Accessibility Commitment
Stanford Web Services (SWS) is committed to providing a Stanford Sites environment that enables site owners to build and manage websites that are accessible to everyone and adhere to Stanford's Accessibility of Electronic Content policy (6.8.1).
As part of this commitment, SWS builds the following accessibility best practices into regular development and release cycles:
- Internal automated and manual accessibility product-level testing
- External consulting and testing through the Office of Digital Accessibility
- Escalation of issues to designers and developers for remediation
- Documentation of decisions and best practices
Stanford's accessibility policy
Access to websites and electronic content is integral to the academic, research, and engagement activities available at Stanford University. Stanford is committed to making its electronic content accessible to its students, faculty, staff, and all other individuals with disabilities participating or engaging in the programs and services of the University.
Stanford's Accessibility of Electronic Content policy (6.8.1) addresses the responsibilities and processes for Stanford’s electronic content and accessibility for individuals with disabilities. It states that electronic content is to conform to the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.0 (WCAG), Level AA.
Your responsibility as a site owner
SWS has designed Stanford Sites to be accessible and to support accessibility best practices. As you add content and grow your website over time, it is your responsibility to make sure your content continues to be accessible.
Stanford University provides access to Siteimprove, a tool to find and resolve accessibility issues. To get your Stanford site scanned, submit a help request at Website Scanning & Monitoring.
Partner with Stanford Web Services to maintain an accessible web presence
Need help with the accessibility of your site? Partner with Stanford Web Services to:
- Identify and assess issues affecting your content using Siteimprove scanning and manual testing
- Identify priorities and remediation strategies alongside our partners in the Office of Digital Accessibility
- Assist on a one-time or ongoing basis
- Mentor content writers and editors on best practices
- Track and report the impact of testing and remediation efforts over time
Learn to make your content accessible
Well-structured and informative content that follows basic formatting guidelines ensures that your website is well-organized, clearly understandable to readers, and accessible to people with disabilities.
Here are some resources for helping you create accessible content:
Check content accessibility
Once you've added content to your site, here are resources for checking and remediating the accessibility of your content:
Questions about accessibility
The Office of Digital Accessibility (ODA) team is available to answer your accessibility questions:
- ODA offers office hours. You can sign up at: https://stanford.link/soda-help
- You can ask questions in the cop-accessibility Slack channel: https://stanfordwebservices.slack.com/archives/C020B6YQSHE
Questions about Siteimprove
The ODA team also offers assistance with Siteimprove:
- You can ask Siteimprove questions in the #cop-siteimprove Slack channel: https://stanfordwebservices.slack.com/archives/C020B6YQSHE
- ODA offers Siteimprove office hours. These are announced in the #cop-siteimprove Slack channel.
Related resources
The Stanford Office of Digital Accessibility provides guidance and resources for Stanford web designers, developers, and content creators who need to produce materials that are accessible to the broadest audience possible. Here are some resources from ODA:
- Accessibility Evaluation Quick Checks document
- Siteimprove for Website Scanning & Monitoring
- Testing for accessibility
- Digital accessibility solutions videos from Global Accessibility Awareness Day
Here's a list of videos from the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights
