Monday, June 1, 2020

Websites, pages, and applications include any electronic resource that is delivered via HTTP or HTTPS, and any other technologies used in the retrieval, delivery, or presentation of the resource, as defined by the United States Access Board in Chapter 1, Section E103.4, “Text of the Standards and Guidelines - United States Access Board”. This includes third-party products, syndicated or aggregated content, integrations, social or online media, and other web-based tools and technologies subject to the University of Iowa IT Accessibility policy.

  1. The standard for University of Iowa websites and applications, including content, documents, and interfaces, is the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1, Level AA published June 5, 2018 by the World Wide Web Consortium.
    • Developers, authors, and other web contacts are strongly encouraged to apply WCAG 2.1, Level AAA standards where possible.
  2. University websites and applications should also follow HTML5 and ARIA Techniques described in the OpenAjax Evaluation Library and Rulesets.

Standard Techniques and Practices

The following practices are to be considered standards as noted in the IT Accessibility Policy:

  1. Websites, pages, and applications are to provide a well-labeled, accessible link so that users can contact a person responsible for the resource.
  2. Websites, pages, and applications are to be functionally interoperable with  assistive technologies.
  3. Websites, pages, and applications are to be usable with essentially equivalent independence, timeliness, ease of use, and effectiveness by people with disabilities.

Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.1

The Web Content Accessibility Guidelines, version 2.1 (WCAG 2.1) are a worldwide standard for creating and testing accessible websites and applications. The full WCAG 2.1 specification is located at http://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG21.

How to Meet WCAG 2.1: A customizable quick reference to Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.1 requirements (success criteria) and techniques is a convenient reference for developers and others interested in understanding web accessibility. It is located at https://www.w3.org/WAI/WCAG21/quickref/.