Skip to main content

Accessibility

Quick Tips 

  • A student working on a laptop sits inside at a small round table near windows overlooking JMU's campusAdd descriptive alt text to all images (e.g. the adjacent image alt text is “A student working on a laptop sits inside at a small round table next to windows overlooking JMU’s campus”) – the W3C Image Tutorial demonstrates adding appropriate alt text based on an image’s purpose
  • Craft descriptive hyperlinks (e.g. hyperlink “Alumni Resources,” not “click here”) – screen readers can read all the links aloud to help users jump to the link they want
  • If a hyperlink contains only an image, add image alt text that describes the purpose or destination of the link (e.g. “Go to Wikipedia” instead of “The Wikipedia logo: a partially constructed ball made of puzzle pieces”)
  • Use headings (H2, H3, etc.) nested in their appropriate order instead of bold text for your headings – screen readers can read a list of headings aloud to help users jump to the section of a page that interests them
  • Include captions with all your videos – YouTube makes this very easy, but you have to check for accuracy
  • Move paper resources online and become knowledgeable about accessible PDFs

Testing for Accessibility

Many tools are available to test content accessibility and validate against Section 508 requirements. You can test content yourself using the tools below, or request an accessibility review of your content by contacting Greg Brown, Harper Holsinger, or Eric Saner.

  • Color Contrast Checker from WebAIM
  • Readability Calculator
  • Screen readers (free) to hear your content
  • W3C Web Accessibility Evaluation Tools List: a list of evaluation tools that you can filter to find ones that match your particular needs.
  • Web page testers
    • WAVE Web Accessibility Evaluation Tool: a suite of evaluation tools that helps authors make their web content more accessible to individuals with disabilities.
    • AXE DevTools: a Chrome browser extension that integrates with DevTools
    • ANDI: a web page accessibility and Section 508 compliance testing tool developed by the Social Security Administration

More Information

Follow the links below for detailed information on website accessibility and Section 508 requirements.