508 compliance woes

[rshade]

I'm using Robohelp X3 on the pc platform.

508 compliance has become a priority issue for my employer. I have a large (1500 page) WebHelp file and have spent the past few weeks adding alt tags, language tags, table summaries, etc.

Yesterday I compiled the Webhelp and selected the 508 compliant option. Ran the compiled help through our compliance tool and what a disaster.

The problem I am having is with the files Robohelp generates to run the Help - the frame sets, the icons it adds in the table of contents, and the scripts Robohelp inserts. Framesets are not titled, frames are not named, alt tags are non-existent, noscript tags and language tags are not used - these are all Level One violations. I have scoured the help files to discover how to repair these files, but there appears to be no method other than opening up each of the "w" files and doing the fixes manually - the fact that the tasks have to be repeated with every compile is a strong indicator (hah) that RH is NOT rendering 508 compliant help.

Has anyone else run into a similar situation? Would switching to the X5 version solve this little problem? Is there someplace in RH where I can go to configure these "w" pages ONCE instead of manually repairing each file after every compile? RH Help tells me to doubleclick on the frameset to open the frameset dialog or call it from the file menu -- it's not on the file menu and the pages I need to open aren't accessible inside RH.

Thanks

Russ

[Linux Rules]

Hello Russ -

I see this is your first post here - welcome!

RoboHelp does not produce fully compliant Section 508 code even when you select that type of output. X5 is no better than your version. Try a search for "508" in the "webHelp" forum with a "Start Date" around 01/01/04.

I haven't run RH7(beta) through a compliance tool yet (thanks for reminding me to do that).

Regards,
GEWB

[Linux Rules]

Hello Russ -

Well I converted our X5 project to RH7beta (B0123) and ran it through Bobby 5.3 with promising results. Only a few "behind the scenes" html files are not compliant, usually due to a missing title. These are not topic files but rather layout type files. Topic files had some warnings, typically when I had a link to a PDF file but didn't include a hyperlink to download a PDF plug in, stuff like that.

Regards,
GEWB

[JLUCC]

LinuxRules -
I know this post is 2 months after your but I'm hoping for an improvement in the 508 realm.
Even RH7's own Help is Section 508 but not WAI verifyable (?).

Has there been any additional testing on this? It's a BIG deal with my customers too.

thanks,
JL

[Linux Rules]

Hello Russ -

No, I haven't had time to do more 508 testing with RH7.

Can you tell us more about the concerns your customer has? Is there something very specific that they need such as text readers for hearing impaired, mobile device displays, etc.? I ask because Section 508 is still fairly "open" and "allows" programmers some latitude.

Is your customer aware that full compliance will limit the appearance and functionality of their product? If your customer wants "strict" 508 programming, I'm afraid you may have to do it all from scratch as I haven't found any HAT that is 100% compliant.

Regards,
GEWB