About the Web Guide

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Web Site Template

Accessibility Standards

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Web Publishing Guide

Accessibility

A. Required Standards

1. The current De Anza College Web standards state that all Web pages should conform to the Priority 1 guidelines as set forth in the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 1.0. The district is currently in the process of developing a more comprehensive policy based upon the Section 508 Federal Acquisition Regulations (FAR) which will be referenced here when completed.
   More information about Section 508
   

2. For more information about making your site accessible, view the High Tech Center Training Unit Web site.

3. The accessibility of each Web site is subject to the review of the college Web coordinator.

B. Ways to Make Web Sites Accessible

1. Page Design
   
   
1. An important step in creating accessible pages is to validate your HTML. The WAVE Accessibility Tool analyzes Web pages for accessibility.
   
   
2. Make sure the HTML titles of your pages are unique. Titles are an important navigational tool for users. Document titles are more important than people realize. Browsers bookmark titles and search engines often look for and index titles.
   
   
3. When possible, use only technologies defined in a W3C (World Wide Web Consortium) specification and use them in an accessible manner. When this is not possible, provide an alternative page that is accessible and based on standards.
   
   
2. Images
   
   
1. All images and image map coordinates should have an ALT attribute that specifies alternative text that will be shown if image display is not possible or disabled by the user. This gives the user some indication of what's missing.
   
   
2. ALT attributes should be properly punctuated to allow various screen readers (software for the visually impaired) to work more effectively.
   
   
3. Judiciously use the appropriate amount of text in ALT attributes. ALT attributes should sufficiently describe the image in as concise a manner as possible. If your image includes text, the ALT attribute should reflect that text.
   
   
4. Example:
   
   
5. ALT attributes such as "image" or "photo" are uninformative. Make your ALT text specific and meaningful. Using transparent GIF spacers is fine, but they need to have ALT text. For non-essential images, you can use a blank ALT attribute; for example, ALT="" is acceptable for spacer GIFs or other non-critical or content-devoid images.
   
   
3. Color
   
   
1. If you use a colored background, make sure there is high contrast between the background and text. Avoid backgrounds with busy patterns, since these can make text difficult to read.
   
   
4. Tables
   
   
1. When using tables to represent data, rows and columns should be clearly labeled and the summary attribute should be used in the table tag. This does not apply to tables used for layout.

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