36 CFR Part 1194 - Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Final Standards and Guidelines (with amendments issued through Jan. 2018)

504 Authoring Tools

504.1 General.

Where an application is an authoring tool, the application shall conform to 504 to the extent that information required for accessibility is supported by the destination format.

504.2 Content Creation or Editing.

Authoring tools shall provide a mode of operation to create or edit content that conforms to Level A and Level AA Success Criteria and Conformance Requirements in WCAG 2.0 (incorporated by reference, see 702.10.1) for all supported features and, as applicable, to file formats supported by the authoring tool. Authoring tools shall permit authors the option of overriding information required for accessibility.

EXCEPTION: Authoring tools shall not be required to conform to 504.2 when used to directly edit plain text source code.

504.2.1 Preservation of Information Provided for Accessibility in Format Conversion.

Authoring tools shall, when converting content from one format to another or saving content in multiple formats, preserve the information required for accessibility to the extent that the information is supported by the destination format.

504.2.2 PDF Export.

Authoring tools capable of exporting PDF files that conform to ISO 32000-1:2008 (PDF 1.7) shall also be capable of exporting PDF files that conform to ANSI/AIIM/ISO 14289-1:2016 (PDF/UA-1) (incorporated by reference, see 702.3.1).

504.3 Prompts.

Authoring tools shall provide a mode of operation that prompts authors to create content that conforms to Level A and Level AA Success Criteria and Conformance Requirements in WCAG 2.0 (incorporated by reference, see 702.10.1) for supported features and, as applicable, to file formats supported by the authoring tool.

504.4 Templates.

Where templates are provided, templates allowing content creation that conforms to Level A and Level AA Success Criteria and Conformance Requirements in WCAG 2.0 (incorporated by reference, see 702.10.1) shall be provided for a range of template uses for supported features and, as applicable, to file formats supported by the authoring tool.