Voluntary Product Accessibility Template

The purpose of the Voluntary Product Accessibility Template is to assist Federal contracting officials in making preliminary assessments regarding the availability of commercial Electronic and Information Technology products and services with features that support accessibility. It is assumed that offerers will provide additional contact information to facilitate more detailed inquiries.

The first table of the Template provides a summary view of the section 508 Standards. The subsequent tables provide more detailed views of each subsection. There are three columns in each table. Column one of the Summary Table describes the subsections of subparts B and C of the Standards. The second column describes the supporting features of the product or refers you to the corresponding detailed table, "e.g., equivalent facilitation." The third column contains any additional remarks and explanations regarding the product. In the subsequent tables, the first column contains the lettered paragraphs of the subsections. The second column describes the supporting features of the product with regard to that paragraph. The third column contains any additional remarks and explanations regarding the product.

Date: April 29, 2002
Name of Product: Red Hat Enterprise Linux
Contact for more Information: Section 508 Coordinator <section508@redhat.com>

Summary Table Voluntary Product Accessibility Template
*Criteria*	Supporting Features	Remarks and explanations
Section 1194.21 Software Applications and Operating Systems	See Section 1194.21 Template below	This template is for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 2.1 in command line mode.
Section 1194.21 Software Applications and Operating Systems	See Section 1194.21 Template below	This template is for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 2.1 with the KDE GUI interface.
Section 1194.21 Software Applications and Operating Systems	See Section 1194.21 Template below	This template is for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 2.1 with the GNOME GUI interface.
Section 1194.22 Web-based Internet information and applications	See Section 1194.22 Template below
Section 1194.31 Functional Performance Criteria	See Section 1194.31 Template below	This template applies only to Red Hat Enterprise Linux 2.1 in command line mode.

Section 1194.21 Software Applications and Operating Systems - Detail Voluntary Product Accessibility Template Red Hat Enterprise Linux 2.1 Command Line Mode
*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	All command line mode tasks are executed from a keyboard.
(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.	No known application disrupts or disables accessibility 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.	Command line mode does not contain user interface objects.
(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.	Command line mode does not contain user interface objects.
(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.	Command line mode does not contain images.
(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.	All textual information is available to the controlling terminal in command line mode.	In command line mode all text is available via the controlling terminal. The current cursor position is available via industry standard terminal command codes. Accessibility technology can utilize pseudo-terminals to interpret industry standard terminal control sequences and provide users with the content, cursor position, and text attributes. Alternatively, accessibility technology can access text attributes on virtual terminals in console mode via the /dev/vsca interface.
(g) Applications shall not override user selected contrast and color selections and other individual display attributes.	No known application overrides user selected contrast and color selections.
(h) When animation is displayed, the information shall be displayable in at least one non-animated presentation mode at the option of the user.	Command line mode does not offer animation.
(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.	Applications which utilize color to convey information have equivalent facilities that do not require color coding.	For example, by default the "ls" command assigns colors to certain types of files when it lists directories. This information can be displayed in a non-color coded format by using the "file" command.
(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.	Command line mode does not permit the user to adjust color and contrast settings.
(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.	Any flashing or blinking does so at a frequency within the recommended range.
(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.	There are no electronic forms available in command line mode.

Section 1194.21 Software Applications and Operating Systems - Detail Voluntary Product Accessibility Template Red Hat Enterprise Linux 2.1 with the KDE Desktop
*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	Program fucntions can be accessed via menu accelerators and MouseKeys.	The Qt 2.3.x GUI toolkit used by KDE 2.x provides the ability to control functions by pressing keyboard accelerator keys. Access to functions without accelerator keys can be achieved using the MouseKeys feature of AccessX. Blind users who can not use MouseKeys will be unable to access features which do not have accelerator keys.
(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.	The applications tested do not disrupt or disable activated accessibility 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.	The Qt 2.3.x GUI toolkit draws focus in a manner defined by the widget style selection of the user.	The focus is not programmaticly exposed. Qt 3.0, which will be included in a future release of Red Hat Enterprise Linux, exposes focus programmaticly via the QAccessible class.
(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.	Some user interface information is available to Assistive Technology.	The programmatic interface is not abstracted to enable generic support for all elements. Qt 2.3.x does not include the ability to attach text descriptions to images. Qt 3.0, which will be included in a future release of Red Hat Enterprise Linux, implements this functionality.
(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.	The KDE Desktop implements a set of stock icons that all applications use to ensure consistent usage of images.
(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.	Text input and output objects in Qt 2.3.x supply content, cursor position, and attributes.	The programmatic interfaces to this information are not generic, therefore Assistive Technology will encounter difficulty in using them. Qt 3.0 will include a generic interface to these elements.
(g) Applications shall not override user selected contrast and color selections and other individual display attributes.	The applications tested do not override user selected contrast and color selections.	The KDE Accessibility Project is working to ensure that applications conform.
(h) When animation is displayed, the information shall be displayable in at least one non-animated presentation mode at the option of the user.	In the rare occurrences of animations in KDE, non-animated information is displayed with the animation.	The KDE Accessibility Project is working to ensure that applications conform.
(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.	The applications tested did not use color as the only means of conveying information.	By default the KDE window manager uses color to convey the currently focused window. Other window manager schemes may be selected that use non-color means to distinguish the currently focused window.
(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.	KDE provides numerous color selection options.
(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.	Only the cursor flashes on the KDE desktop and it does so within the required frequency ranges.
(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.	Electronic forms are not implemented beyond those found in the Konqueror web browser in KDE.	There is not a generic interface for Assistive Technology to access the information and form elements. Qt 3.0, which will be included in a future release of Red Hat Enterprise Linux, will include interfaces for Assistive Technology.

