System & State Guidelines
The following guidelines are recommended for implementation on
all Texas A&M University-Commerce Web sites.
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| Site
Information & University Affiliation |
| Include the name of the unit or group represented
by the page, a means of contacting the person(s) responsible for
maintaining the page content, a university wordmark, and an active
link to the A&M-Commerce home page. (http://www.tamu-commerce.edu)
Colleges & Departments (considered key enrty points) must include
a link to Accessibility Policy (http://www.tamu-commerce.edu/university/accessibility.asp),
Privacy Policy (http://www.tamu-commerce.edu/university/privacy.asp),
Department or College contact info. More information can be found
at State of Texas Deaprtment of Information Resources (http://www.dir.state.tx.us/standards/S206.htm).
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| Metadata |
| According to state guidelines, pages must contain
meta tags defining a page's description, keywords, and author. These
are used by the Texas Records and Information Locator (TRAIL), the
statewide search engine.
<meta name="author" content="" />
<meta name="description" content="" />
<meta name="keywords" content="" />
|
| Include
"Alt" Tags on All Images and Graphics |
| Provide a text equivalent for every non-text element
(e.g., via "alt", "longdesc", or in element
content). This includes: images, graphical representations of text
(including symbols), image map regions, animations (e.g., animated
GIFs), applets and programmatic objects, ascii art, frames, scripts,
images used as list bullets, spacers, graphical buttons, sounds
(played with or without user interaction), stand-alone audio files,
audio tracks of video, and video. (WAI 1.1)
Why-Screen readers for the visually impaired will skip over images,
image maps, buttons, bullets, etc. "Alt" tags give a written
description of the image.
Provide alt tags or alternative text for all bullets, images, and
buttons. For "spacer" images or unimportant graphics,
use alt=" " as your tag.Image
<img src="topo.jpg" alt="current routes at Boulders
Climbing Gym">Button
<a href="calendar.html">
<img src="button.gif" alt="go to calendar">
</a>
|
| Don't
Rely on Colors to Convey Information |
| Ensure that all information conveyed with color
is also available without color, for example from context or markup.
|
| Don't
Use Flickering, Blinking, or Scrolling Text |
| Until user agents allow users to control flickering,
avoid causing the screen to flicker. (WAI 7.1)
Epileptic seizures can be caused by blinking and flickering. Scrolling
text will lock up screen readers.
|
| Use
Simple Language |
| Use the clearest and simplest language appropriate
for a site's content. (WAI 14.1)
Translators and screen readers will translate simple language more
accurately than complex text.
|
| Don't
Use Server-Side Image Maps |
| Provide client-side image maps instead of server-side
image maps except where the regions cannot be defined with an available
geometric shape. (WAI 9.1)
|
| Label
Data Tables |
| For data tables, identify row and column headers.
(WAI 5.1)
Screen readers read tables line-by-line. Identifiers will organize
the data.
|
| Avoid
Using Frames or Title Each Frame |
| Title each frame to facilitate frame identification
and navigation. (WAI 12.1)
|
| Make
Pages Usable Without Applets & Scripts |
| Ensure that pages are usable when scripts, applets,
or other programmatic objects are turned off or not supported. If
this is not possible, provide equivalent information on an alternative
accessible page. (WAI 6.3)
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