The National Center on Accessible Information Technology in Education
Funded by:
(grant #H133D010306)
Which set of web accessibility standards or guidelines should I comply with?
Websites created or used by United States federal agencies are required by Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, as amended in 1998, to meet sixteen Electronic and Information Technology Accessibility Standards for web pages. These standards are intended to be minimum standards. Web accessibility is more comprehensively covered by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C®) in their Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 1.0, which includes 14 guidelines and 65 checkpoints. Many states and educational entities have adopted one or both of these standards or guidelines and, in some cases, have developed their own standards or guidelines. Check to see if your organization is covered by a law, policy, or set of web accessibility standards or guidelines. If not, determine which set of standards best meets your needs and the needs of your organization. Setting the bar as high as possible may reduce the likelihood that you will have to retrofit your site later in response to an individual's need for improved access.
Last update or review: June 24, 2005
Copyright © 2002 - 2010 by University of Washington. Permission is granted to copy these materials for educational, noncommercial purposes provided the source is acknowledged. For more information see the larger AccessIT Copyright Statement. AccessIT was funded by the National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research of the U.S. Department of Education (grant #H133D010306) through September 30, 2006; it is now maintained with funding from the National Science Foundation (grant #CNS-0540615). The contents do not necessarily represent the policies of the U.S. federal government, and you should not assume their endorsement.