  <std disclaimer here>
Accessibility Engineer and Lead, Technology Intelligence Center

Received on Wednesday, 26 March 2003 15:11:17 UTC