Ensuring Section 508 Compliance of Client File Uploads

Question

On my companies intranet, the business had asked to allow the users to deposit a file into a shared folder for it to be auto-posted to the intranet site. Pretty much the same as a file upload, with direct access to the storage device on a different server (with filetype limitations).

Since I don't have any control over the users and their knowledge of Section 508 compliance, is there a method to valid the document prior to it being added to the page? Right now, I have a C# class that builds a list from approved folders within that directory. I just want to make sure that if the files are not accessible, that they do not get added to the list.

Answer 1

I am sorry to say that Chris is incorrect in his answer. Section 508 applies to all file types, not just applications. There is a scanner by HiSoftware called Compliance Sheriff, that might work, but it may break due to how big your site is. My recommendation is to train people to make files compliant.

Answer 2

If you want the files to be truly accessible, then no machine algoritm will do. A story from my previous workplace:

Content editors for a site were asked to enter in a picture's caption (placed below an image, for all to see), and the alt text (for screen-readers). One ended up entering the same text in for the alt text as they did for the caption. As a result, a 508 scan did pass, but an actual 508 evaluation by a human did not.

We had a similar problem as you, with files placed on our CMS. Our customer and her cadre of lawyers ultimately decided that it was not up to the IT staff to determine 508: it was the publisher of the file. If someone wanted to upload a PDF or PPT or Word doc, they had to ensure it was 508 compliant FIRST. We, the code monkeys, were not to take on the risk.

Whenever someone was going to upload a file, we'd warn them about compliance, and offer them a contact for making their files 508 compliant (we had an in-house group for that). We also offered a way for users to flag non-508 files so we could pull them down quickly and get them updated.