Get Started with Digital Accessibility
All WSU employees who create and publish digital content (such as email, documents, multimedia, and websites) are responsible for making sure that digital content is accessible and provides an inclusive experience.
Core Concepts
These seven core concepts address a majority of the barriers to digital content and technology. Review the core concepts to improve the accessibility of your digital content and technology.
Headings play a crucial role in making documents and websites accessible. They help organize content in a way that allows users to quickly navigate and locate relevant information. Properly using heading labels ensures your digital content is structured and easy to interpret.
Headings range from <h1> to <h6>, and should be used in a logical order. The <h1> tag represents the primary topic or title of the page, while <h2> tags are used for key sub-sections. Further divisions within those sub-sections can be indicated with <h3> headings, continuing down the hierarchy as needed.
Accessible links connect concise and descriptive text to a website or file. They make it easier for everyone to navigate and consume content. Clear and descriptive link text improves digital content for individuals using screen readers, those who are neurodivergent, people with mobility challenges, and voice-control-software users.
There are two main types of lists: Unordered (bulleted) and ordered (numbered or lettered).
Lists convey and create relationships between items. These relationships are displayed visually and in the underlying code, which assistive technologies use to read.
Images can be effective way to convey meaning, such as to provide additional information to text content. Images that are not accessible may cause people to miss contextual information conveyed by images, and images with motion may adversely affect some viewers.
To improve the accessibility of images, a textual substitute called alternative text (alt text) is provided to meaningfully convey image content or function.
Color is an essential part of conveying information. Color is usually determined visually by the measurement of hue, saturation, and brightness of light being reflected. Color contrast is measured by a brightness-to-darkness ratio that is often between foreground and background colors. Accessible color ensures that people with visual impairments, including color blindness, can easily read and interpret information.
One often overlooked aspect is the accessibility of tables, which play a crucial role in presenting structured data information. When tables are not formatted correctly, they can pose challenges for screen reader users and hinder the accessibility of content.
Digital Accessibility Assessment
The online digital accessibility assessment is for all digital content creators at Washington State University. The training is required yearly for all digital publishers at WSU in accordance with Executive Policy 7 and the Business Policies and Procedures Manual 85.55.
Policies
These policies and procedure help WSU comply with Title II of the Americans with Disability Act of 1990 and its 2008 Amendments, and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973.
by the Office of Technology