Re: College Policies on Accessible Web Page Design

This question is a perfect opportunity to get some feedback on behalf of
Utah State University and our new initiative which we have dubbed "Web
Accessibility in Mind" (WebAIM).

Utah State University is about to implement a Web Accessibility policy by
the end of the calendar year. I have been a part of the decision-making
process in that regard. Our first instinct was to require Priority 1
accessibility, but after taking a second look at the issues, we decided to
implement most of Priority 2 as well. The only exclusions (in the draft)
were the following:

1. Tables for layout (Priority 2, 5.3). Strictly speaking, a website can be
Priority 2 compliant and use tables for layout (if the table linearizes
well). However, our main reason for deciding to be somewhat leniant on the
issue of using stylesheets for layout (as opposed to tables) has to do with
poor browser support. At some point in the future, we will reexamine this
issue.

2. Applets and scripts (Priority 2, 6.4, 7.3, 8.1, 9.2, 9.3). Although we
realize that inaccessible applets are a real issue, the scarcity of
accessible java programs, perl scripts, etc. led us to be leniant in this
area as well. Retrofitting existing scripts and applets to accessibility
requirements is a large burden. Perhaps we could require that all _new_
scripts be accessible?

Because this initiative is only a draft at this point, revisions can be
made, and I welcome your feedback.

Paul Bohman
Technology Specialist
Web Accessibility in Mind
Utah State University

----- Original Message -----
From: Kelly Ford <kford@teleport.com>
To: <Recipient list suppressed>
Sent: Monday, November 22, 1999 10:20 AM
Subject: College Policies on Accessible Web Page Design


> Hello Everyone,
>
> I'm trying to gather information on colleges and universities that have
> explicit policies on accessible web page design.  If you know of a
college
> or university with some sort of policy statement on the topic please share
> either an URL or the actual document with me.  It is probably better to
> reply to me privately at kford@teleport.com as opposed to the group at
> large.  I'll be happy to share the results of my inquiry with the list if
> there's suitable response.
>
> Thanks,
>
> Kelly
>

Received on Monday, 22 November 1999 14:26:14 UTC