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Cascade Help

Accessibility Module

Acquia Web Governance (formerly known as Optimize) accounts are currently only available to Cascade Managers and designated points of contact in the Cascade Content Cleanup project.

There are a variety of views and report options available within the Acquia Web Governance accessibility module to help you review and remediate potential accessibility errors. We recommend the Checklist view which offers a helpful overview and prioritizes issues that you must fix, warnings that are likely to be issues, and potential issues that require manual review to ensure compliance. 

Digital Accessibility at W&M

William & Mary is working to enhance our digital accessibility standards and requirements to meet or exceed new federal and state regulations. Significant Cascade updates began in January 2025 to help improve the accessibility of your content to meet the compliance deadline of April 2026. Learn more about web accessibility in Cascade.

William & Mary’s digital accessibility team ensures campus-wide compliance with required standards, offering tools, training and support to make digital content accessible for all users, including students with disabilities. Learn more and find digital accessibility resources.

Access the Checklist

  1. Log in to Acquia Web Governance.
  2. Select your domain or group name to access the Dashboard.
  3. Select Accessibility. This brings you to the Summary screen.
  4. Select Checklist. This view organizes the flagged checks into three categories: Issues to Fix, Warnings and Issues to Review. Focus your efforts first on Issues to Fix.
  5. Next to each check you will find additional information.
    • Select the Help center (grad cap) icon for a detailed explanation of the check.
    • Select the count of affected pages to open the list of affected pages. 
      • Select Inspect page with browser extension (mag glass icon) to view details while viewing the page in your browser — see below for further instructions.

Locate the Issues on Your Pages Using the Browser Extension

If you have the browser extension installed:

  • Follow steps 1-5, above, and select the mag glass icon by each page in the list (see Screenshot 1). This will open the page in a separate tab of your browser and the Acquia Web Governance information panel will slide out from the side.
  • The Information panel includes options to help locate the flagged content (see Screenshot 2). 
  • Select the Highlight (mag glass) icon to highlight the affected content on the page (see Screenshot 3). Tip: If your page includes collapsed or hidden content, first expand all content.
  • If it cannot visually highlight the issue, select the HTML (< / >) icon by each rule and the extension will try to highlight the issue in the source code of the page (see Screenshot 4). While you may not be familiar with html, look for context clues that will help you then locate the issue on the visible page. 

Tip: You can also use the browser extension while viewing any of your webpages to see the latest scan data about the page.

Screenshot 1: Select the Inspect page with browser extension (mag glass) icon at the right side of the screen.Screenshot 2: Select the HTML (< / >) or Highlight (mag glass) icons to locate the failed issue on the page.

Screenshot 3: Select the Highlight (mag glass) icon to highlight the issue on the page.Screenshot 4: Select the HTML (< / >) icon to highlight the failed issue in the source code of the page.

Accessibility Checks Configured for Content Editors

The "William & Mary" domain in Acquia Web Governance has been configured to ignore most issues that would require access to the page templates or source code to remediate, keeping it focused on content issues considered actionable by our Cascade editors. As a result, accessibility compliance scores are skewed higher than the posted industry averages on the Accessibility Summary view.

If you access a domain or group other than William & Mary, and you would like to discuss accessibility module configuration options, contact your Cascade Manager or [[creative]].

Issues to Fix (Levels A and AA Required)

These are issues that can be machine-tested and are therefore errors that must be fixed for compliance.

Three column table with header cells in the first row
Name of Check Explanation Suggestions
Complex data table is missing ID and/or header attributes to associate headers with data cells Likely indicates that a table has two layers of header cells or other incorrect use of header cells
  • Select the magnifying glass icon to inspect the page with the web browser extension to locate the non-compliant table cells
  • Review the Tables help page
  • Update the identified table to only use one layer of header cells and ensure proper scope is set for all header cells
Element marked as hidden must not be included in tab navigation May indicate a template issue
  • Contact [[creative]] for assistance
Elements intended as presentation-only contain focusable content

Indicates the use of links in collapsible list headings (these elements serve to open and close the expandable content and must not also include links)
  • Select the magnifying glass icon to inspect the page with the web browser extension to locate the non-compliant headings
  • Remove any links from these headings
Form field is missing an accessible name Cascade sites have a very limited use of form fields but if the issue is listed, it indicates there is one that needs remediating for compliance
  • Contact [[creative]] for assistance
Heading is missing an accessible name