Section 1194.21 Software Applications and Operating Systems - Detail Voluntary Product Accessibility Template Red Hat Enterprise Linux 2.1 with the GNOME Desktop
*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	Program functions can be accessed via menu accelerators and MouseKeys.	The GTK+ 1.2.x GUI toolkit used by GNOME 1.4.x provides the ability to control functions by pressing keyboard accelerator keys. Access to product functions without accelerator keys can be achieved using the MouseKeys feature of AccessX. Blind users who can not use MouseKeys will be unable to access features which do not have accelerator keys.
(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.	The applications tested do not disrupt or disable activated accessibility 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.	The GTK+ 1.2.x GUI toolkit draws focus in a manner defined by the widget style selection of the user.	The focus is not programmaticly exposed. GTK+ 2.0.x, which will be included in a future release of Red Hat Enterprise Linux, exposes focus programmaticly via the ATK (Accessibility Tool Kit). A pre-production version of GTK+ 2.0.x is included in Red Hat Linux 2.1.
(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.	Some user interface information is available to Assistive Technology.	The programmatic interface is not abstracted to enable generic support for all elements. GTK+ 1.2.x does not include the ability to attach text descriptions to images. GTK+ 2.0.x, which will be included in a future release of Red Hat Linux, implements this functionality.
(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.	The GNOME Desktop implements a set of stock icons that all applications use to ensure consistent usage of images.
(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.	Text input and output objects in GTK+ 1.2.x supply content, cursor position, and attributes.	The programmatic interfaces to this information are not generic, therefore Assistive Technology will encounter difficulty in using them. GTK+ 2.0 implements a generic interface for Assistive Technology.
(g) Applications shall not override user selected contrast and color selections and other individual display attributes.	The tested applications do not override the user selected contrast and color selections.	The GNOME Accessibility Project is working to ensure application compliance.
(h) When animation is displayed, the information shall be displayable in at least one non-animated presentation mode at the option of the user.	In the rare occurrences of animations in GNOME, non-animated information is displayed with the animation.	The GNOME Accessibility Project is working to ensure application compliance.
(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.	The applications tested did not use color as the only means of conveying information.	The default GNOME window manager (called "sawfish") uses color to convey the currently focused window. Other window manager schemes may be selected that use non-color means to distinguish the currently focused window.
(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.	GNOME provides numerous color selection options.
(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.	Objects do not flash or blink outside of the required frequency range.
(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.	Electronic forms are not implemented in GNOME.

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Section 1194.22 Web-based Internet information and applications - Detail Voluntary Product Accessibility Template
*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).
(b) Equivalent alternatives for any multimedia presentation shall be synchronized with the 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.
(d) Documents shall be organized so they are readable without requiring an associated style sheet.
(e) Redundant text links shall be provided for each active region of a server-side image map.
(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.
(g) Row and column headers shall be identified for data 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.
(i) Frames shall be titled with text that facilitates frame identification and navigation
(j) Pages shall be designed to avoid causing the screen to flicker with a frequency greater than 2 Hz and lower than 55 Hz.
(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.
(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.
(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).
(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.
(o) A method shall be provided that permits users to skip repetitive navigation links.
(p) When a timed response is required, the user shall be alerted and given sufficient time to indicate more time is required.

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 1194.31 Functional Performance Criteria - Detail Voluntary Product Accessibility Template Red Hat Enterprise Linux 2.1 Command Line Mode
*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.	Support for Assistive Technology is provided via the Controlling Terminal interface.	See VPAT for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 2.1 command line mode Section 1194.21 (f)
(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.	Support for Assistive Technology is provided via the Controlling Terminal interface.	See VPAT for Red Hat Linux 2.1 command line mode Section 1194.21 (f)
(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	Support for Assistive Technology is provided via the Controlling Terminal interface.	See VPAT for Red Hat Linux 2.1 command line mode Section 1194.21 (f)
(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.	Support for Assistive Technology is provided via the Controlling Terminal interface.	See VPAT for Red Hat Linux 2.1 command line mode Section 1194.21 (f)
(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.	Support for Assistive Technology is provided via the Controlling Terminal interface.	See VPAT for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 2.1 command line mode Section 1194.21 (f)
(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.	Requires Assistive Technology.	Command line mode requires text input via the Controlling Terminal. Normally this requires fine motor control or simultaneous actions on a keyboard. Assistive Technology can be used by people with disabilities in command line mode to access program functions.

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Voluntary Product Accessibility Template