Website Accessibility Guidelines
Accessibility is a priority here at Auburn University. This means that any website or landing page that represents Auburn University needs to be accessible. This includes, but in not limited to:
- Faculty websites
- Student portfolio websites
- Student organization websites
- Websites for Centers and Organizations
- Landing pages for marketing campaigns
- Microsites representing programs, groups, organizations, or other entities affliated with Auburn University
According to the W3C, an accessible website is one that is perceivable, operable, understandable, and robust for everyone.
- Perceivable content is easy to see and hear. This means content needs to be presented in different ways for different abilities. In other words, images must have alt text for screen readers, videos must have captions and audio descriptions, and audio tracks must have transcripts.
- Operable websites are those where all users can easily navigate the site, find the content they need, and know where they are at all times. This means a website must allow for keyboard as well as mouse control. Users must also be given enough time to read and use content. If there are animations or videos, users need to be able to stop them as needed. Content also needs to be created to make sure it doesn't cause seizures.
- Understandable websites are clear and concise. The user interface needs to respond in predictable ways so that people do not get confused. Error messaging and hints are used to guide your users through your content by helping them avoid and correct mistakes when completing tasks such as filling out forms.
- Robust content is viewable and usable across browsers, asssitive technologies and other devices. This means that content must have valid HTML markup, and the user interfaces- such as menus, buttons and form fields- have assigned names, roles, and values provided.
Whether you are creating your website or have an already existing website, we encourage you to check to make sure that it's meeting accessibility standards. This both serves as good practice and ensures that your site will not exclude any visitors. Checking your site will also allow you to correct any accessibility errors and prevent any possible legal issues.
Take the following steps to ensure your site is running properly and meets accessibility standards:
- Follow the Basic Concepts of Accessibility when writing content for the web
- Check multimedia accessibility
- Use validators and accessibility tools to check your code and site conformance to accessibility standards:
