Waldo’s 508 Diet

A DHHS Web Health and Fitness Program

Prudence Goforth Dick Stapleton Web Communications & New Media Division Department of Health & Human Services

This is how we envision our Web sites. Great presence. Powerful. Capable of quick action.

This is closer to the truth.

And this is how we seem to the public. Ponderous. Hard to get a hold of.

We need to write the book on Web dieting!

How Fat Are We?

• 2,224 H H S domains identified
• 653 surveyed
• 1,521,043 pages tallied to date
• 1,571 yet to be surveyed
• ??? pages total

Anyone? What do we all have in common with this crane operator?

He’s a putter-upper.
We’re all putter-uppers.
Now, repeat after me, “we’re all putter-uppers.”
Again, etc.

Here’s the father of Web dieting. Anyone recognize him?

Newton's First Law of Web Dynamics:

What goes up, must come down!

Sometimes, when you’re dealing with the wild, wild West, where things are out of control, you need a sheriff.

Here’s our sheriff. These formal notices of non-compliance gave us an opportunity. They got attention of management and the web community, and forced us to get control of our websites.

A light bulb went off. Getting the letters of non-compliance was a serious challenge. It was also a great opportunity
Protecting persons with disabilities is central to HHS mission Got senior management attention Opportunity to reinforce governance Forces the site maintenance issue Broken links also an access issue Requires every page be touched Requires every file be reviewed Remediation puts a cost on retaining old content; drives Web dieting!

The Governor of New York State is legally blind; so are more than a million other people.

In fact, one of every five Americans have some physical condition that limits their access to Web content.

HTML Inventory: 653 of 2224 domains
(External sites only)

How bad is it?

File Inventory: 653 of 2224 domains
(External sites only)

Less than 3 percent of these are compliant files, accessible to persons with disabilities.

When you mouse over these areas, these subcategories appear, but it’s not possible to select them. A lot of area is wasted on a non-function.

About 6,000 broken links

Guidance: Creating Compliant PDFs

http://www.hhs.gov/web/policies/pdfaccessibility/index.html

We have started work by creating training on how to make p d f files accessible.

Provide the Right Tools We identified the best applications to create and test accessible content. Adobe Acrobat Professional v8.0 Department standard for creating and/or verifying 508-compliant PDF documents IBM Policy Tester (formerly Watchfire) Scans for 508 html, links, privacy, spelling, etc. Has its limits

Provide the Right Tools: Screen Reader-Testing PDFs ZoomText 2 Magnifier/Reader ($595 retail) Less expensive Easier to use Will catch all errors JAWS ($1,095 retail) Not the easiest to use Too smart! (corrects some errors w/o reporting) Available on GSA Schedule, contract number GS-35F-0330J ($866.15)

508: Contracting Language

• Acquisition policy provides language applicable to Statements of Work (SOW) or Performance Work Statements (PWS)
• Covers all Web sites & content for Web sites
• Covers communications materials - including reports, documents, charts, posters, and audio or video materials
  • Placed on a department-owned or department-funded Web site.
  • Intended for public or internal use

508: Grants Language

• Working with Grants Administration
• Develop language applicable to all grantee products
• Section 504 currently applies
  • Has no standards
• We will require Section 508 compliance
  • Definable, measurable standards

508: Forms Must Be Compliant

We are requiring that all forms be made accessible as a priority.

508: Changing the Business Process

Screen Reader example
Improperly Tagged Table

Screen Reader example
Properly Tagged Table

Oy!

Let’s get back to dieting. David’s had too many brownies.
Just how do we diet?

We start with an inventory. A very thorough inventory

Inventory: Where to Look

• GSA can provide list of domains
• Check list of domain waiver approvals
• Spider known domains
• Then spider again. And again.
• Don’t forget the Intranet

Then, clean out the basement

Dead Sites & URLs

• socrates.berkeley.edu/~aiarc
• www.air.org/hsware
• www.childwelfaretraining.org
• www.cwresource.org
• www.eainet.com/rps/pir2001.html
• www.naddc.org
• www.nrcitcw.org
• www.protectionandadvocacy.com
• www.step-net.org

These sites are being scanned in Watchfire, but are dead URLs. Removing these would also help to put the A C F inventory “on a diet,” to their credit.

And get rid of the orphans.
(Google can still find them)

Content Disposition

Cat.	If the content is ...	and it ...	then it is ...	and you should ...
1	still relevant	reflects current decisions and/or activities	old	leave it alone
2	still relevant	should be updated	outdated	update and re-post on the Web site
3	still relevant	cannot be updated	outdated	archive it on the public access Web site
4	no longer relevant	cannot be updated	obsolete	remove it from the Web site

Full text of HHS policy is available at http://www.hhs.gov/web/policies/webrecords.html.

HHS Archive in Development

Header:

Footer:

Web Dieting: Clean Out the Basement

This is your very best friend.
Use it wisely.
Use it a lot.

• Eliminate old PDFs and DOCs
• Eliminate PowerPoints
• Eliminate old videos, Webinars & podcasts

508 Compliance as a Diet Aid:
It Puts a Cost on Retaining Old Content

Ask yourself: “Is retaining this content worth the price of making it 508 compliant?”

We are all familiar with the long tail concept concerning infrequently downloaded web content.

We have a long tail-trail. The long tail is gone and we just think content is still useful.

We are using the Web trends tool to identify our tail trail, the pages that no one ever looks at.

Quick: What’s the Most Visited Page on HHS Web sites?

7 Links, 4 Broken

Old information is not only clutter. It can be dangerous. This old page says the drug vioxx is still available when in fact it has been taken off the market. It is important that we maintain our content.

What’s the elephant in the room in our discussion? So far we’ve been cutting fat, but what’s the workout that will give us content muscle?

The Resource Issue

These are money pots. They date back 2000 years. Italian families would use them to save for special events.

Look for Web Money Pots

We need to identify web money pots and use this money to maintain our web, fix the broken links and make our content accessible.

Finally, build in maintenance. Plan for maintenance, budget for maintenance, assign maintenance.

Waldo’s Review Conduct a thorough site inventory Get a big dumpster. Get brutal! Bury your dead sites Kill orphan sites and pages Toss useless content (the tail trail) Build an archive Consolidate content

Why did we call this “The Waldo Diet”? Because finding information on obese web sites -- with all that clutter -- is like trying to find Waldo!

Questions & Comments?

prudence.goforth@hhs.gov
   Director, HHS/WCD
   690-7264

richard.stapleton@hhs.gov
   Deputy Director, HHS/WCD
   690-7856

508 Support Content:
    www.hhs.gov/web/508/index.html