Thursday May 19 2022 marks the eleventh Global Accessibility Awareness Day (GAAD).
The purpose of GAAD is to get everyone talking, thinking and learning about digital access and inclusion, and the more than one billion people with disabilities/impairments.
Global Accessibility Awareness Day official website
So, what is accessibility and why is it important?
Simply put, web accessibility ensures all people – regardless of ability – can interact, understand and navigate information online.
Web accessibility benefits people with visual, hearing, motor or cognitive impairments. It also assists non-native English speakers, people with slow internet access or old software.
What is an editor’s responsibility when it comes to accessibility?
La Trobe is committed to providing web experiences that are accessible to everyone.
As an editor, you must design and maintain your microsite/webpage with the user experience in mind and how accessible it is. We have a legislative requirement to ensure the University website is accessible to all under the Commonwealth Disability Discrimination Act, Disability Discrimination Act (1992), and Disability Standards for Education 2005. These legislations help to ensure all students and audiences can access and participate in education equally.
All La Trobe websites are also obligated to meet AA Success Criteria Levels of the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1 developed by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C).
What is WCAG?
WCAG covers a range of recommendations to make web content accessible to people with disabilities. Following the guidelines will make your website more usable in general.
The WCAG standard defines three levels of accessibility:
- Level A is the basic, which must be fulfilled by any accessible website.
- Level AA means a higher-level availability and accessibility. This is recommended, especially for public interest, state, and municipality websites.
- Level AAA sets the highest requirements for both website creators and operators. This level is required for websites that are visited by a significant number of people with disability or barriers.
How do I make my web content accessible?
These web accessibility tips will help make your site more inclusive:
- Add proper alt text to images: Alt text provides access to the content of images for those who use screen readers or when an image fails to load properly.
- Use headings in order: Avoid skipping heading levels. Page titles use H1, therefore, when you add headings to your content, begin with H2 onwards. Headings structure your content so readers can scan the page and get information quickly.
- Choose your words carefully: Make your content easy to read and short to ensure users remain engaged and understand complex information.
- Link using descriptive words: Descriptive link text lets your users know where the link goes so avoid using ‘click here’ or ‘read more’.
We have some more tips on our web accessibility guidelines intranet page.
You should also become familiar with the most common accessibility issues found on websites so you know what to watch for.
Resources to help you
W3C provides a range of resources including articles, videos, and free online courses to give you an overview of accessibility fundamentals.
Further, Siteimprove is your accessible friend. This tool has an inbuilt accessibility module that checks and scores your site against the WCAG success criteria. Editors with access should regularly use this tool to assess their site’s accessibility score.
If you don’t have Siteimprove access yet, we recommend you use Siteimprove’s free website accessibility checker to get an accessibility score for your site.
By removing web barriers, we achieve accessibility for all.
Have questions about your web editing?
Remember, we’re always here to help! To reach out, please:
