Equal access and opportunity for all web users
Occidental College is committed to ensuring that all individuals have equal access and opportunity to information and information technology, including students, faculty, staff, and visitors with disabilities. Websites that are accessible benefit a universal group of users. When websites are created to work for a person with a disability, they are much more likely to be clear and easy to navigate for all users. Web accessibility encompasses all disabilities that affect access to the Web, including visual, auditory, physical, speech, cognitive, and neurological disabilities. Much of the focus on Web accessibility has been on the responsibilities of Web developers, however, we all have a role to play in ensuring accessibility for our community.
What can you do to make your website more accessible?
If you are a web editor for a department or office page on Oxy.edu, there are many easy steps you can take to help ensure the accessibility of your website.
- Make sure you add alternate text (alt-text) to all images that you upload and use on your site. For detailed instructions read our tutorial on uploading images. You can also read UC Berkley's tips on writing great alt-text for more information.
- Don't add large amounts of text within any images. Instead, type the relevant information you want to include as text copy on the page, and add alt-text to the image itself.
- Caption all video content that you post to your page. Oxy's Disability Services team works with an outside vendor to caption any and all video content; before posting any videos to your website simply email Oxy's Disability Services Coordinator to initiate a captioning request.
- When adding a link within your content, make sure the text that is linked is unique and descriptive. Instead of saying something like "click here to learn how to update your website," include a description of the webpage you are linking to within the link text itself. For example, "check out our tutorials on updating your website!"
- When posting documents to a website for download, especially if providing a document in the Portable Document Format (PDF), provide the document as an accessible web page and/or in a text-based format such as Word (.doc extension) or plain Text (.txt extension).
- Provide a way for visitors to request accessible information or services by posting a telephone number or email address on your home page.
If you have any questions about how to make your website more accessible to ALL web users, please contact the web team!