Design and Development General Approach to Accessibility

Jason Carroll Updated by Jason Carroll

eCornell’s primary approach to design and development regarding accessibility is to design with accessibility in mind: we are all responsible for ensuring our content is as accessible as possible. Accessibility isn’t something separate from the design and development process that occurs at the end by another team — it’s built by all of us, from the beginning.

Designing with accessibility in mind means we must consider how students will experience a document/page if they cannot…

  • See, due to blindness, color blindness, or low vision,
  • Hear, due to deafness or being hard of hearing,
  • Click, due to mobility impairment,
  • Maintain focus,
  • Etc.,

and design our content in a way that is mindful of these challenges.

At eCornell, we strive to meet WCAG AA 2.2 standards for accessibility, and as such, it is helpful to familiarize yourself with them. As an overview, the guidelines ask you to consider if your content is:

  • Perceivable,
  • Operable,
  • Understandable, and
  • Robust.

To provide a meaningful experience for all students, regardless of how they interact with our content, we must then, for example,…

  • Include meaningful metadata in charts, tables, and images (so they can be perceived with assistive technology by users without sight).
  • Consider contrast and color options for those with low vision or colorblindness and not rely on color alone to convey meaning (so content can be perceived by users who do not see, or who are colorblind).
  • Consistently use styles and semantic headings (so structure is made obvious and is operable).
  • Ensure the purpose of each link can be determined by the link text alone, rather than using language like “click here” or “read more” for links (so the end user can operate the webpage as intended).
  • Include consistent navigation and labels where students are expected to input information (so students can understand what information is being requested).
  • Choose third-party integrations carefully (ensuring the content is robust).

 

How did we do?

Mathpix: Accessible STEM

Integrating Content Authored by a Third Party

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