Web Guidelines FAQ

Frequently Asked Questions

The following list is compiled from actual questions received by State Services Commission since the release of Web Guidelines in February 2004.

Audit for Compliance

You have been able to self-audit your own web sites ever since the guidelines were published. The delay in the compliance checklist has postponed a lot of audits.

SSC also considered it would be wasted effort to audit existing web sites before the compliance date because agencies had sites being redeveloped that may go public before the end of 2005.

Browsers

This list represents the minimal set of browsers you must support to ensure a high likelihood that your web site will be accessible to most Internet users:

• Internet Explorer 5.5, on Windows 2000
• Internet Explorer 6.0, on Windows XP
• Mozilla Firefox 1.0.X (or 1.5.X), on Windows XP or Linux

If your website works correctly with these browsers (that represent about 90% of Internet users) and it is standards compliant, then you can be fairly certain it will work well with most other modern browsers. This does not preclude testing with other browsers, to ensure maximum compatibility.

We are fully aware that Internet Explorer 5.5 does offer some challenges for standards compliance. However, it still represents a large group of users. We recommend that wherever possible, any work-arounds required for this browser be implemented within the scope of the appropriate standards. In cases where this is not possible, preference should be given to the standard.

It is important to note that for older browsers the desirable behaviour is that the website degrades gracefully, but that the information remains accessible. Adherence to the standards will aid in this goal.

Checklist

The compliance checklist for Web Guidelines Version 2.1 was completed and published on the website in November 2005.

Colour

The requirement will be reviewed for the next revision of the Web Guidelines in the first half of 2006.

You do need to be aware that if you use colours outside the web-safe palette, some readers will get a very different shade to what you expect. Also, be aware that some readers may be have colour turned off because they need the strong contrast to overcome a vision impairment.

Defamation

You should apply the same controls and restrictions on web content that you do for material you publish in print. Consult you legal advisers about anything that could possibly be defamatory.

Eligibility

It is not mandatory for you, but to uphold the spirit of the guidelines, you should try to meet as many of the requirements as you can.

No decision has yet been made.

To uphold the spirit of the guidelines, and for best practice and consistency, you should try to meet as many of the requirements as you can.

Flash

Flash and Shockwave should not be used in isolation, as the only means of accessing the intended information. Where Flash or Shockwave are used, the information should also be provided in a more accessible form.
 
This is primarily because Flash and Shockwave are inaccessible to blind people.

Another problem that regularly occurs with multimedia applications is version control and codec dependency.

Applications that require specific plug-ins to be installed should be avoided because users may not know how to install the plug-ins, or may not be comfortable about installing such software on their system.

Some users will be using an Internet café or public library terminal where the installation of such plug-ins is beyond their capability or control.

HTML

The compliance checklist specifies that:

• Pages are valid HTML. If XHTML is used, it must be W3C compliant with no accessibility issues.
• If an agency is using the HTML 4.0 specification, they must use the transitional HTML DTD; an agency can use strict HTML only if all deprecated tags are avoided. You may be granted an exemption from the Government Web Guidelines v2.1 to use XHTML as a viable alternative, as long as the code validates and there are no accessibility issues.

Refer to Web Guidelines v2.1 section 6.4.3 Code Design

To obtain an e-GIF standards exemption from the Government Web Guidelines version 2.1, you must make a formal request to the e-GIF Management Committee.

How do I convince my legal team that converting legal documents to HTML is okay?

If you have legal documents, or documents where HTML would cause problems, these could be considered as special-purpose documents. Refer to the Checklist for the meaning of special-purpose documents. You should consider providing at least a summary or overview in HTML so that the content is accessible.

Refer to the PDF umbrella exemption criteria.

How do I set up UTF-8 encoding for Māori long vowels?

Use the following steps:

1. Ensure that your web server can server UTF-8 encoded pages. For Apache, change the default charset to UTF-8 by adding AddDefaultCharset UTF-8 to the configuration file.
2. Edit your documents and templates, and ensure that you have the following metatag set in the <head>:
   
   <meta http-equiv=”content-type” content=”text/html; charset=utf-8”>
   
   
3. Either:
   
   • Insert Macrons using a Unicode compatible editor. This should insert actual UTF-8 characters. For example, a macron a is encoded 0xC40x81.
     
   or
   
   • Use HTML entities. For example, a macron a is coded as &#257. Note that using HTML entities makes page maintenance more difficult.

Is it OK to use Drop-down and Fly-out menus?

Drop-down menus involve using a scripting language such as JavaScript. The guidelines state that you may use a scripting language, but the content must still be available to readers with browsers that do not support JavaScript. The website must degrade gracefully.

PDF Content

PDF version 6 was not released until May 2003, and was not well known when the current web guidelines were published. PDF version 7 was released in late 2004.

The review of the web guidelines will need to investigate the accessibility features of the new PDF formats. At present, you need to make your primary content available in HTML.

Revisions

There will be a complete revision of the Web Guidelines in the first half of 2006. You can make comments or suggestions about the changes you would like to see by issuing an email to web.guidelines@ssc.govt.nz