CSS Menu and Accessibility Compliance

Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, is a US law requiring the federal government to make all goods and services-including web sites and intranets fully accessible to people with disabilities. It identifies specific standards for Internet and Web accessibility, which are often used as a basis for evaluating whether or not Web sites meet accessibility requirements.

The goal of these guidelines is to encourage developers in creating web content more accessible to all kind of users, using different devices and interfaces: desktop browser, voice browser, mobile phone, automobile-based personal computer, etc.

In accordance with these guidelines W3C defines three levels of compliance for developers:

For more details on W3C "Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 1.0" see http://www.w3.org/TR/WAI-WEBCONTENT/

With over 8 years of experience in developing CSS Menu web navigational tools, Pluginlab's CSS menu script now adhere the highest standards in accessibility and compliance in the industry. In our attempt to make Pluginlab CSS menu scripts accessible to all your visitors, our development is now fully committed in supporting at least one of conformance level guidelines set by W3C.

Our CSS menu scripts provide you with an extensive set of keyboard navigation features making your site accessible for your visitors.

Pluginlab CSS menus provide you with a comprehensive set of keyboard navigation options which comply to the accessibility guidelines set out by the W3C. These are as follows:

The CSS menus can easily be activated to "focus" state using tab keys or by using a user definable short cut keys. Using the activation short cut keys, our CSS menus will become focused and visible even if the page has scrolled down and the menu can't be seen visibly. On focus or activation the page will then jump to the top, and the menu will open.

Once the CSS menu is in focus or activated using the keyboard shortcuts then the arrow keys are used to navigate the menu. The Enter button on keyboard is then used to make a selection.

Below are the best online 508 validation tools that cover all 3 levels of compliance guidelines. We actively use all 3 and ensure that our scripts pass with zero errors on all the levels supported in the table above. Here are the validation tools:

The HiSoftware Cynthia Says portal is a web content accessibility validation solution. It is designed to identify errors in your content related to Section 508 standards and/or the WCAG guidelines. Pluginlab menu scripts have been tested successfully with Cynthia Says online validation tools for all the compliance levels shown in the table above.

WAVE is a free web accessibility evaluation tool provided by WebAIM. It is used to aid humans in the web accessibility evaluation process. Pluginlab menu scripts have been tested successfully with this online validation tools for all the compliance levels shown in the table above.

Site Valet will check your Validation, Accessibility, Diagnostics for Forms, Scripts and HTTP, Markup Analysis and Processing , HTML, XML and EARL, Link Checking, and Spell checking. Pluginlab menu scripts have been tested successfully with Site Valet online validation tools for all the compliance levels shown in the table above.

Pluginlab development team cares greatly about accessibility and usability issues of our products. We have been working hard on improving screen reader compatibility. The accessibility project was started, aiming among other things at enhancing our screen reader support. We currently support Jaws, Windows reader and several other popular products. If you have any suggestions or needs, contact us directly by email.

If you have any suggestions or comments for additional features you need regarding accessibility of our CSS Menus and other products contact us today.