MDOD’S WEB SITE ACCESSIBILITY FEATURES
The MDOD web site is standards compliant. What’s interesting to note is that developing a standards compliant web site quite naturally increases its accessibility. The MDOD site was tested for accessibility using Section 508 standards and WCAG 1.0. The MDOD site incorporates the following standards:
Alt-Tags
Where appropriate, every image on the site has a brief alt-tag attached that describes the image or its function. Decorative bullets and any images used for layout purposes have a null alt.
Browser Compatibility
The site has been fully tested on the recommended browsers listed below. To download a browser, please select it from the links provided below: Microsoft Internet Explorer 7, Microsoft Internet Explorer 6, and Firefox.
Color / Contrast
The foreground and background color combinations provide contrast, and no important information is conveyed in color. To learn how to change the text and background color settings through standard browser settings, please visit theWeb Accessibility Initiative site (W3C).
Consistent Presentation
The site’s design and style are consistent across all pages. The location of main navigation, sub navigation, and links to important information and functions are located in the same place on all pages.
Documents
The documents provided on this site are Microsoft Word, Adobe PDF, and HTML documents. The name of the document includes the type of document the user is accessing along with the approiate symbol for that file. Viewers for these documents can be accessed by clicking on the section in the lower left side of the page labeled "Links to Document Viewers".
External Links
When a user clicks a link that will take them to another web site, the link does not open in a new window. The user can simply click the browser "back" button to return to the MDOD web site.
Internal Links
Internal links (bookmarks) are used throughout the site. On a page that this occurs, the user is made aware that the page uses internal links. When using internal links, anchors a coded appropriately so they will work in Internet Explorer 6 & 7.
Links
Hyper links are descriptive, not overly long and make sense when read out of context. Links are differentiated with supplementary text so that users can determine which one has the information they need. Appropriate information is included in a link title so users can predict what will happen if they follow a link. We have avoided using “Click Here” as the anchor text for a hypertext link as they are not information-carrying words. Links that have been used will be colored red to increase the user’s sense of structure and location in the site.
Multimedia Elements
Equivalent alternatives for multimedia elements that are synchronized are provided to ensure accessibility.
Navigation
Links at the side and bottom of every page orient users; clear/consistent navigation is located in the same place on every page; the header on every page provides a link to the site map, homepage and a search function; the footer on every page provides contact information; and the left-sided toolbar repeats main navigation links.
New Windows
Links to other web sites do not open in a new browser window. Users can simply click their browser “back button” to return to the MDOD site.
Plug-In
Plug-ins required to interpret page content have been tested to ensure that they can be used by assistive technologies. In order to view Microsoft Word documents and Adobe PDF documents, you must download the free viewers. Please download the Microsoft Word Viewer and the Adobe PDF Viewer to view your selected document.
Printer Friendly
The pages on this site are all printer-friendly, and main content and relevant headings will appear on the printouts.
Search Tool
The site contains a search function at the top of each page that scans the entire web site for information based on the words entered in the text box.
Separated Structure from Presentation
We did not construct the site using tables instead we used Cascading Style Sheets (CSS). We also separated the site’s structure from presentation, and CSS is used entirely to control how the document is presented.
Site Map
We provide a site map that is accessible from every page header and quickly orients the user to the site’s layout.
Skip Navigation
A “skip navigation link” is at the top of each page, allowing users to go directly to the content on the page and avoid repetitive navigation links. For people using assistive technology, having to scan repetitive navigation links can become tedious and time-consuming.
Text
Text was written in friendly language. Sentences are short. Longer blocks of text are divided by headings, lists, bullets, and white space. To learn how to change the text size on the page through standard browser settings, please visit the Web Accessibility Initiative site (W3C).
MDOD’s web site meets the following accessibility standards:
• Section 508 guidelines developed by the Architectural and Transportation Barriers Compliance Board (Access Board) of the U.S. Federal Government.
• Web Access Initiative (WAI) accessibility
