Accessibility Testing and Audits

As an agency, you work hard to serve the people of Georgia. Your digital presence, as a reflection of your agency’s dedication and outreach, needs to be easily available to everyone. At Digital Services Georgia, we offer accessibility testing to make sure your site, as well as your mobile and web applications, comply with federal and state standards.

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Our Accessibility Initiative was our initial effort to make sure sites on GovHub were accessible to those with disabilities. Today, maintaining and exceeding federal standards continues to be our aim.

Working with our partners at AccessGA and the Georgia’s ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act,) Coordinator’s Office, we provide accessibility audits through extensive and thorough testing.

Among many things, our accessibility audits check:

Color contrast and screen space
For those with low vision, color contrast on a site or mobile device is important. Color combinations are tested for ease-of-use. We evaluate light differences between foreground and background, examine the screen space and check for extraneous graphics that may make your content look too “busy” for those with special vision needs.
Functionality for screen readers and keyboards
Screen readers convert text into synthesized speech. Contrary to the way in which most people use a visual interface, screen readers present content linearly — one item at a time. As part of our accessibility testing, we make sure that your site is optimized for screen readers.
Font legibility
The right font style and size contribute to accessibility and good screen legibility. As a general rule for websites and other digital devices, sans-serif fonts (e.g. Arial, Verdana) are considered more legible than serif fonts (Times New Roman). Size and consistency are also tested.
Best practices for link text, images, multimedia, and code
Using alternative text (Alt text) for graphics and applying transcripts to video are all considered standard for accessible digital content. We also check for code integrity for screen readers.
Content readability (semantic markup, clear language, etc.)
We check written content for simple language, scannability, and spacing. Shorter, more concise sentences not only work better for those with cognitive impairments, but they are more user-friendly for everyone.

Section 508 Compliance

In order to meet the needs of various groups, three levels of WCAG 2.0 conformance are defined:

A (lowest)
This is the most basic level for accessibility and has an impact on a broad range disabilities. The criteria doesn’t focus on any one type of disability in particular but is a starting point for presentation logic and readability.
AA (standard)
Criteria has a high impact for users including some with specific disabilities. Our system is based on this standard. Code, font, and color combinations are optimized for screen readers for those with low vision.
AAA (highest)
The highest level is focused on specific disabilities. Some improvements may be difficult or expensive to implement depending on need. However, many of these higher requirements are already met by our system.

As part of GovHub, you meet the WCAG 2.0 (Level AA) accessibility requirements and beyond.

If you’re a state agency, you’re required to be Section 508 compliant as per the state’s accessibility standards.

Section 508 of the Workforce Rehabilitation Act requires that all electronic Information Technology needs to be accessible by people with disabilities.

The Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) are internationally recognized and adopted standards for digital accessibility. Defined by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), the WCAG is the best way to make sure your content can be accessed by all of your users.

Accessibility Testing and Audits

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Among many things, our accessibility audits check:

Section 508 Compliance

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