Accessibility
We know that some of our students use Dragon or Jaws screen readers, and ZoomText to increase text size. They can do so in the accessible study rooms supported by Library staff, or on their personal computers. Some people navigate websites with a keyboard only, or use a combination of techniques to get around the web. We have a community of people who need to use specialist software (assistive technology) to access the web and others who make minor adjustments so they can use the web more easily.
Support
- If you're unsure, email webaccessibility at warwick dot ac dot uk
- See advice and support for specific disabilities
- Accessibility poster for reference
I create web pages, what do I need to do?
If you're an occasional web editor, who tends to edit text-based web pages, you should follow the advice below.
Accessibility checklist
This checklist gives advice on the main accessibility issues you should address and details of some free checking tools and techniques you can use. Some checks need you to review the content by eye, for example to avoid unclear wording, text embedded in images or cluttered layouts, but these checks do not require deep technical knowledge.
Help from the Components Editor
The Components Editor, for publishing and editing web content within SiteBuilder, provides an accessibility pane which details issues with the content on your page as you edit it, along with options for fixing them.
Web editing is a major part of my job
If much of your job is related to web editing you should have a good understanding of the principles of accessibility and WCAG 2.1. We suggest you follow the steps below.
Get started
Familiarise yourself with the editor checklist and apply the principles when creating new pages.
For existing pages do an audit of your pages or website to work out what you need to make accessible first to comply with legislation. We suggest looking at high traffic pages first. Any issues that can't be fixed quickly should be recorded and added to the University's Accessibility Statement - please contact us at webaccessibility at warwick dot ac dot uk.
Apply the guidance here
Apply our guidance for creating and checking pages. When running accessibility tests you will need to combine testing with automated tools and manual checks, as described. Manual checks include testing samples of pages with assistive technologies, for example screen readers.
For websites that you commission, you should ensure the supplier creates the site to the WCAG 2.1 AA standard.
Accessibility training
There are lots of training materials on the web about accessibility. AbilityNet, for example, provides regular short training sessions. The W3C Web Accessibility Initiative also provides introductory trainingLink opens in a new window, often free.
Please watch a series of training workshops around accessibility created at Warwick by Academic Technology. These cover accessibility for Word, PowerPoint, audio, video, maths equations and Moodle. With thanks to Kerry Pinny.
Digital Marketing has also created this web site of guidanceLink opens in a new window, which is well worth reading.
Understand WCAG 2.1
Public pages must meet the WCAG 2.1 at level AA. You should familiarise yourself with what you need to do and start updating your pages, following the guidance here. Note that PDFs and Word documents are included.