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Complying with Section 508

Software Standards

As software developers maintain the increasing demands of consumers, they create operating systems and applications that are graphically-intense and rely more heavily on using the mouse. This complexity is not bad in and of itself, but can create conflicts with AT.

You can find out more about each aspect of software and operating systems that are outlined in § 1194.21 of the Access Board standards. You should ask each question below for every software procurement or in-house development:

• Can the software be used with the keyboard alone?
• Do operating system accessibility features still work within the application?
• Is text displayed through the operating system? Can the screen text be read by AT?
• Do interactive features still work without using the mouse?
• Can AT read text labels attached to graphical elements?
• Does the software avoid use of color to indicate meaning?

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