Likely indicating:

  • One or more headings are included on the page with no content in them — this occurs most often when an editor has tried to add extra visual space between elements on the page by including an empty heading
  • An image is within a heading — this occurs most often when an editor has inserted an image and it was inadvertently inserted within a heading instead of the adjacent paragraph
  • Erroneous, hidden code was pasted in from another source when adding the text of the heading to the page
  • Select the magnifying glass icon to inspect the page with the web browser extension to locate the issue on the page.
  • If it's an empty heading, delete it
  • If it's an image within a heading, delete the image from the page and re-insert it — ensure you do not insert it in a heading
  • If it's erroneous code, select the visible heading text and select Format > Clear formatting — then reapply the heading format (review the Formatting help page for details) 
  • Contact your Cascade Manager for assistance, if needed
Iframe element is missing an accessible name Indicates an embed in the source code of the page is missing a required element
  • Remediating this issue requires access to the source code
  • Discuss with the member of your team who is responsible for the embed and contact your Cascade Manager for assistance
Image is missing alternative text Indicates an image on the page with no "alt attribute" in the source code. This is rare because Cascade currently always includes an alt attribute, but it may occur on some older pages.
  • Select the magnifying glass icon to inspect the page with the web browser extension to locate the affected image(s)
  • Edit the page, select the affected image, select the Insert/edit image button to open the dialog box. If the 'This is a decorative image. No description needed.' check box is selected, un-check it and fill in a brief description of the image in the 'Image description' field.
  • Contact your Cascade Manager for assistance, if needed
Incorrect use of ARIA state or property Likely indicates one or more aria labels in the source code of the page that were  copy/pasted in through the WYSIWYG editor inadvertently
  • Select the magnifying glass icon to inspect the page with the web browser extension to locate the non-compliant aria labels in the source code
  • Edit the page, use your cursor to select the portion of content you think holds the offending hidden code and select Format >> Clear formatting
  • Contact your Cascade Manager for assistance, if needed
Layout tables must not contain caption elements Likely indicates use of a table for layout/formatting purposes. All tables in Cascade require a caption because tables should only be used to organize data meaningfully into rows and columns, or for collapsible lists.
  • Select the magnifying glass icon to inspect the page with the web browser extension to locate the non-compliant table
  • Tables used for collapsible lists should not trigger this issue — the templates programmatically suppress the table caption for screen readers, thus improving their accessibility 
  • If the table is organizing data into meaningful rows and columns, the issue can be resolved by adding appropriate header cells (review the Tables help page to learn how)
  • If the table is not a collapsible list and is being used for layout purposes, update the page to include the content without the use of a table
Layout tables should have an empty summary attribute or none at all

This will be rare and indicates an old hidden table summary is still included in the html of the page.

Cascade now uses a caption to provide a description to those using screen readers.
  • Contact [[creative]] for assistance in removing the table's summary.
Table header is not associated to any data cells Indicates that table header cells do not have a scope assigned
  • Select the magnifying glass icon to inspect the page with the web browser extension to locate the non-compliant table cells
  • Adjust the setting for  the header cells to assign correct scope (review the Tables help page for details)

Warnings (Levels A and AA Required)

These are issues that will require your manual review. They may be issues for you to address, but they require your manual investigation to confirm. 

Three column table with header cells in the first row
Name of Check Explanation Suggestions
Are white space characters used to format tables? Likely indicates an editor has tried to adjust the visual layout or meaning of the content using spaces
  • Select the magnifying glass icon to inspect the page with the web browser extension to locate and remove the spaces
  • Update to use page elements such as headings followed by paragraph text, or data tables, if appropriate
Do links with the same name serve the same purpose? Indicates the page is using the same link text repeatedly which makes it more difficult for a visitor using a screen reader to determine which links to visit; frequent culprits are link text such as "learn more" or "click here"
  • Review the page and update the link text to more unique and meaningful phrases.
Is the image alternative text descriptive enough?

