Web Accessibility
University Marketing and Communications Web Resources > Web Accessibility > Doing More
V. Doing More
Site map or index
Web sites with more than ten pages are encouraged to have a site map or index linking all the main web pages. This is especially helpful for finding pages that are not linked in a main menu. A plain text site map is a good alternative for web sites which use image maps, javascript, Flash, frames, or image buttons for main navigation.
Fonts
Be cautious when specifying font sizes. Use relative sizes, such as <font size="+1"> or font-size: 0.8em or 110%.
When specifying font faces, choose a list of faces, including a generic one. Example: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif.
Style Sheets
Separate style from content by placing font and other style information in a separate style sheet which is linked to the web page.
- Sample Style Sheet
- Paste the text into a file named "main.css".
- Place "main.css" into the same directory as the HTML file.
- Place the link:
<LINK REL="STYLESHEET" href="main.css" type="text/css">
into the header of the HTML page that uses the style sheet.- To reduce the font size in a paragraph, use the "sm" class: <p class="sm">...</p>
- WDVL: Cascading Style Sheets
- Cascading Style Sheets, Level 2
- WebReview.com: Style Sheet Reference Guide Master Grid
Links to free viewers and plug-ins
- Adobe PDF Viewer
- Adobe PDF-to-HTML
- MS PowerPoint Viewer
- MS Word Viewer
- MS Excel Viewer
- MPEG (Audio)
- MPEG (Video)
- QuickTime (Audio and Video)
- RealPlayer (RealAudio and RealVideo)
- Macromedia Shockwave
- Macromedia Flash
- VRML (Virtual Reality Modeling Language)
- Windows Media Player (ASF, RealVideo, RealAudio, MPEG 1, MPEG 2, WAV, AVI, MIDI, MOV, VOD, AU, MP2 and QuickTime)
- CAD viewers, etc.
Long descriptions
Place a description link (d-link) next to important images. The d-link should lead to a page or a location on a page which contains a full text description of the image. This is a specific example of providing alternative content for multimedia.
Example: CESSI Accessible Solutions Home Page
Scroll down to the "Bobby Approved" image and click on the nearby d-link. It will take you to a web page with a simple text long description of the image. That page includes a Return link to the image.
Language translation
Encourage visits from abroad. Provide a link to SYSTRAN's European language text translator: http://www.systransoft.com/h.htm
Indicate the primary language of your page by placing <html lang="en"> at the top of each web page below the DOCTYPE declaration.
Meta tags
Memo from Bill Curnow/Dennis Walikainen 5/21/2002: "At the very least, each department's home page should include a title, description, and keywords in the code of the site. These items can also be customized for each Web page." Regarding accessibility, metadata can provide important orientational information for users.
HTML editor accessibility enhancers or patches
- Macromedia Accessibility (Dreamweaver, Flash)
- Adobe GoLive Accessibility
- Microsoft FrontPage Accessibility
Web-safe colors
The web-safe palette is a set of 216 colors common to the most popular browsers. They are the colors most likely to be reproduced faithfully between browsers, operating systems, and computer platforms. Use these for font colors, solid background and table cell colors, logos, and other elements with relatively simple color schemes.
Next: VI. Resources on Campus