What is Web Accessibility and Why is it Important?
Web pages can be designed in a way that are inaccessible to people
with disabilities. When Web pages are created in an inaccessible
manner, it keeps people with disabilities from accessing information
that is necessary for them to succeed. According to the
Office of Civil Rights, it is important for our campus to "develop
and implement a systematic method for informing campus employees
who design/select web pages for use by students to make sure the
web pages are in accordance with principles known to maximize
accessibility to users with disabilities, including visual impairments."
Assistive technologies including screen readers and speech recognition
are available on campus to provide access to Web pages for people
with disabilities as long as the pages are written with accessibility
in mind.
What are the Standards of Web Accessibility?
Web accessibility for campus web pages will be established by
using these Web Accessibility Standards developed by Academic
Computing and Media, and approved by the Administrative Council
and the University President. The basis for these standards
is Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973. For a complete
list of the 508 standards, go to: http://www.webaim.org/standards/508/checklist
Which Web Pages are Required to be Accessible?
As determined by the WEB PAGE ACCESSIBILITY POLICY adopted on
12/15/2003, all Web pages from the Campus Homepage to the departmental/office
level are required to meet the campus accessibility standard.
Web pages within the scope of the accessibility policy are required
to meet these guidelines. Web pages not within the scope
of the accessibility policy are encouraged to meet these guidelines,
but it is not required.
Typical Areas of Concern
- All text
on the page must be screen readable by the screen reading
software and version supported by the campus.
- Audio files
must be available in alternate transcript text.
- Video content
must be captioned or provided in an alternate/accessible format,
ACM staff is available to assist.
- Information
communicated with Graphics and Multimedia features (i.e. pictures
or Flash) must be available in alternate text to describe
the contents and convey the information.
- Use of
color for buttons or other activities on the page must be
available in alternate text to describe the action or information.
- Chart and
Table information must be understandable when read by a screen
reader.
- Downloaded
files must be in applications that are accessible with a screen
reader.
- Skip Navigation
must be available so a screen reader may be used to access
page features randomly, without having to read the entire
page content.
For questions about making your web pages accessible please contact:
Rosa Padilla – Web Accessibility Coordinator
rosap@csusb.edu (909) 537-5075
Evans Kahuthu - Webmaster
ekahuthu@csusb.edu (909) 537-7629
Michael Casadonte – Web Development Coordinator
mcasadon@csusb.edu (909) 537-5086
Leon McNaught - ACRC Coordinator
lmcnaugh@csusb.edu (909) 537-5079
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