How
How
The resources in this section are primarily for content editors, though there are also resources for developers, designers, application support staff, and project managers.
- CIT Guide for Content Managers — if you are a content editor, this covers all of the items for which you will be responsible
- The Basics — if your site is just text and simple images, here's what you need to know
- PDFs and Other Documents — if you have PDFs (or Word documents, Powerpoint presentations, etc.) on your site
- Videos, Charts, Forms — if you have videos, charts and/or complex images, or forms on your site
- Social Media — if you have a social media feed on your website or are using social media as a primary way to community with your constituency
- Testing for Accessibility
- Working with Vendors
- Training Opportunities
Roadmap for a Content Editor
If you're new to all of this and you're asking "Where should I start?"
- Understand what web accessibility (WA) is, why we do it, and who's responsible by reading the Why, What, and Who pages.
- Understand all of the different kinds of content that you, as a content editor, are responsible for remediating by reading the CIT Guide for Content Managers.
- Learn how to remediate your content. Start with The Basics of what anyone maintaining web content should know and make sure your site or app has the required WA footer.
- If you also have PDFs, other documents, videos, charts, tables, or forms on your site, learn how to ensure they're accessible.
- Are you the person in your unit who checks SiteImprove periodically (at least once a semester) to ensure your content remains compliant over time? If so, CIT's SiteImprove page to set up your Siteimprove account to have your entire site scanned. Once you're set up, read this article on How To Use Siteimprove.
Resources & Tools
General Resources
- WebAIM — a wonderful, general resource with background, specific articles and useful tools
- WCAG Checklist — this checklist is NOT the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2 below. But it does present WebAIM's recommendations for implementing accessibility principles and techniques for those seeking WCAG conformance. The language used significantly simplifies and condenses the official WCAG 2 specification and supporting materials to make it easier to implement and verify for web pages.
- Color Contrast Checker — WebAIM's tool to check color contrast
- WAVE — a tool from WebAIM that can check a page at a time for accessibility issues
- Siteimprove — go to CIT's SiteImprove page to set up your Siteimprove account to have your entire site scanned. Once you're set up, read this article on How To Use Siteimprove.
- WCAG 2.1 Guidelines — Web Content Accessibility Guidelines from W3C (the World Wide Web Consortium). Compliance with WCAG 2.0 AA is the University standard. However, the W3C site has moved on to the next iteration (2.1). The site does compare the differences between 2.1 and 2.0.
- Web Accessibility Resources for Developers — W3C resource that can be a good starting point for developers
- Screen Readers (NVDA or JAWS for PC, VO for Mac) — find more resources at the bottom of the Testing page.
CIT Resources
- WCAG Checklist in Excel Template — this is taken from the WebAIM checklist above. It is recommended that you use this as the checklist against which you test and note issues. There is also a version of this spreadsheet that includes suggested testing methods for each item.
- Web Accessibility section
- Web Accessibility text for all footers
Chrome Extensions
If the links below don't work, just Google these free extensions in Chrome and you should be able to add them to your browser.
- Siteimprove Accessibility Checker — can check a page at a time, if you're not set up in SiteImprove
- Color Contrast Analyzer – checks color contrast