Voluntary Product Accessibility Template
| Date: | 3/01/07 |
| Name of Product: | OutStart Participate |
Contact for More Information: |
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| Product Summary: | OutStart Participate offers a revolutionary solution to maximize the business value of enterprise knowledge. Combining a comprehensive self-service platform with expertise and community management, OutStart Participate enhances knowledge sharing and communication across your organization. A trusted knowledge bank enables employees, customers and partners to find answers with flexible search and retrieval methods. Real-time access to experts and discussion communities provides easy escalation to ensure questions are answered 100% of the time. At work in leading Fortune 500 companies, OutStart Participate has proven effective at encouraging self-service adoption; reducing support call time and escalations, ensuring sales and service people have access to trustworthy information and shortening product development cycles. |
| Section 508 Compliance Summary: | OutStart Participate is Section 508 compliant for all user roles except for Administrators. In most implementations, Administrators account for far less than 1% of total users. |
| Section 508 Testing Summary: | OutStart Participate is tested using JAWS and Bobby. |
| Summary Table | ||
| Criteria | Supporting Features | Remarks and explanations |
| Section 1194.21 Software Applications and Operating Systems | Supports | The application is 100% browser-based. It is virtually browser and operating system independent. |
| Section 1194.22 Web-based Internet Information and Applications | Supports | The application is fully tested with browser-based assistive technology. |
| Section 1194.23 Telecommunications Products | Not Applicable | This product has no telecommunications hardware, software or features. |
| Section 1194.24 Video and Multi-media Products | Supports | No audio/video content is provided with the product. A few Flash-based simulations are provided for help/training and these are Section 508 compliant. |
| Section 1194.25 Self-Contained, Closed Products | Not Applicable | This is not a self-contained or closed product. |
| Section 1194.26 Desktop and Portable Computers | Supports | Uses any keyboard or pointing devices supported by the operating system and the browser. |
| Section 1194.31 Functional Performance Criteria | Supports | The product is a well-behaved browser application that supports Assistive Technology and addresses all accessibility regulations. |
| Section 1194.41 Information, Documentation and Support | Supports | The end-user Support organization is flexible and can provide customer support and information to meet the needs of any product user. |
| Section 1194.21 Software Applications and Operating Systems – Detail | ||
| Criteria | Supporting Features | Remarks and explanations |
| (a) When software is designed to run on a system that has a keyboard, product functions shall be executable from a keyboard where the function itself or the result of performing a function can be discerned textually. | Supports | The application is very text oriented. The results of all user operations are communicated back so that the user gets confirmation that they worked as expected. This is all done using text. |
| (b) Applications shall not disrupt or disable activated features of other products that are identified as accessibility features, where those features are developed and documented according to industry standards. Applications also shall not disrupt or disable activated features of any operating system that are identified as accessibility features where the application programming interface for those accessibility features has been documented by the manufacturer of the operating system and is available to the product developer. | Supports | The application is supportive of all known accessibility features and certainly does nothing to interfere or disable any of these features. |
| (c) A well-defined on-screen indication of the current focus shall be provided that moves among interactive interface elements as the input focus changes. The focus shall be programmatically exposed so that Assistive Technology can track focus and focus changes. | Supports | All forms in the application use standard browser controls, which provide focus information |
| (d) Sufficient information about a user interface element including the identity, operation and state of the element shall be available to Assistive Technology. When an image represents a program element, the information conveyed by the image must also be available in text. | Supports | The use of standard form controls ensures that the identity, operation, and state of the elements can be gleaned. We tag all significant images with alt text to document their operations. |
| (e) When bitmap images are used to identify controls, status indicators, or other programmatic elements, the meaning assigned to those images shall be consistent throughout an application's performance. | Supports | There is consistent use of images throughout the application. |
| (f) Textual information shall be provided through operating system functions for displaying text. The minimum information that shall be made available is text content, text input caret location, and text attributes. | Supports | All textual information is conveyed using standard HTML including form controls. |
| (g) Applications shall not override user selected contrast and color selections and other individual display attributes. | Supports | The site supports CSS-based "skins" for all member presentation. The site administrator may select the skins used or choose to make skins user-selectable. Special usability needs can be addressed by building a new skin or editing an existing one. |
| (h) When animation is displayed, the information shall be displayable in at least one non-animated presentation mode at the option of the user. | Not Applicable | No animation exists in the application. |
| (i) Color coding shall not be used as the only means of conveying information, indicating an action, prompting a response, or distinguishing a visual element. | Supports | Minor color-coding is used in the application to communicate to the user the presence of an incoming private message. However, the same information is communicated in the text being highlighted, which would not otherwise be present. |
| (j) When a product permits a user to adjust color and contrast settings, a variety of color selections capable of producing a range of contrast levels shall be provided. | Supports | The site supports CSS-based "skins" for all member presentation. Skins can be adjusted to use any color scheme supported by the browser and display device. |
| (k) Software shall not use flashing or blinking text, objects, or other elements having a flash or blink frequency greater than 2 Hz and lower than 55 Hz. | Supports | There are no flashing, blinking, or animated images in the application. |
| (l) When electronic forms are used, the form shall allow people using Assistive Technology to access the information, field elements, and functionality required for completion and submission of the form, including all directions and cues. | Supports | All forms use standard HTML forms and form controls. |
| Section 1194.22 Web-based Internet information and applications – Detail | ||
| Criteria | Supporting Features | Remarks and explanations |
| (a) A text equivalent for every non-text element shall be provided (e.g., via "alt", "longdesc", or in element content). | Supports | All non-text elements have alt text. The alt text for purely cosmetic images are blank according to best practices. |
| (b) Equivalent alternatives for any multimedia presentation shall be synchronized with the presentation. | Not Applicable | The application includes no multimedia presentation. |
| (c) Web pages shall be designed so that all information conveyed with color is also available without color, for example from context or markup. | Supports | Minor color-coding is used in the application to communicate to the user the presence of an incoming private message. However, the same information is communicated in the text being highlighted, which would not otherwise be present. |
| (d) Documents shall be organized so they are readable without requiring an associated style sheet. | Supports | The application supports this. |
| (e) Redundant text links shall be provided for each active region of a server-side image map. | Not Applicable | There are no image maps in the application. |
| (f) Client-side image maps shall be provided instead of server-side image maps except where the regions cannot be defined with an available geometric shape. | Not Applicable | There are no image maps in the application. |
| (g) Row and column headers shall be identified for data tables. | Supports | The application contains row and column headers for all data and summary tables. |
| (h) Markup shall be used to associate data cells and header cells for data tables that have two or more logical levels of row or column headers. | Supports | We have no spanned row or column headings. |
| (i) Frames shall be titled with text that facilitates frame identification and navigation | Supports | Browser frames are not used in the user-facing pages of the application. |
| (j) Pages shall be designed to avoid causing the screen to flicker with a frequency greater than 2 Hz and lower than 55 Hz. | Supports | The application supports this. |
| (k) A text-only page, with equivalent information or functionality, shall be provided to make a web site comply with the provisions of this part, when compliance cannot be accomplished in any other way. The content of the text-only page shall be updated whenever the primary page changes. | Not Applicable | No text-only page are required. |
| (l) When pages utilize scripting languages to display content, or to create interface elements, the information provided by the script shall be identified with functional text that can be read by Assistive Technology. | Supports | There is significant Javascript in the application and we have tested it all with JAWS and Bobby and have received positive results. |
| (m) When a web page requires that an applet, plug-in or other application be present on the client system to interpret page content, the page must provide a link to a plug-in or applet that complies with §1194.21(a) through (l). | Not Applicable | There is no such requirement in the product. |
| (n) When electronic forms are designed to be completed on-line, the form shall allow people using Assistive Technology to access the information, field elements, and functionality required for completion and submission of the form, including all directions and cues. | Supports | All forms use standard HTML forms and form controls. |
| (o) A method shall be provided that permits users to skip repetitive navigation links. | Supports | Hidden anchor links are inserted so that users can skip over the navigation links. |
| (p) When a timed response is required, the user shall be alerted and given sufficient time to indicate more time is required. | Not Applicable | The application does not use timed responses. |
| Note to 1194.22: The Board interprets paragraphs (a) through (k) of this section as consistent with the following priority 1 Checkpoints of the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 1.0 (WCAG 1.0) (May 5 1999) published by the Web Accessibility Initiative of the World Wide Web Consortium: Paragraph (a) - 1.1, (b) - 1.4, (c) - 2.1, (d) - 6.1, (e) - 1.2, (f) - 9.1, (g) - 5.1, (h) - 5.2, (i) - 12.1, (j) - 7.1, (k) - 11.4. | ||
| Section 1194.23 Telecommunications Products – Detail | ||
| Criteria | Supporting Features | Remarks and explanations |
| (a) Telecommunications products or systems which provide a function allowing voice communication and which do not themselves provide a TTY functionality shall provide a standard non-acoustic connection point for TTYs. Microphones shall be capable of being turned on and off to allow the user to intermix speech with TTY use. | Not Applicable | This product has no telecommunications hardware, software or features. |
| (b) Telecommunications products which include voice communication functionality shall support all commonly used cross-manufacturer non-proprietary standard TTY signal protocols. | Not Applicable | This product has no telecommunications hardware, software or features. |
| (c) Voice mail, auto-attendant, and interactive voice response telecommunications systems shall be usable by TTY users with their TTYs. | Not Applicable | This product has no telecommunications hardware, software or features. |
| (d) Voice mail, messaging, auto-attendant, and interactive voice response telecommunications systems that require a response from a user within a time interval, shall give an alert when the time interval is about to run out, and shall provide sufficient time for the user to indicate more time is required. | Not Applicable | This product has no telecommunications hardware, software or features. |
| (e) Where provided, caller identification and similar telecommunications functions shall also be available for users of TTYs, and for users who cannot see displays. | Not Applicable | This product has no telecommunications hardware, software or features. |
| (f) For transmitted voice signals, telecommunications products shall provide a gain adjustable up to a minimum of 20 dB. For incremental volume control, at least one intermediate step of 12 dB of gain shall be provided. | Not Applicable | This product has no telecommunications hardware, software or features. |
| (g) If the telecommunications product allows a user to adjust the receive volume, a function shall be provided to automatically reset the volume to the default level after every use. | Not Applicable | This product has no telecommunications hardware, software or features. |
| (h) Where a telecommunications product delivers output by an audio transducer which is normally held up to the ear, a means for effective magnetic wireless coupling to hearing technologies shall be provided. | Not Applicable | This product has no telecommunications hardware, software or features. |
| (i) Interference to hearing technologies (including hearing aids, cochlear implants, and assistive listening devices) shall be reduced to the lowest possible level that allows a user of hearing technologies to utilize the telecommunications product. | Not Applicable | This product has no telecommunications hardware, software or features. |
| (j) Products that transmit or conduct information or communication, shall pass through cross-manufacturer, non-proprietary, industry-standard codes, translation protocols, formats or other information necessary to provide the information or communication in a usable format. Technologies which use encoding, signal compression, format transformation, or similar techniques shall not remove information needed for access or shall restore it upon delivery. | Not Applicable | This product has no telecommunications hardware, software or features. |
| (k)(1) Products which have mechanically operated controls or keys shall comply with the following: Controls and Keys shall be tactilely discernible without activating the controls or keys. | Not Applicable | This product has no telecommunications hardware, software or features. |
| (k)(2) Products which have mechanically operated controls or keys shall comply with the following: Controls and Keys shall be operable with one hand and shall not require tight grasping, pinching, twisting of the wrist. The force required to activate controls and keys shall be 5 lbs. (22.2N) maximum. | Not Applicable | This product has no telecommunications hardware, software or features. |
| (k)(3) Products which have mechanically operated controls or keys shall comply with the following: If key repeat is supported, the delay before repeat shall be adjustable to at least 2 seconds. Key repeat rate shall be adjustable to 2 seconds per character. | Not Applicable | This product has no telecommunications hardware, software or features. |
| (k)(4) Products which have mechanically operated controls or keys shall comply with the following: The status of all locking or toggle controls or keys shall be visually discernible, and discernible either through touch or sound. | Not Applicable | This product has no telecommunications hardware, software or features. |
| Section 1194.24 Video and Multi-media Products – Detail | ||
| Criteria | Supporting Features | Remarks and explanations |
| (a) All analog television displays 13 inches and larger, and computer equipment that includes analog television receiver or display circuitry, shall be equipped with caption decoder circuitry which appropriately receives, decodes, and displays closed captions from broadcast, cable, videotape, and DVD signals. As soon as practicable, but not later than July 1, 2002, widescreen digital television (DTV) displays measuring at least 7.8 inches vertically, DTV sets with conventional displays measuring at least 13 inches vertically, and stand-alone DTV tuners, whether or not they are marketed with display screens, and computer equipment that includes DTV receiver or display circuitry, shall be equipped with caption decoder circuitry which appropriately receives, decodes, and displays closed captions from broadcast, cable, videotape, and DVD signals. | Not Applicable | No audio/video content is included with the application. |
| (b) Television tuners, including tuner cards for use in computers, shall be equipped with secondary audio program playback circuitry. | Not Applicable | No television tuners are provided with or used in the application. |
| (c) All training and informational video and multimedia productions which support the agency's mission, regardless of format, that contain speech or other audio information necessary for the comprehension of the content, shall be open or closed captioned. | Not Applicable | No audio content is included with the application. |
| (d) All training and informational video and multimedia productions which support the agency's mission, regardless of format, that contain visual information necessary for the comprehension of the content, shall be audio described. | Supports | We use Flash-based simulations for help/training. Each step of the simulation displays a screen shot of the application and demonstrates its operation. Each step is accompanied by detailed notes in (alt text) that describes the operation being performed. |
| (e) Display or presentation of alternate text presentation or audio descriptions shall be user-selectable unless permanent. | Not Applicable | Alternate text audio descriptions are displayed for all users. They are permanent. |
| Section 1194.25 Self-Contained, Closed Products – Detail | ||
| Criteria | Supporting Features | Remarks and explanations |
| (a) Self contained products shall be usable by people with disabilities without requiring an end-user to attach Assistive Technology to the product. Personal headsets for private listening are not Assistive Technology. | Not Applicable | This is not a self-contained or closed product. |
| (b) When a timed response is required, the user shall be alerted and given sufficient time to indicate more time is required. | Not Applicable | This is not a self-contained or closed product. |
| (c) Where a product utilizes touchscreens or contact-sensitive controls, an input method shall be provided that complies with §1194.23 (k) (1) through (4). | Not Applicable | This is not a self-contained or closed product. |
| (d) When biometric forms of user identification or control are used, an alternative form of identification or activation, which does not require the user to possess particular biological characteristics, shall also be provided. | Not Applicable | This is not a self-contained or closed product. |
| (e) When products provide auditory output, the audio signal shall be provided at a standard signal level through an industry standard connector that will allow for private listening. The product must provide the ability to interrupt, pause, and restart the audio at anytime. | Not Applicable | This is not a self-contained or closed product. |
| (f) When products deliver voice output in a public area, incremental volume control shall be provided with output amplification up to a level of at least 65 dB. Where the ambient noise level of the environment is above 45 dB, a volume gain of at least 20 dB above the ambient level shall be user selectable. A function shall be provided to automatically reset the volume to the default level after every use. | Not Applicable | This is not a self-contained or closed product. |
| (g) Color coding shall not be used as the only means of conveying information, indicating an action, prompting a response, or distinguishing a visual element. | Not Applicable | This is not a self-contained or closed product. |
| (h) When a product permits a user to adjust color and contrast settings, a range of color selections capable of producing a variety of contrast levels shall be provided. | Not Applicable | This is not a self-contained or closed product. |
| (i) Products shall be designed to avoid causing the screen to flicker with a frequency greater than 2 Hz and lower than 55 Hz. | Not Applicable | This is not a self-contained or closed product. |
