College of Education Web Accessibility

To make the College of Education website more accessible, the College has taken the following steps.

Implemented a Web Page Templating System

  • Allows content authors to only worry about accessibility of content, and not navigation, layout, etc.
  • Keeps site consistent for easy navigation and consistent accesskeys
  • Allow for easy modification of templates without updating user content to keep up to date with accessibility standards
  • Aside from official College of Education pages, some grants have adopted this templating system.
  • Uses Macromedia Contribute to enforces standards for authors such as eliminating the use of font tags, requiring alt tags for images, and making web pages XHTML compliant.

College Redesign in 2006

  • Create fluid design using CSS for layout.  This allows users to resize their fonts and browser windows to accomodate visual abilities as well as smaller devices such as PDAs.
  • Use CSS for font and color styling.  This allows users to apply their own CSS to our web pages to meet their visual needs (high contrast, low contrast, larger fonts etc).  It also creates a much smaller HTML document for faster download and easier reading by screen readers.
  • Improve left menu navigation to allow for: header navigation, tabbing, and grouping in unordered lists.  This improves accessibility for motor impairments as well as visual impairments.
  • Make forms accessible with label, legend, etc.
  • Make pages XHTML and CSS valid and compliant. This allows for greater device independence by accomodating HTML standards rather than particular browsers.
  • Make title and H1 tags contain similar content and be unique.
  • Content repurposed from outside sources such as course catalog, university calendars, etc. is transformed into accessible HTML via XSLT transformation to generate accessible HTML.
  • Database driven content such as Faculty Staff Directory uses accessible HTML structures.

Author Education and Involvement

  • College Webmaster has taken Accessibility Course, participates in Accessibility workshops on campus, and attends campus accessibility meetings when possible.
  • Interim Dean Destefano sits on the UIUC Ad Hoc Dean's Committee on IT and Web Accessibilty.
  • Periodic emails with accessibility tips are sent to College authors
  • Edwebs documentation includes accessibility references and how tos.

Testing and Validation

  • College website is being tested using a variety of validation and accessibility tests.

Goals and Standards

Though not formally approved, the College Webmaster aspires to have all College web content...