Information Technology

MSU Moorhead Web Accessibility Guidelines

In 1973 the federal government passed the Rehabilitation Act. Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act requires access to electronic and information technology procured by Federal agencies. In 1988, President Clinton signed into law the Rehabilitation Act Amendments of 1998, which covers access to federally funded programs and services.
In an effort to ensure access to Web-based and other electronic resources and services, MSU Moorhead has put together this Web Accessibility Guidelines. This plan is for university Web pages, including primary University Web sites, department sites, and online instructional materials. These Web pages should be made compliant as soon as possible.

Level 1 Compliance

1. Coding

1.1 - Use valid, standard Web programming code.

The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) sets and publishes standards for most Web languages, including HTML 4.01, XHTML 1.0, CSS Level 1 & 2, DOM, and SMIL. Code is considered "valid" when it follows the all the rules and conventions specified in the published standards.

1.2 - Use appropriate markup to convey document structure.

Markup languages like HTML and XHTML identify the structural elements of a document. For example, the <p> element identifies a paragraph and <h1> identifies a first-level heading.

1.3 - Use style sheets for formatting whenever possible.

Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) is a formatting language designed to complement HTML, used to control colors, typography, layout, etc. While HTML is designed to identify a document's structure, CSS is intended for formatting and presentation.

2. Text

2.1 - Avoid using images to display text.

Web developers often use images of text to achieve a specific style, size, or special effect.

2.2 - Avoid using absolute sizes for fonts.

Font sizes can be set using "absolute" or "relative" units of measurement. Absolute units, notably pixels, points, and inches, are based on fixed physical measurements; "relative" units, such as ems, percentages, or "small," "medium," or "large," are based on the user's default font size.

2.3 - Specify the language of text.

HTML uses the lang attribute to specify language in a Web page. It can be set for any HTML element

2.4 - Avoid using "ASCII art."

"ASCII art" (and "emoticons") are images created using special arrangements of text characters and symbols. For example, ":-)" is often used to create a smiley face, and "->" is often used as an arrow.

2.5 - Identify acronyms and abbreviations.

HTML includes markup for identifying and defining abbreviations (lbs., SCSU, etc.) and acronyms (MnSCU, NATO, etc.)

3. Colors

3.1 - Do not convey information with color alone.

Color is often used to indicate special functions or status. For example, required form fields are frequently indicated with red labels.

3.2 - Use contrasting foreground and background colors.

Web authors can set specific colors to be used for foregrounds (text) and backgrounds. Sometimes images are used as backgrounds.
Avoid color combinations like these:

Background Text Example
Black Blue

test
Black Purple

test
Black Red

test
Black Green

test
Red Green

test
Green Red

test
Blue Red

test
Red Blue

test
White Yellow

test
White Orange

test
Yellow  White

test

3.3 - Do not use graphical backgrounds to convey information.

An HTML page may have a background image, which sometimes is relied upon to convey important information.

4. Images

4.1 - Provide "alternate text" for all images.

The HTML image element (<img>) includes an "alternate text" attribute (alt) that is used to provide text that can be substituted when the image itself cannot be displayed. Alternate text is meant to be a concise replacement for an image and should serve the same purpose and convey the same meaning.

4.2 - Provide full descriptions for graphs, diagrams, and other meaningful images.

"Meaningful" images are images that convey more information than can appropriately be expressed as alternate text.

4.3 - Use appropriate alternate text or style sheets for graphical bullets.

Graphics are sometimes used for list-item bullets to make the list stand out or look more attractive.

5. Image Maps

5.1 - Provide alternate text for each area in client-side image maps.

Image maps are images divided into multiple "areas," with each area having its own hypertext link.

5.2 - Avoid using server-side image maps.

While client-side image maps and server-side image maps look and operate similarly, they are technically very different. Because of the way server-side image maps work, all information about the image and links is stored at the Web server and is not available to the user's Web browser or assistive technology.

6. Audio

6.1 - Do not convey information with sound alone.

It is possible to use sound for a variety of purposes, including presenting warning signals, cues, or verbal instructions.

6.2 - Provide text transcripts for audio containing speech.

"Audio containing speech" includes audio recordings or live broadcasts of speeches, seminars, conferences, etc. A text transcript is a word-for-word written record of the spoken content of such an event.

7. Multimedia

7.1 - Provide synchronized captions for multimedia containing speech.

Multimedia generally refers to recorded or live media containing both video and audio tracks. Captioning (as in "closed captioned") is essentially a text transcript of the audio synchronized with the audio/video tracks of the presentation.

7.2 - Provide audio descriptions for multimedia with significant video.

Audio descriptions are verbal descriptions of the actions and images displayed in a video that are inserted during pauses in the regular dialog or audio track. Audio descriptions are only necessary if significant information that is presented visually is not discernable from the dialog or audio track.

8. Animation

8.1 - Avoid flickering, blinking, and unnecessary animation.

Animated graphics, Flash, Java, <blink> tags, <marquee> tags, and other techniques are often used to create a variety of animated effects.

9. Links

9.1 - Make sure that links are understandable out of context.

A link is understandable out of context when it clearly indicates its destination or function without requiring additional information.

9.2 - Provide a means of skipping past repetitive navigation links.

Navigation links are the lists or "menus" of links to all the sections of a site that are often repeated on every page.

9.3 - Avoid using small images or text as links.

The size of the "clickable" area of a link is limited to the size of the image or text that makes up the link.

9.4 - Use an email address as the text in a "mailto" link.

Email or mailto links are widely used to provide visitors with a quick and convenient method of sending feedback on a site or requesting information.

10. Contact Information

10.1 - Provide contact information.

A contact person for accessibility issues should be identified. Contact information should include email, telephone, TTY, and mailing address.

11. Testing

11.1 - Test for accessibility.

Testing includes functional tests with assistive technology, browser and operating system functionality as well as automated testing software.