Criterion Section 508 Solutions
Criterion 508 Notes!
Vol. 6, Issue 3, May 2006
Understanding Section 508 Provision (d) - Document Readability
Provision
Documents shall be organized so they are readable without requiring an associated style sheet.
Plain English
Whether using a separate referenced document, header-defined or in-line styles, cascading style sheets used to apply appearance attributes to a document must not be employed in such a way that their removal or unavailability results in a document that is difficult to read or understand. HTML design for use with style sheets must not affect logical read order, legibility and structural/visual differentiation of page content.
Why This is Important
Style sheets are becoming more frequently used for design purposes in place of older methods (such as tables, image splitting, etc.) because of their powerful ability to change content attributes unattainable through old HTML markup. However, some user agents such as screen readers and text-only browsers do not parse or render some or all style attributes to the user. Other users may opt to amend or entirely negate provided style sheets in favor of providing their own to display preferred fonts, increased text sizes, improved contrast and other display attributes.
Documents must be readable and flow logically without the use of style sheets or inline style definitions.
Examples of Problems
Example 1:
Although style sheets present an attractive alternative method of designing forms without the use of tables to allow the display of multiple form elements on a single line, care must be taken to design forms in such a way that when style sheets are disabled or unavailable, forms still make sense. In this case, the text labels are both over one text input element while another appears to have no label.
Example 2:
Style sheets can be a convenient means of hiding undesirable content or special navigation options that users should not see when viewing a page; however, when style sheets are disabled or unavailable (such as is the case with screen readers), previously hidden options are suddenly exposed and can cause confusion, make content or data difficult to read or understand, or even cause a security risk for your site – as might have been the case in the example above, where a previously hidden Administration link appeared when style sheets were disabled. Use server-side scripting languages to strip out content that should not be rendered to the client.
Source: Criterion's "Testing and Repair Techniques for Section 508 §1194.22 Compliance" eLearning Course #C508-02