Website Accessibility Introduction
The Pacific University Library website was designed and developed to follow the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) developed by the Web Accessibility Initiative (WIP) of The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) the leading organization for setting international web standards and best practices.
The WCAG was built around the four main guiding principles of accessibility: perceivable, operable, understandable, and robust (also known by the POUR.) POUR is a process for approaching web accessibility by breaking it down into these four main components. Many technological challenges faced by people with disabilities fit under one or more of POUR principles.
Perceivable
In terms of accessibility, perceivable means the user’s ability to identify content and interface elements by means of their senses. For many users, this means perceiving a system primarily visually, while for others, perceivability may be a matter of sound and/or touch.
Operable
Is the user’s ability to successfully use controls, buttons, navigation, and other interactive elements. For some users, this includes the use of assistive technology like voice recognition, keyboards, screen readers etc.
Understandable
Is the user’s ability to comprehend the content, learn, and remember how to use the Open Educational Resources (OER) on your website. Your OER should be consistent in its presentation and format, predictable in its design and usage patterns, and appropriate in its voice and tone to the audience.
Robust
The website’s content must be clear enough for it to be interpreted consistently by most website users, giving them the option to choose the technology they use to interact with websites, online documents, multimedia, and other information formats. Users should be allowed to choose their own technologies to access OER content.
Basic Pacific Library Website Accessibility Standards
- Each web page has a unique page title.
- There is a distinct contrast between text and background colors page content is organized with section headers.
- Color alone is not used to convey action.
- Lists formatted properly and with headings.
- Content does not have time restrictions.
- Web pages can be crawled by screen readers.
- All web pages have the same header nav.
- Your website has breadcrumb navigation.
- Users have access to a clear site map.
- All parts of the site are accessible through keboard navigation.
- Dropdown functionality is accessible with keyboards.
- There are no keyboard traps or dead ends.
- Users can access “Skip to Content” feature.
- Images have descriptive alt-text.
- Text-only images are not used.
- Tables have alt-text describing the contents or the data.
- Text can be manually magnified by 200%.
- Small text has a contrast ratio of at least 4.5:1.
- Large text has a contrast ratio of at least 3:1.
- Written transcripts are available for all audio and video content.
- Audio transcripts are available for videos. All media have a text description.
- Description contains a way to view or access the written transcript.
- All videos (including live) have captions.
- On-page media does not auto-play.
- Media can be stopped, paused, or muted.
- Content does not flash 3+ times / second.
- Users can stop content from blinking or flashing excessively.
- Content is accessible in multiple ways without a user losing information.
- Content and instructions are not limited to one sense.
- Link text is clear and actionable, rather than vague or the link itself.
- Your site is accessible by all browsers.
- You have a documented web accessibility policy.
- Your accessibility policy is linked on your site.
- Users have a way to report accessibility issues with your website.