EDCS Levels of Service

Total accessibility is the goal of every EDCS remediation. Contrary to common belief, passing an automatic check alone does not ensure accessibility. Un-tagged content, inactive URLs, and incorrect reading order are examples of errors that are overlooked by Adobe Acrobat's autochecks. A document that is blank to a screen reader can be made to pass but is obviously not accessible or compliant.

Structured documents are accessible documents. Comprehensive remediation adds value to documents, for both sighted and sight-impaired users.

Bid Request Form

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Complete remediation includes these services:

• Determine if the PDF file has been properly tagged. Verify tagged elements are properly sequenced and applied. Ascertain that tag list follows document reading order exactly for optimum reading order and reflow for screen readers
• Style tags applied appropriately to all text
• Correct pagination added to thumbnails
• URLs checked/activated
• Bookmarks added (documents over 9 pages)
• Table of Contents made active
• All internal and external active links made BLUE (optional)
• Correct properties, initial view settings, correct tab order, "fast view" set, custom properties removed, language set
• Tables scoped (header and data cells appropriately tagged); all tabular data edited/tagged as tables with scoped columns and rows; tables created where absent
• Add Alternative Text. Add informative and concise alternative text and descriptions for all non-text elements
• Artifact all table PATH (border) tags (optional)
• Removal/artifact all background graphics
• Complete Adobe Acrobat Pro 11 accessibility report showing no errors or warnings
• Complete HHS checklist (optional)
• Spot check with screen reader (JAWS or equivalent)
• Complete Quality Check

Exclusions or additions to the listed services at client's request. Deliverables include remediated PDF and time-stamped validation reports from Acrobat Pro 11: "Accessibility Full Check", and agency checklist if requested. Please provide guidelines/requirements at time of bid request.

Fillable Form PDFs- add these services:

• Creation/edit of form fields
• Tool tips added to form fields.
• Formatting applied to form field (date, currency, etc.)

Note: Remediation limited to form documents created in Acrobat.

Minimum specifications:

• No character encoding errors present
• Document created with editable fonts
• Alternate text descriptions of graphics/figures included or provided by client
• Document properties (Title, Author, Subject, Keywords) provided by client

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Terms and Conditions

All bid requests will include expected time frame for the job, date of document delivery from client to EDCS and date of remediated document delivery from EDCS to client. Bids provided by EDCS are valid for 30 days. EDCS will evaluate documents requiring remediation and deliver a quotation of price per page for desired level of remediation  and any additional charges that may be incurred to complete the remediation. Our evaluations are thorough, but there are sometimes issues that do not show in our evaluation that may make some documents impractical or impossible to remediate into accessible documents. EDCS reserves the right to inform client of any documents that fall into this category prior to document remediation; documents will not be remediated and remediation charges for these documents will be subtracted from final invoice. At client’s request, and upon agreement from EDCS, documents not remediated due to aforementioned issues, or any pre or post-remediation document processing or editing, will be charged at $100 per hour. Services not specifically required for compliance may be excluded from remediation, at client's request. Documents 50 pages or less are subject to a $50 short-document administrative fee.  

 Bid Request Form

Terms effective 12/11/2013

The Straight Scoop on URLs in Section 508 Compliant Documents

Below is Section 1.8.1 from an SSA Guide to producing compliant Word-PDF documents.What do you think? Is this in conflict with standard HHS compliance checklist? Sounds like fully qualified URLs aren't really that important, and actually make a document LESS accessible. Make sure documents have proper tagging of hyperlinks for common sense accessibility:

When a Screen Reader is reading text and there is a link, the software will insert the word "Link" in front of the text to alert the user that this is a selectable hyperlink.

Another way that Screen Readers can access the links that are in a document is for them to call up a list of links. This list will display only the text that has been marked as a link.

It is important that the list of links makes sense to the user when it is read out of context. That is, the name of each link should make sense in the list when it is read in isolation.

Consider the following four examples of the same text and same link rendered using different methods:

1.    Please read The SSA Online Accessibility Policy. Click Here

2.    Please read The SSA Online Accessibility Policy. http://www.ssa.gov/webcontent/accessibility.htm

3.    Please visit The SSA Online Accessibility Policy.

4.    Please visit The SSA Online Accessibility Policy: http://www.ssa.gov/webcontent/accessibility.htm

If every link in the document was rendered using method #1, the list of links would read like this:

·         Click Here

·         Click Here

·         Click Here

·         Click Here

It is easy to see that individual links are not possible to read out of context.

If every link was rendered using method #2, the list would read like this:

·         http://www.ssa.gov/webcontent/accessibility.htm

·         http://ssa.gov/pgm/links_disability.htm

·         http://www.section508.gov/

This list also makes no sense in context. While we might be comfortable in normal conversation saying "go to s s a dot gov" we generally do not say to people "go to s s a dot gov slash p g m slash links underscore disability dot h t m". It is too long and it is too difficult to understand. However, when the list of links is presented this way, this is exactly how the Screen Reader will say each link.

If every link was rendered with method #3, the list would be read like this:

·         The SSA Online Accessibility Policy

·         SSA Disability Benefits

·         GSA's Section 508 website

Using this method, all of the links make sense when spoken out of context. This is the best method to use.

Where it is important to have the URL displayed on the printed page, Method #4 is the same as method #3, but with the URL also spoken in the list. This method is perfectly acceptable, so long as the name comes first and the URL comes last in each link.

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B) Development Methods

1.    Right click any hyperlink in the document.

2.    Make sure that in the Hyperlink dialog box the 'Text to display' field has a link name that makes sense when spoken in isolation.
Note: See Rationale, above for an explanation of how links are spoken by Screen Readers.

C) Testing Methods

Examine the document for instances of links that have names like 'Click Here', and/or links that are just URLs, like http://ssahost.ba.ssa.gov/arc/. These links need to be remediated according to Development Methods, above.