Web Accessibility
Accessing information online should be easy and intuitive, but that’s only true if digital content is designed with everyone in mind. Users with visual, hearing, motor, or cognitive disabilities often face barriers unless specific accessibility considerations are built into websites. Fortunately, many of these adaptations are straightforward to implement and do not compromise a site’s visual design or functionality.
W&M Cascade Websites
William & Mary’s top public-facing websites are managed through Cascade CMS, a web content management system designed for higher education. Cascade enables decentralized content editing while maintaining consistency, accessibility, and branding across university sites.
It supports a user-friendly interface, customizable templates, and built-in tools that help ensure content meets web standards and accessibility guidelines. University Web & Design provides training and support to help departments effectively manage their web content within the Cascade system.
Please visit the Web Accessibility Cascade Help Page for more information.
Ways to Make Your Site Accessible
Even if your site isn’t managed in Cascade, you can still take meaningful steps to ensure it’s accessible to all users. The following lists best practices that help create an inclusive experience for everyone, regardless of the platform your site is built on.
Hyperlink Phrases Rather Than Single Words
Do not use “here” or “click here.” Phrases are easier to spot, but should be descriptive. Descriptive phrases are crucial to meeting accessibility guidelines. For those using screen readers, hearing “link click here” is frustrating at best.
Make Images Accessible
To optimize accessibility, usability, and design, use text-free graphics and photos only.
- Images on the page: All of your images must have “alt text” that is brief, descriptive, and can serve as a reasonable alternative to the image; this gives screen readers and those unable to load images something to work with. Watch out for redundancy in your alt text and leave out phrases such as “Image of” or similar extraneous content in your alt text.
- Image file names: Giving your images meaningful file names can add additional context. It’s also great for search engines and general file maintenance. Try something like crim-dell-bridge.jpg instead of IMG0123.jpg.
Make Documents Accessible
Your informational content should be created as webpages and not uploaded as PDFs or other file types. Webpages are more accessible for those using assistive technology and easier for your visitors to view across their devices.
Content that must be presented as a document is only considered accessible if it meets certain technical criteria and can be used by people with disabilities. Therefore, it’s essential to ensure your documents are accessible before uploading them.
Use Proper Heading Structure
When encountering a lengthy web page, sighted users often scroll the page quickly and look for headings to get an idea of the structure and content of the page. Screenreader and other assistive technology users can also navigate webpages by heading structure, assuming true headings are used (as opposed to text that is simply big and bold). Do not use bold text to give the visual appearance of headings — the page’s title serves as the Heading 1 of the page, and Heading 2 and Heading 3 are available for use in the content area of your page. WebAIM (Web Accessibility in Mind) lists all the reasons semantic structure is important.
Add Captions to Videos
Embedded YouTube videos on the W&M website must have captions. You can use YouTube’s auto-generate function, but you must manually review them as they are only about 95% accurate and often incorrectly display proper nouns, such as the university’s or a speaker’s name. You can also enlist the help of a captioning service to caption your videos for you.