Web Page Development

Web Accessibility for Developers

If your job has you doing any of the following tasks, you should read and understand this complete guide:

  • Building website templates

  • Building web-based components, such as CMS or LMS plugins

  • Building build web-based software or reports

If you're just editing a website inside of a Content Management System (like DNN or Cascade), then refer to the Accessible Documents guidance. The way in which you build in certain features to make a document accessible also

Ensuring Accessible Design & Development: WCAG 2.0 Standards

WCAG 2.0 consists of three levels of success criteria: A, AA, and AAA.

  • The OPI's resolution with the Office for Civil Rights set the standard for web accessibility to be compliance with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.0 level AA standard (with some exclusions.) This means that you must comply with both the A and AA success criteria within WCAG 2.0 (which includes 2.1) in order to work toward the most inclusive and accessible content.

Review the resources below an understanding of WCAG.

W3C Guidelines 2.0 & 2.1 - A Breakdown for Developers

W3C Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 3.0 (In Draft)

Easily Understandable Accessible Development Resource from Penn State

10 Guidelines To Improve the Usability & Accessibility of Your Site


Tools for Checking Accessibility

The following is a list of tools that can help you assess the level of accessibility of your pages.

Remember that no tool can give you a 100% certain answer to the question "Is my page accessible?" This requires testing by a qualified individual.

A more comprehensive list of tools is available on the W3C website.

Screen readers

Screen readers are a form of Assistive Technology that many students use. Getting familiar with operating a screen reader can help you understand the context of your website/application within Assistive Technology, and it can give you an appreciation of the importance of good usability.

Although most students who use screen readers use JAWS, it's licensing is often cost prohibitive for developers. A free alternative is NVDA, or the included VoiceOver on Macs.

Browser plugins

  • WAVE toolbar - Probably the single best accessibility tool out there. It provides alerting to common errors, and insight into the structure of a page. Highly recommended.

  • Fangs screen reader emulator - The next best thing to operating a screen reader yourself; Fangs will show you what a screen reader would say to a user. Highly recommended.

  • Color contrast tool - Helps identify if sufficient color contrast exists.

  • Accessibility tools - all purpose toolbar.

External checkers