Website Accessibility

Tips for Faculty & Staff

Practical, everyday habits to ensure your course and web materials are accessible to all students and colleagues:

1. Structure Your Pages with Real Headings

  • What to do: Use the formatting dropdown in Canvas, Microsoft Word, or the web editor to pick Heading 2 for main sections and Heading 3 for subsections.
  • What to avoid: Do not just highlight text and make it bold, italicized, or larger to create section headers.
  • Why it matters: Students using screen readers listen to an audible outline built from true headings. Visual styling alone cannot be detected or navigated by assistive software.

2. Add Brief Image Descriptions (Alt Text)

  • What to do: Whenever you add a photo, chart, or graph, type 1–2 brief sentences in the "Alt Text" box explaining what the image shows.
  • What to avoid: Do not leave the box blank, do not paste the file name (e.g., photo123.jpg), and avoid phrases like "image of..."
  • Decorative graphics: If an image is purely decorative (such as a generic divider line or background photo), check the "Mark as decorative" box so screen readers skip it.
  • Flyers & announcement graphics: Do not put essential details solely inside an image. If you share an event flyer graphic, paste the date, time, and details as regular text right below it.

3. Use Descriptive Link Names (Skip "Click Here")

  • What to do: Write link text that clearly explains where the link goes (e.g., [Download Fall 2026 Syllabus] or [Register for the Faculty Workshop]).
  • What to avoid: Do not use vague text like "Click here," "Read more," or paste long web addresses.
  • Why it matters: Screen reader users often jump through a list of links on a page. Hearing "Click here" repeated ten times provides no clue about where each link goes.

4. Keep Colors High-Contrast and Easy to Read

  • What to do: Use dark text on a white or light background, or white text on dark backgrounds.
  • What to avoid: Light gray text on white, bright gold or yellow text on white, or colored text placed over busy photos.
  • Do not rely on color alone: If highlighting important deadlines or required fields, add an asterisk (*) or a text label like "(Required)" instead of just coloring the text red.

5. Check PDFs Before Uploading (or Use Canvas/Web Pages)

  • Best approach: Place your text directly on a Canvas page or web page whenever possible. Web text automatically adjusts to phone screens and screen magnifiers without breaking.
  • If sharing Word or PDF files: Click the built-in "Check Accessibility" button in Microsoft Word before exporting to PDF. This flags missing image descriptions and heading issues in seconds.
  • Internal files: If a document is meant only for internal department use (such as meeting notes, committee rosters, or faculty guidelines), store it in Microsoft SharePoint or Teams rather than posting it to the public website.

6. Ensure Video Captions Are Accurate

  • What to do: When sharing recorded lectures or instructional videos, turn on captions and take a quick pass to correct course-specific terms, proper names, and punctuation.
  • Why it matters: Auto-generated captions often misinterpret academic terminology, creating barriers for deaf or hard-of-hearing students and anyone learning in quiet environments.