Streamline Blog

Creating websites that are accessible to visitors with disabilities can be challenging, especially for developers building one-off / standalone sites. Most websites that were built even a year ago are likely not accessible, and many of the content management systems out there aren't accessible out-of-the-box, so to speak. If your website partner wasn't specifically told to build your website in an accessible way, it's likely that your site may have a few issues. Accessible websites aren't easy to build! If you're wondering if your site is accessible, you can get an idea by using an automated scanner. Automated testing won't catch every potential issue, but it will check the basics (and the most obvious), giving you an overall idea of how you're doing. (If you need 100% comprehensive testing, have it done by professionals using assistive devices.) So how do you test your site yourself?

There are a few formatting requirements that apply to local government agencies in California: Section 508 (for visitors with disabilities); AB 169 guidelines for anything considered “open data;” and AB 2257, which governs formatting and posting requirements for any agency’s main governing body’s agenda. In this article we’ll touch on the first two; to learn more about AB 2257 and home page agenda posting, check out this related article.

A lifetime of involvement in special districts and a love for small local government has given us an understanding of just how challenging it can be for agencies to communicate online. However, instead of focusing on how hard it is, we’d like to look at five non-negotiable things your site should do for you. Just because it's been hard in the past doesn't mean it has to be hard now. We're here to make sure of that.