Web Accessibility

Programs

• Website Templates

  The SUNY Plattsburgh website is built using a set of fully accessible templates. The templates allow all pages to feature:

  • Consistent navigation
  • Access to contact information
  • Special coding to ensure screen reading software will deliver content to visually impaired visitors in a usable format:
    • Skip to main content
    • Logical heading order
    • Link text is descriptive and unique
    • Descriptive alt tags for all images conveying important information
    • Null alt tags for decorative images
  • Keyboard navigation is functional and tab order is logical
• Contrast

  Visitors with color vision impairment or low vision benefit from sufficient contrast between text, items and backgrounds. All visitors benefit from the reduced eyestrain good contrast provides.

  All pages on the site are required to pass contrast checks. We use both the WAVE Web Accessibility Tool and manual checks by trained staff to ensure pages comply with requirements.

• Writing Style

  We use clear and direct language whenever possible so all visitors can easily understand our content. Our content contributors are encouraged to use subheadings to break up dense content and separate complex content into easy to read chunks.

• Links

  Everyone appreciates unique and descriptive link text, which gives a sense of the information a link leads to. Descriptive text also helps vision-impaired visitors select the correct link if they choose to hear only the links on a page.

  Links open in the same tab except when doing so is customary and welcomed by visitors, such as when linking to forms or external sites. External websites are checked for accessibility, and only websites that pass may be linked to.

• Images
  All images on our site provide an alt tag for screen reading software. If an image conveys important information, the alt tag is used to summarize the information. An empty alt tag is used to signal to screen reading software when an image is used only as decoration.
• Tables

  Tables are designed and coded to be fully accessible to those using screen reading software. Header rows are used and all data cells must be arranged to follow a logical tab order. For tables which use alternating row colors, the background color must have sufficient contrast with the text in the cell.

• Video & Audio

  Video and audio-only recordings we produce or link to must be closed captioned, with a transcript available, to be published on our website.

  Autoplay is not allowed for video and audio recordings.

• Document Accessibility

  PDF is our preferred online document format and is required for all documents produced for the general public. PDFs on the site must have selectable text (no pictures of text) and pass Adobe Acrobat's built-in accessibility checker.

  Documents for internal audiences, such as current students, faculty and staff may be in other formats, however, the documents must conform to current accessibility requirements including selectable text (no pictures of text), sufficient contrast and logical structure.

• Online Forms
  Forms are coded for full accessibility and use ARIA labeling.