University acts to make Web more accessible
The university will implement a policy next month to make campus Web sites more available for people with vision, hearing or other physical disabilities.
The Web accessibility policy takes effect Jan. 22, says Melany S. Newby, vice chancellor for legal and executive affairs and the university’s Americans with Disabilities Act coordinator. “The purpose of the UW–Madison policy is to ensure that individuals with disabilities will have access to the increasing amount of Web-based material originating on our campus.”
The campus policy endorses the Web accessibility guidelines of the World Wide Web Consortium, known as W3C. This international group of more than 400 public and private organizations is crafting common protocols to promote the evolution of the Internet’s World Wide Web.
New Web pages published or hosted by the university after Jan. 22 must comply with W3C guidelines. Existing “legacy” pages have a year to comply.
Priority for achieving compliance must be given to student-specific pages, such as admissions, advising, coursework and registration; the top 20 percent of Web pages used most frequently; and Web pages requested by people with disabilities.
Many UW–Madison Web sites and pages are already accessible for people with disabilities. “We are committed to provide an accessible university Web environment,” says Annie Stunden, chief information officer and director of the Division of Information Technology.
Starting this month, DoIT is offering courses, seminars and professional development opportunities on creating accessible Web pages. See the Wisconsin Week calendar for specific offerings under “For the Record,” policies and procedures, page 11.
The recommendations are based on Web accessibility guidelines first developed by UW–Madison’s Trace Center, a leader in making technologies accessible.
Resources
DoIT Help Desk http://www.doit.wisc.edu 608-264-HELP (4357)
UW-Madison Disability Policies & Information Web page
UW-Madison Trace Center: Designing More Usable Web Sites