Section 508 Review

Section 508 (e)

Redundant text links shall be provided for each active region of a server-side image map.

• 1.2.1 - Locate any IMG element that contains the 'ismap' attribute.
• 1.2.2 - Locate any INPUT element that contains the 'ismap' attribute.

Similar Standards

• W3C Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.0
  1.1.1 Non-text Content
  
  
• Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG 1.0)
  1.2 Provide redundant text links for each active region of a server-side image map. [Priority 1]

Example:

Consider the following server side image map

Perceived Map:

On clicking on a location of the Server Side Image, only the coordinates within that image that the mouse was clicked on are sent to the parent server. The final URL or Link is deciphered by the computer serving the web page and then the user is taken to that page or URL.

For the original web page the links should direct us to the various home pages of the browsers. These links are displayed as:
An example: http://www.csun.edu/accessibility/508/508echange.html?43,44

For users using assistive technology, these links within the server side image are unknown and cannot be deciphered.
Hence, it becomes difficult for the user to know where he or she is directed.

Example:

Consider the following web application that needs you to select an iphone

Improved Application:

Opera Home Page
Firefox Home Page
Internet Explorer Home Page
Safari Home Page
Google Chrome Home Page

Clicking on the Image Map will take you to the Section 508 f

Wave errors related to Section 508f

Icon	Title	Description	Recommended Actions
	ERROR: Server-side image map	A server-side image map is present.	Replace the server-side image map with a client-side map or provide redundant links for all clickable areas.