| (j) (1) Products which are freestanding, non-portable, and intended to be used in one location and which have operable controls shall comply with the following: The position of any operable control shall be determined with respect to a vertical plane, which is 48 inches in length, centered on the operable control, and at the maximum protrusion of the product within the 48 inch length on products which are freestanding, non-portable, and intended to be used in one location and which have operable controls. | Not Applicable | This is not a self-contained or closed product. |
| (j)(2) Products which are freestanding, non-portable, and intended to be used in one location and which have operable controls shall comply with the following: Where any operable control is 10 inches or less behind the reference plane, the height shall be 54 inches maximum and 15 inches minimum above the floor. | Not Applicable | This is not a self-contained or closed product. |
| (j)(3) Products which are freestanding, non-portable, and intended to be used in one location and which have operable controls shall comply with the following: Where any operable control is more than 10 inches and not more than 24 inches behind the reference plane, the height shall be 46 inches maximum and 15 inches minimum above the floor. | Not Applicable | This is not a self-contained or closed product. |
| (j)(4) Products which are freestanding, non-portable, and intended to be used in one location and which have operable controls shall comply with the following: Operable controls shall not be more than 24 inches behind the reference plane. | Not Applicable | This is not a self-contained or closed product. |
| Section 1194.26 Desktop and Portable Computers – Detail | ||
| Criteria | Supporting Features | Remarks and explanations |
| (a) All mechanically operated controls and keys shall comply with §1194.23 (k) (1) through (4). | Supports | Uses only standard keyboard and pointer devices. |
| (b) If a product utilizes touchscreens or touch-operated controls, an input method shall be provided that complies with §1194.23 (k) (1) through (4). | Supports | Uses only standard keyboard and pointer devices. |
| (c) When biometric forms of user identification or control are used, an alternative form of identification or activation, which does not require the user to possess particular biological characteristics, shall also be provided. | Not Applicable | No biometrics are used in the application. |
| (d) Where provided, at least one of each type of expansion slots, ports and connectors shall comply with publicly available industry standards | Not Applicable | This is strictly a software-based product. |
| Section 1194.31 Functional Performance Criteria - Detail | ||
| Criteria | Supporting Features | Remarks and explanations |
| (a) At least one mode of operation and information retrieval that does not require user vision shall be provided, or support for Assistive Technology used by people who are blind or visually impaired shall be provided. | Supports | The application fully supports the use of browser-based Assisted Technology for the visually impaired. |
| (b) At least one mode of operation and information retrieval that does not require visual acuity greater than 20/70 shall be provided in audio and enlarged print output working together or independently, or support for Assistive Technology used by people who are visually impaired shall be provided. | Supports | The application fully supports the use of browser-based Assisted Technology for the visually impaired. |
| (c) At least one mode of operation and information retrieval that does not require user hearing shall be provided, or support for Assistive Technology used by people who are deaf or hard of hearing shall be provided | Supports | The application does not use any audio features. |
| (d) Where audio information is important for the use of a product, at least one mode of operation and information retrieval shall be provided in an enhanced auditory fashion, or support for assistive hearing devices shall be provided. | Not Applicable | The application does not use any audio features. |
| (e) At least one mode of operation and information retrieval that does not require user speech shall be provided, or support for Assistive Technology used by people with disabilities shall be provided. | Supports | The application does not support speech or audio features. |
| (f) At least one mode of operation and information retrieval that does not require fine motor control or simultaneous actions and that is operable with limited reach and strength shall be provided. | Supports | Fine motor control is required only to the extent it is needed to click standard browser hyperlinks in the application. The application fully supports Assistive Technology that assists users with limited reach and strength disabilities in browser applications. |
| Section 1194.41 Information, Documentation and Support – Detail | ||
| Criteria | Supporting Features | Remarks and explanations |
| (a) Product support documentation provided to end-users shall be made available in alternate formats upon request, at no additional charge | Supports | OutStart is willing to meet this commitment. |
| (b) End-users shall have access to a description of the accessibility and compatibility features of products in alternate formats or alternate methods upon request, at no additional charge. | Supports | OutStart is willing to meet this commitment. |
| (c) Support services for products shall accommodate the communication needs of end-users with disabilities. | Supports | OutStart is willing to meet this commitment. |