Kentico CMS Allows You to Build 508 Compliant Websites

Section 508 generally requires US Federal agencies to ensure that, when developing, procuring, maintaining, or using electronic and information technology, they take into account the needs of all end users – including people with disabilities.

This standard assures that websites are fully accessible for visually impaired people (most often using assistive technology such as screen readers and refreshable Braille displays) as well. More details about 508 Section can be found online.

Kentico CMS has proved itself as a reliable tool that allows you to create the Section 508 compliant websites.

Let’s have a look at one of the 508 compliant projects on Kentico CMS – Royal Dutch Visio (www.visio.org) implemented by IBL-Software BV, Kentico Gold Partner.

Visio is a Dutch National Foundation providing rehabilitation, counseling, care, housing, daily activities and education to people with a visual impairment. The idea was to create a section 508 compliant website using a content management system.

We asked Jeroen Fürst, Kentico Lead Developer at IBL and Kentico MVP to summarize the project and how Kentico CMS help them to meet all requirements.

"The website was created in Kentico CMS 4.1. We used the Web Accessibility Toolbar while developing the section 508 compliant website. Kentico CMS supported most of the requirements so we only had to make minimal changes to the code. We created a custom web part that enables the user to change the size of the texts displayed on the website and also enables the user to change the contrast."

And what is the result? Have a look at Visio website

To get more information about the Section 508 compliant project, please refer to the case study on kentico.com.