Accessibility Checklist

Rider University is committed to ensuring digital accessibility for people with varying abilities. We are continually improving the user experience for everyone, and applying the relevant accessibility standards. The Accessibility Checklist is essential to making our content equally accessible to all and MUST be followed by all web content contributors.

• Organize content using headings in the proper order, i.e. Heading 1 only for title of page, then Headings 2, 3 and 4 to split up and organize content. This helps provide structure and scannability. 
• Use built-in editing features to create bulleted or numbered lists, use whenever possible/appropriate.
• Focus on readability, using short paragraphs, sentences and words, with only one idea per paragraph. 
• Do not use returns to create space between paragraphs or headings. 
• Do not use inline CSS styles.

• Avoid instructions based solely on location on the page. For example, instead of “in the box to the right,” combine location and text: “in the box to the right, titled ‘Related Links and Publications.’” 
• If language changes within the text, use the html language tag to indicate different language. 
• All text should have a 4.5 to 1 contrast, more info can be found in the Digital Design Documentation. 
• For users who are color-blind, do not refer to color as the only indicator, include name of text or icon. 
• Make sure to remove formatting (Tx) of any pasted content to ensure the HTML does not have any extra tags or styles that may confuse screen readers.

• Ensure that link text makes sense when read out of context. Avoid links like “read more” or “click here.” 
  • Do not use - Click here for Rider University's website.
  • Use - Visit Rider University's website for more info.
• Keep link text to 100 characters or less. 
• Avoid using the page URL as linking text. 
  • Do not use - https://www.rider.edu/
  • Use - Rider University Homepage
• When linking to a pdf, provide info in link text, ex: (PDF)

• When creating word documents or pdfs, follow the same guidelines for webpage creation including page structure, text, links and images 
• PDFs should never contain scanned images as these are not readable by a screen reader
• Run the Accessibility Checker in Google Docs, Microsoft Word or Adobe Acrobat Reader. Resource: How to Test and Remediate PDFs for Accessibility Using Adobe Acrobat DC Video tutorials
• Documents and PDFs should have an appropriate title
• Make sure to use Export or Save to PDF to create a “Tagged PDF”, Do NOT use Print to PDF 
• Hyperlinks to PDFs should always be set to open in a new tab or window (see option under "Advanced" tab when placing hyperlink)
• (PDF) should follow a PDF link to alert them that they are opening a PDF document

• Use alternative (alt) text on images to accurately reflect the purpose of the image and/or provide an accurate description. If image is purely decorative, use an empty alt tag: alt=”” 

• Be careful using images with text in them, they should be avoided. Be sure image alt text communicates the same information as the text in the image. 
• If the image is linked, describe the link destination in the alt text. 
• When using graphs or diagrams, include accompanying text to explain the meaning.

• Provide captioning or transcript for video. 
• Review any auto-generated closed captions for accuracy. In order to update the transcript you will need to be able to edit the video in YouTube.
• Provide a transcript of audio content with descriptions of actions or any relevant non-verbal information.