Indicates images and graphic elements that have an accessible name defined in the code. Your task is to confirm that the text in the accessible name serves as a good text alternative for the image.
  • Select the magnifying glass icon to inspect the page with the web browser extension to locate and review the image(s).
  • The current accessible name, or alt text, for each image will be displayed in the information panel as part of the code snippet displayed in each pink box — it's the quoted text that follows alt=.
  • If the alt text is appropriately descriptive, no changes are needed.
  • If it is not appropriately descriptive, update it in Cascade. Edit the image's file and update the Display Name field — this is the image's default alt text and will be included each time the image is used unless overridden by the Image Description field for content images. For content images, also update the Image Description field by editing the page, selecting the image and selecting 'Insert/edit image' — this field overrides the default alt text you provided in the Display Name field, for that specific usage of the image only.
Is there a text alternative for the multimedia file?

Indicates links multimedia file types (including GIFs) that may be missing a text transcript
  • Select the magnifying glass icon to inspect the page with the web browser extension to locate the multimedia
  • For audio and video files, ensure a transcript is made available
  • Can be ignored for GIF files if they do not include movement

Issues to Review (Levels A and AA Required)

Reviews require manual judgement. While these are included in the count of "failing issues" they are not necessarily an issue at all. These are flagged for content elements that require proper usage to avoid accessibility barriers and their location is simply being identified for you to encourage regular review to assure compliance — they can only be verified as accessible through your manual review.

Three column table with header cells in the first row
Name of Check Explanation Suggestions
Are headings used for formatting? All pages that include headings are flagged for this review
  • Regularly review the headings on your pages to ensure they are being used to accurately convey hierarchical structure and not to just format the appearance of your text.
  • The page's title serves as the Heading 1. Whenever you can organize your page content into topical sections, use the Heading 2 format to add meaningful section titles. Heading 3 can then be used to organize into additional sub-sections.
Are the table captions identifying the table? All tables are flagged for this review
  • Review the table captions to ensure compliance (review the Tables help page for details)
Does text over background image meet minimum contrast requirements?

Indicates an image on the page may contain text with poor contrast (the luminosity contrast ratio between text and background color in all images must be at least 5:1).

We strongly recommend no text content be communicated in images unless it is a logo or similar brand mark that is not trying to convey content. This ensures that the text can be resized, read by screen readers, and adapted to different user needs.
  • Select the magnifying glass icon to inspect the page with the web browser extension to locate the flagged image(s)
  • Additional testing tools such as WAVE accessibility tool to evaluate contrast ratios will be needed to ensure that users can read text that is presented over a background
Does the audio file have a text transcript? Indicates use of an audio file
  • Select the magnifying glass icon to inspect the page with the web browser extension to locate the audio file(s)
  • Ensure the sound file includes a text transcript if words or meaning are conveyed
Do the images contain text?

Indicates a suspected image with text in it

We strongly recommend no text content be communicated in images unless it is a logo or similar brand mark that is not trying to convey content. This ensures that the text can be resized, read by screen readers, and adapted to different user needs.
  • Select the magnifying glass icon to inspect the page with the web browser extension to locate the flagged image(s)
  • Ensure if any flagged images have text in them intended to convey content, that it is also accessible on the page for screen readers, either as brief alt text for the image, or in the adjacent text on the page
Is table markup used for all table information consistently? Indicates that the page may be presenting content in a tabular manner other than using a true table, for example multiple tab spaces or multiple pipe characters in a single line.
  • Review the page to ensure text elements are not being used to present the content in a visually tabular manner.

Is the heading descriptive enough?		 All pages that include headings are flagged for this review
  • Regularly review the headings on your pages to ensure they clearly describe the topic or purpose of the content that immediately follows it.
Is the image a flickering GIF? Indicates use of a GIF file with a width and height larger than 25 pixels
  • Select the magnifying glass icon to inspect the page with the web browser extension to locate the GIF image(s)
  • Ensure the identified images do not flicker: 4 to 59 flashes per second (Hertz) range with a peak sensitivity at 20 flashes per second as well as quick changes from dark to light (like strobe lights).
Is the pre element used to create a table? Typically only indicated for pages containing visible code samples
  • Select the magnifying glass icon to inspect the page with the web browser extension to locate the "pre" element
  • Can be ignored if code samples are deemed appropriate

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If you need additional assistance, please contact your Cascade Manager. For editors outside the college, schools and units listed below, contact University Web & Design. When requesting support, please include links to any relevant pages and/or screenshots of your issue.

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  • Batten School & VIMS: Submit Request to Joe Caterine
  • College of Arts & Sciences: Submit Request to CAS

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