Wolfgram Subject Guides: Librarian's Guide to LibGuides: Accessibility + Universal Design

What is Accessibility + Universal Design?

The Association of Research Libraries (ARL) provides a Web Accessibility Toolkit that advises on how to make digital resources usable and accessible in research libraries.

What is Accessibility?

Web accessibility means creating digital resources on the web that everyone can use. This involves creating a web that is accessible to people with disabilities that may affect how they use the Web, including but not limited to visual, auditory, physical, speech, cognitive and neurological disabilities.

An accessible web benefits everyone. People with or without disabilities. Web users and web developers. People with diverse needs and preferences. An accessible web gives people the flexibility to access digital materials in whatever way they need or want to.

What is Universal Design?

Universal Design is working to blend accessibility standards and usability principles together in order to create technology that is usable for everyone. Creating pathways for individuals to learn, communicate, and share via information technology, regardless of their individual learning and processing styles, or physical characteristics.

Universal design means considering people’s diverse needs in the initial design of a product. The main goals of universal design are to eliminate barriers and improve access for all.

Web products that follow the principle of universal design are:

Flexible and adaptable to different users’ needs or preferences
Accessible through a variety of different technologies, including mobile devices or assistive technologies
More cost effective than designing a product that needs to be retrofitted for accessibility later on. Re-designs are expensive!

Provide appropriate alternative text
Alternative text provides a textual alternative to non-text content (such as pictures and images) in web pages. It is especially helpful for people who are blind and rely on a screen reader to have the content of the website read to them.
Provide appropriate document structure
Headings, lists, and other structural elements provide meaning and structure to web pages. They can also facilitate keyboard navigation within the page.
Provide headers for data tables
Tables are used online for layout and to organize data. Tables that are used to organize tabular data should have appropriate table headers (the <th> element). Data cells should be associated with their appropriate headers, making it easier for screen reader users to navigate and understand the data table.
Ensure users can complete and submit all forms
Ensure that every form element (text field, checkbox, dropdown list, etc.) has a label and make sure that label is associated to the correct form element using the <label> element. Also make sure the user can submit the form and recover from any errors, such as the failure to fill in all required fields.
Ensure links make sense out of context
Every link should make sense if the link text is read by itself. Screen reader users may choose to read only the links on a web page. Certain phrases like “click here” and “more” must be avoided.
Caption and/or provide transcripts for media
Videos and live audio must have captions and a transcript. With archived audio, a transcription may be sufficient.
Ensure accessibility of non-HTML content, including PDF files, Microsoft Word documents, PowerPoint presentations and Adobe Flash content
In addition to all of the other principles listed here, PDF documents and other non-HTML content must be as accessible as possible. If you cannot make it accessible, consider using HTML instead or, at the very least, provide an accessible alternative. PDF documents should also include a series of tags to make it more accessible. A tagged PDF file looks the same, but it is almost always more accessible to a person using a screen reader.
Allow users to skip repetitive elements on the page
You should provide a method that allows users to skip navigation or other elements that repeat on every page. This is usually accomplished by providing a “Skip to Main Content,” or “Skip Navigation” link at the top of the page which jumps to the main content of the page.
Do not rely on color alone to convey meaning
The use of color can enhance comprehension, but do not use color alone to convey information. That information may not be available to a person who is colorblind and will be unavailable to screen reader users.
Make sure content is clearly written and easy to read
There are many ways to make your content easier to understand. Write clearly, use clear fonts, and use headings and lists appropriately.
Make JavaScript accessible
Ensure that JavaScript event handlers are device independent (e.g., they do not require the use of a mouse) and make sure that your page does not rely on JavaScript to function.
Design to standards
HTML compliant and accessible pages are more robust and provide better search engine optimization. Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) allow you to separate content from presentation. This provides more flexibility and accessibility of your content.

* This list comes from WebAIM’s Principles of Accessible Design. This list does not present all accessibility issues, but by addressing these basic principles, you will ensure greater accessibility of your web content to everyone. You can learn more about accessibility at webaim.org.

Organizations/Institutes: