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Date: | Wed, 27 Mar 2002 21:34:03 -0500 |
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and search engines
This is a reprint of a memo posted to a DoD webmasters listserv about the
importance of updating search engine indexes to include alternate-content pages
created to comply with accessibility guidelines.
From: Mobley, Mary L [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
Sent: Monday, May 21, 2001 5:54 PM
To:
Subject: Section 508 update -- making sure your agency search engine
returns accessible versions of documents
Dear Designated Agency Officials,
We are sending around this update to inform you of an accessibility issue
arising with respect to section 508 and web page search engines. Please
circulate this memo within your agency as appropriate.
As you know, many agencies have made a practice of accompanying all documents
posted in Adobe Acrobat's Portable Document Format (pdf) with identical
documents posted in html or ASCII text, to ensure that the documents are
accessible to people using assistive technology devices such as screen readers.
Many agency search engines have been set up to retrieve only pdf documents. At
least one agency has indicated that its search engine operates by looking at
documents' meta-tags to determine their relevance to the search terms. This
agency often placed such meta-tags on the pdf version of documents, leaving the
text document without any meta-tag (or with a different meta-tag). This
practice resulted in the search engine only identifying the PDF version of the
document, even though another version has been posted for accessibility
reasons. Someone with a disability may be unable to find the "accessible"
version of the document through the search engine.
To prevent this problem, we suggest that for future postings, agencies ensure
that their search engine retrieve both pdf documents and html/ASCII documents.
For instance, if your agency uses meta-tags to identify content for search
engines, use identical meta-tags on all versions of a document.
<http://webservices.hq.af.mil/508/Searc hpdf.htm index.html>Return to AFPCA 508
Compliance Homepage <http://webservices.hq.af.mil/508/Searc hpdf.htm
Legal.htm>Return to the Legal Issues page
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