System and method for remediating inaccessible files

1 . A system for remediating inaccessible files, the system comprising:

a computing device communicably connected to a communications network, the computing device configured for:

receiving from an entity a plurality of files associated with a particular document type for a particular company;

identifying and selecting a set of XML-based files within the plurality of files, wherein said set of XML-based files includes inaccessible code or content that is not accessible to persons with disabilities that use assistive technologies;

reading metadata of the set of XML-based files and identifying a document type in said metadata;

selecting a matching XML template from a plurality of XML templates, said matching XML template defining accessibility-compliant structural placeholders for assistive-technology interpretation, and wherein said matching XML template corresponds to the document type;

for each file of the set of XML-based files, merging substantive data extracted into placeholders of the matching XML template, so as to generate and store a plurality of accessible files constructed from a combination of the set of XML-based files and the particular XML template;

transmitting the plurality of accessible files over the communications network to another computing device for publication; and

executing an accessibility testing tool on the plurality of accessible files to identify any additional inaccessible code or content in the plurality of accessible files.

2 . The system of claim 1 , wherein said entity is a regulatory agency, a newswire, or an information aggregator.

3 . A system for remediating inaccessible files, the system comprising:

a computing device communicably connected to a communications network, the computing device configured for:

receiving from an entity a plurality of files associated with a particular document type for a particular company;

identifying and selecting a set of HTML-based files within the plurality of files, wherein said set of HTML-based files includes inaccessible code or content that is not accessible to persons with disabilities that use assistive technologies;

reading metadata of the set of HTML-based files and identifying a document type in said metadata;

selecting a matching set of rules from a plurality of rules, wherein said matching set of rules corresponds to the document type, and wherein a rule comprises an if-portion that defines a machine-readable accessibility condition corresponding to inaccessible code or content that prevents interpretation by assistive technology and a then-portion that defines an accessibility transformation configured to modify HTML content to produce accessible code or content;

executing the matching set of rules against the set of HTML-based files, wherein the condition of the if-portion of each rule is evaluated against each HTML element of the set of HTML-based fields, and wherein if said condition is met, the transformation defined in the then-portion of said rules is executed upon said HTML element;

generating and storing a plurality of accessible files based on the set of HTML-based files upon which the matching set of rules were executed; and

transmitting the plurality of accessible files over the communications network to another computing device for publication.

4 . The system of claim 3 , wherein said entity is a regulatory agency, a newswire, or an information aggregator.

5 . The system of claim 4 , wherein a condition is a regular expression.

6 . The system of claim 5 , wherein a condition is a portion of source code.

7 . A system for remediating inaccessible files, the system comprising:

a computing device communicably connected to a communications network, the computing device configured for:

receiving from an entity a plurality of files associated with a particular document type for a particular company;

identifying and selecting a set of HTML-based files within the plurality of files, wherein said set of HTML-based files includes inaccessible code or content that is not accessible to persons with disabilities that use assistive technologies;

reading metadata of the set of HTML-based files and identifying a document type in said metadata;

selecting a matching set of rules from a plurality of rules, wherein said matching set of rules corresponds to the document type, and wherein a rule comprises an if-portion that defines a machine-readable accessibility condition corresponding to inaccessible code or content that prevents interpretation by assistive technology and a then-portion that defines an accessibility transformation configured to modify HTML content to produce accessible code or content;

executing the matching set of rules against the set of HTML-based files, wherein the condition of the if-portion of each rule is evaluated against each HTML element of the set of HTML-based fields, and wherein if said condition is met, the transformation defined in the then-portion of said rules is executed upon said HTML element;

generating and storing a plurality of accessible files based on the set of HTML-based files upon which the matching set of rules were executed;

transmitting the plurality of accessible files over the communications network to another computing device for publication;

executing an accessibility testing tool on the plurality of accessible files to identify any additional inaccessible code or content in the plurality of accessible files;

opening a graphical user interface that displays the additional inaccessible code or content in the plurality of accessible files and either: 1) receiving editing commands from a user that edit the additional inaccessible code or content so as to create accessible code or content, or 2) receiving a new rule from the user that defines how to edit the additional inaccessible code or content so as to create accessible code or content, and adding said new rule to the plurality of rules;

effectuating the editing commands or the new rule so as to amend the additional inaccessible code or content in plurality of accessible files; and

transmitting the plurality of accessible files over the communications network to another computing device for publication.

8 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the computing device is further configured for:

reading a plurality of original XML templates;

editing inaccessible code or content in the plurality of original XML templates so as to generate the plurality of XML templates comprising accessible code or content.

9 . The system of claim 8 , wherein said entity is a regulatory agency, a newswire, or an information aggregator.

10 . The system of claim 9 , wherein a condition is a regular expression.

11 . The system of claim 10 , wherein a condition is a portion of source code.