Introduction
These guidelines are intended to assist the University community, purchasers and vendors in making University information technology fully accessible and usable by persons with disabilities. They are based on proven techniques for the design of universally accessible information systems that can be used by individuals with and without disabilities. For technical assistance or guidance regarding these guidelines, please contact Disability Access Services by phone at 737-4098 or by e-mail at: 
Guidelines
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Provide a transcript for all audio content in an accessible format.
- Users with audio processing disabilities need the audio content to be provided in an accessible format. Developers should provide transcripts for the audio content.
- When a user encounters audio content in any format, a transcript of the content should be available either as a supplemental document or by a hyperlink in the online content.
- Guideline References: 508 section 1194.22 (a)
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For any time-based multimedia presentation, a synchronized equivalent alternative presentation should be provided.
- Time-based multimedia presentations come in many forms such as video, audio or animation. These formats should contain captions or descriptions of the content. The options to add caption to the content vary in quality of text rendering and ease of implementation. Choice should be a compromise between ease of use for the user and the rendering quality.
- Multimedia content in any format should be checked to see if the captions are in sync with the available multimedia.
- Guideline References: 508 Section 1194.22 (b)
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Users will be provided methods to control any automated content, i.e. provide controls to start, stop or disable the content.
- Screen readers do not handle animations very well, they monitor screen events. Any animation will be considered a new event and the screen reader will try to interpret the information causing confusion and equipment disruption. Developers should provide methods to start, stop, pause or bypass the content.
- Check if users can control the multimedia content by starting, stopping, pausing or bypassing the content.
- Guideline References: W3C Guideline 7.2
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Accessible dynamic content should remain in sync with the dynamic multimedia content.
- If a web page has dynamic content, for example a rolling header, then it should also be available in an accessible format and the accessible format must remain current with the dynamic content.
- Check that the accessible format remains current with the dynamic content.
- Guideline References: 508 Section 1194.22 (b)
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Provide context and orientation information for automated or highly complex content.
- It is possible to attach a text equivalent to multimedia content such as Flash describing the design of the movie and its major components. The description should introduce and explain both the purpose of the screen, its layout, keyboard shortcuts and names of the important labels. This assists the user in understanding the content and its context.
- Verify that the content has an appropriate description.
- Guideline References: W3C Guideline 12
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Make the tab order logical and consistent with the navigational or visual presentation order of the content.
- Screen readers and audio browsers read from left to right and top to bottom in a line by line format. Users navigate the screen content using a combination of tab and arrow keys. Users expect a logical tab order and to have related elements grouped together in a sequential manner.
- Navigate the content using the tab and arrow keys to verify the consistency and logical order of the content.
- Guideline References: W3C Guideline 13
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Provide keyboard key to change focus.
- Users can find themselves in situations where they are stuck in a Flash or other type of animations without a way to exit. Providing a keyboard shortcut key to exit out of the content is a recommended practice. A reference to keyboard shortcuts is also highly recommended if they differ from the standard OS shortcuts.
- Verify that a shortcut key is provided and that it performs the required task.
- Guideline References: 508 Section 1194.21 (h)
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Provide appropriate text based labels for all the controls.
- Screen readers and audio browsers can read the text in the controls if they are created from system fonts and not bitmaps. Providing labels is recommended for both sighted and visually impaired users as an enhancement to the usability of the content.
- Check if all controls have appropriate text based labels.
- Guideline References: W3C Guidelines 10.2 | 12.4
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Make looping elements inaccessible to screen readers and audio browsers.
- Looping elements cause screen readers and audio browsers to frequently refresh their presentations. Frequent refresh causes the screen reader to loop back to the beginning of the content loop resulting in an endless cycle. If it is not possible to make them inaccessible, users should be at least able to stop the looping elements.
- Check if looping elements are inaccessible and if they can be stopped by the user.
- Guideline References: 508 Section 1194.21 (h)
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Changes in state of the control should be reflected in the label.
- The state of controls in any multimedia application might change. For example, the speaker icon is used by many applications to show that the application is not muted, and a cross on this icon is used to indicate that the application is muted. Unless the label associated with the control changes, the user might be misled by static labels for the control.
- Check if labels change with changes in the control presentation.
- Guideline References: 508 Section 1194.21 (f)
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Provide alternative SVG images for graphics content.
- Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG) technology offers a number of features to make graphics on the Web more accessible than is currently possible. The images are easier to scale up or down, and are also readily converted to tactile formats. Accessibility requires that the features offered by SVG are correctly used and supported.
- Verify that all images are in SVG format.