Making the Web Accessible
Green River College is committed to ensuring that all users can access and navigate our web content, including individuals with disabilities.
As a community, we work together toward meeting and exceeding the minimal accessibility standards setforth in the Web Content Accessibility Guideline (WCAG) 2.0 AA standards.
As content managers of Green River's website, here are several things you should do to increase the accessibility of your webpages:
Use Plain Language
Writing clearly and simply is one of the most important things you can to do increase the accessibility of your web content. Minimize the use of jargon, acronyms, abbreviations. If they are necessary, then make sure to provide definitions.
Also see our recommendations in Web Content Guidelines and Writing for the Web.
Use Proper Heading Structure
For users who are navigating your website using assistive technologies, such as a screen reader, make sure that your content is organized and marked up using proper HTML headings so that users can easily navigate your website content.
Content Managers can use the Text Editor in TerminalFour to add proper heading structure by clicking Format > Formats > Headings and then selecting Heading 1 through Heading 6.
Include Text Alternatives
When you use images or multimedia to convey important content to your users, it is important to include text alternatives that are accessible to users using assistive technologies. When submitting a project request to have a photo or document uploaded, please include descriptive alt text to provide users who can't see the image with alternative content.
Provide Accessible Documents
Before requesting that a document (usually PDF) be uploaded to the GRC Media Library, please make sure it is fully accessible. The Washington State Board for Community and Technical Colleges has an excellent course of accessibility that is free to access, while Adobe's instructions on creating and verifying PDF accessibility provide detailed step-by-step instructions regarding PDFs.
Use Links Appropriately
Link text should make sense out of context, and should give users an idea of where they will go when they click on the link. Link text like 'click here' is uninformative and unhelpful for users using assistive devices, such as screen readers.
Use Tables Appropriately
Tables on websites should be used to present tabular data only, and not to control the layout of your page.
If you need to present tabular data, then it's important for tables to be appropriately formatted in the HTML so that users can successfully navigate and derive meaning from the tables on your website.
We have developed tables specifically to meet accessibility needs, which can be found in TerminalFour by clicking Tools > Green River Tables > Insert
