Section 508 and Exponential
This page is for US federal agencies, the contractors who build and host their sites, and procurement staff who must evaluate an open source CMS. It explains in general terms how Section 508 relates to Exponential and what the project's accessibility statement says.
Note This page describes features and common practice; it is not legal advice. Check the law that applies to your organization with your legal counsel.
Contents
Section 508 in brief
Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act requires federal agencies to make the information and communication technology they develop, procure, maintain or use accessible. The Revised 508 Standards, issued by the US Access Board in 2017, incorporate WCAG 2.0 level AA by reference for web content (https://www.access-board.gov/ict/). The government-wide program site is https://www.section508.gov/. Vendors usually document conformance in a VPAT (Voluntary Product Accessibility Template), which produces an Accessibility Conformance Report.
The project's status
From Accessibility standards: Section 508:
- Status: Unverified. There is no VPAT or Accessibility Conformance Report for Exponential.
- In substance, the WCAG work covers it: WCAG 2.0 AA is a subset of what the admin4 administration is tested against (WCAG 2.2 AA, rated Partly complies).
- Not reviewed: the online editor (TinyMCE integrations, Unverified), public site designs (not audited), extensions shipped as separate packages (no overall statement).
What to evaluate
A Section 508 evaluation of an Exponential project usually has two objects:
| Object | Users | What to check |
|---|---|---|
| The public site | the public, including people with disabilities | your design's templates, the content, documents, forms, media; WCAG 2.0 AA at least |
| The authoring environment | agency staff who edit | the admin4 administration, the online editor, the upload dialogs; keyboard use, screen reader use, contrast, error handling |
For the authoring side, start from what the project tests (labels, landmarks, keyboard patterns, contrast tokens, error summaries; see "What Exponential's admin4 covers" in this section) and test the online editor and any extensions you activate yourself, because the project has not.
When a VPAT is requested
A tender may ask the bidder for a VPAT. With Exponential:
- Do not present the project's statement as a VPAT. It is a status report with evidence, and it says that no VPAT exists.
- If you (or the bidder) need one, produce an ACR for the configured product you deliver: your Exponential version, your administration design (admin4), your public design, your activated extensions. The ITI VPAT template is maintained outside this project; use the edition your agency asks for.
- Base every row on a test you ran, and keep the test notes. "Supports", "Partially supports" and "Does not support" must be backed by evidence; where you did not test, say "Not evaluated".
- See "Preparing an Accessibility Conformance Report for your site" in this section for a working method.
Related pages
- Accessibility standards
- The admin4 design
- Testing your site's accessibility
- Free documentation: this page is free to copy, translate and improve under the GNU FDL 1.3.
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