Ensuring our website is accessible to all users, including those with disabilities, is a critical part of Goucher College's commitment to inclusivity and compliance with legal standards. This section outlines best practices for creating accessible content within the content management system (CMS).

Introduction to accessibility

Accessibility ensures that all individuals, regardless of ability, can navigate, understand, and interact with our website content. Following the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1 ensures compliance with legal standards and provides a better user experience for everyone.

Key accessibility principles

Goucher College follows the WCAG principles known as POUR:

• Perceivable: Information must be presented in ways that users can perceive.
• Operable: Users must be able to navigate and interact with the interface.
• Understandable: Content must be clear and easy to comprehend.
• Robust: Content must be accessible across various devices and assistive technologies.
  
  

Checklist for accessible content

Text content & headings

As you add content to a page, be sure to keep a few things in mind:

• Use clear, concise language.
• Break up text with headings, bullet points, and short paragraphs.
• Avoid jargon and complex terminology.
• Use headings in sequential order (e.g., H2 for sections, H3 for subsections).
• Avoid skipping heading levels (e.g., do not jump from H1 to H3).

Additional information about text content and headings can be found on the Text & Headings page.

Links

To provide the best user experience, links should:

• use descriptive text that indicates the link’s purpose (e.g., "Download the admissions form" instead of "Click here").
• be functional and not lead to 404 errors.

For an in-depth look at how to create accessible links as well as a step-by-step video tutorial, visit the Links page.

Documents

Whenever possible, add content directly to webpages rather than uploading PDFs or other documents. If a PDF is necessary—for complex layouts, large tables, or charts—make sure it is accessible. You can check accessibility by running a scan in Adobe Acrobat Pro or using the free PAVE Validator.

Tables

Tables should be used sparingly, as they may not display well on mobile devices. If a table contains more than a few columns, consider linking to an accessible PDF or spreadsheet instead.

Images & multimedia

Do the following for best practices:

• Provide descriptive alternative text for all images that convey information.
• Avoid embedding important text in images; instead, place text directly on the webpage.
• Provide captions and transcripts for all video and audio content.

For details on alternative text, captions, and optimizing images, visit the Images and Graphics page.

Accessibility Check

Modern Campus CMS includes a built-in accessibility checker that scans a webpage before publishing. To run the checker, check out the page then click the three dots at the top right of the screen and select Page Check to view any errors, including accessibility issues. 

For published webpages, you can also test accessibility using tools such as WAVE.

To check PDFs for accessibility, use the PAVE validator (a free web app) or contact the Office of Accessibility Services at access@goucher.edu.

Contact us for support

If you have questions about the website or need help implementing best practices, contact the Web Team at webmaster@goucher.edu.

For more information, please contact the Office of Accessibility Services.