All University websites should meet the following requirements.
| Points to check | Does your site comply? |
|---|---|
| Provide alternative text for every non-text element on a web page, including images, image map regions, audio, video and multimedia. | |
| Stylesheets are the preferred method of controlling formatting and layout; web pages should also be readable without the stylesheets. | |
| Ensure that all information conveyed with colour is also available without colour. | |
| Ensure that there is sufficient contrast between text and background colours, both for those with standard colour vision and the colour blind. | |
| Use a consistent approach to navigation, page titles, layout and other forms of presentation. | |
| Ensure that document structure and correct reading sequence can be automatically determined. | |
| Do not use scrolling text or other dynamic or moving content which may be hard to read; where necessary, provide text alternatives and keep these up to date when dynamic content changes. | |
| Avoid any technique which may produce flickering effects on-screen. | |
| Use the clearest and simplest language appropriate for a site's content; identify the natural language of the page. | |
| Tables containing data should contain clear row and column headers. | |
| Do not use frames. | |
| If you use applets, scripts or plug-ins, your site should still be navigable and should not lose any content when these are turned off or not supported. | |
| Help users avoid and correct mistakes when using forms, etc. | |
| Make all functionality available from a keyboard. | |
| Web pages should be designed in ways that are as compatible as possible with current and future technologies. |
Web authors should also consider the following points. Some only apply under certain circumstances; others are more general points of good practice in accessible web design.
| Additional points to check | Does your site comply? |
|---|---|
| Clearly identify changes in the natural language of a document's text and any text equivalents. | |
| Use relative rather than absolute units in markup language attribute values and style sheet property values. | |
| Provide information about the general layout of a site (eg, a table of contents). | |
| If you are using time-based media such as video or audio, you should ensure that the user can pause it. | |
| If, after best efforts, you cannot create an accessible page, provide a link to an alternative page that is accessible. | |
| Do not cause pop-up windows to appear and do not change the current window without informing the user. | |
| Do not use tables for layout. | |
| Separate adjacent links by non-link, printable characters (surrounded by spaces). | |
| Validate your web pages. |
Support for University web authors: www.essex.ac.uk/wag
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