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LinkedIn used to be one of those social networking sites which I have highly recommended to people with disabilities, as it was one of the most accessible ones. Visiting the site for a couple of minutes one can tell that it was designed, with accessibility in mind. Maybe not anymore?

Last time we checked if CAPTCHA is Section 508 compliant. Now let's see what WCAG says about it.

CAPTCHA is as Section 508 compliant as you make it to be. It can certainly be done. In this post we will review those Section 508 standards which are relevant when creating a CAPTCHA solution. At this point, we will only concentrate on the current Section 508 standards, not on the proposed recommendations, as they may change before they legally become effective.

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Earlier we have discussed CAPTCHA, or Completely Automated Public Turing test to tell Computers and Humans Apart, refers to a verification scheme used by sites to ensure that web content is accessed only by persons. In this article I would like to provide more examples and concerns for the different CAPTCHA alternatives.

CAPTCHA has gained much popularity for its apparent effectiveness and ease of implementation. But a valid concern has started to grow among Internet users regarding the use of CAPTCHA in websites. Many people, especially those with disabilities, find it difficult and sometimes impossible to pass this verification method.

Many documents have been written about web accessibility. This is only appropriate as web accessibility covers a considerably large amount of topics. However, similar to any principle, web accessibility also has its set of limitations.

Here, we will try to point out those limitations in order for you to better understand web. Accessibility. It is important to note though that experts are presently working on these issues to address or improve them.

Recently I wrote about Accessible Twitter and an accessible CAPTCHA solution. Both solutions were developed because a mainstream application is not accessible for people with disabilities, so people stepped up to come up with a quick solution. In case of Twitter, a site was developed to provide people with disabilities with a more accessible browsing experience. In case of the CAPTCHA, a solution was developed because many web sites offer an image verification system which is not accessible. The question is if it is a good idea to approach accessibility from the back door with such solutions.

Just recently I have come across a new solution to make CAPTCHA accessible, called Solona. The idea is that where you find a CAPTCHA on a site you cannot solve, you copy your screen into a picture file, send it to Solona, and they will solve the image for you instantly.

It has been a heated debate how to make sure that only humans can register on web pages, without permitting automated systems to do the same. A solution, called CAPTCHA was developed, but often times it is not accessible. If you are not familiar with this problem, read my article about it. There are many great solutions, I just came across one which I would like to share.

You have probably seen forms where you need to enter a string of characters in order to submit the form. This is to ensure that only people can submit a form, but automatic systems cannot, in order to prevent spam. This original solution is, however, not accessible for many people with disabilities. In this article I will offer solutions which you can implement to ensure access to all.

If you are a web developer, you might also be interested in:

• Section 508 and CAPTCHA
• WCAG 2.0 and CAPTCHA