As a public university for the public good, Bowling Green State University is committed to ensuring everyone can access the University’s knowledge, ideas and resources.

The web is one of the primary ways the public is able to take advantage of those assets, but not everyone uses the internet in the same way. Making our content accessible ensures all people have the same opportunities to benefit from BGSU's information, products, resources and services.

It's also the law and BGSU policy.

While accessibility best practices are essential for those with disabilities, creating clean and simple designs with closed captions and other features improves the digital experience for everyone. This includes those with temporary needs and conditional restrictions.

This quarterly newsletter will answer common questions about accessibility, give tips and tools to help you create accessible online materials and provide resources for further learning. Thank you for all you are already doing to make BGSU even more welcoming and accessible for everyone.

What is web accessibility?

Web accessibility focuses on how a user with disabilities accesses or benefits from an online product, device or service. This means the digital content we create at BGSU such as websites, videos and documents should be usable by everyone.

What does that mean?

Essentially, any content uploaded to bgsu.edu or shared digitally by BGSU must meet accessibility standards. The University has updated its web accessibility Technical Guidelines to conform with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.0, level AA. To meet these requirements, BGSU departments and employees are asked to update their web pages and online course materials used to conduct University business or academic activities to a minimum conformance level of AA. Non-compliance with these guidelines violates University policy and can expose the University and individuals to complaints and liability.

How do we make materials more accessible?

The following mini-guide will help you get started on making your content more accessible.

PDF Files

After creating a PDF, use the accessibility checker in Acrobat Pro to check for errors. If there are errors in the PDF, you can send it to remediation.

 

Webpages

All webpages (new and existing) should be accessible by people with with all levels of auditory, visual, physical and cognitive abilities.

Links

Did you know the common hyperlink phrase "click here" is inaccessible? "Click here" does not describe where a user is going. If the link is directing a user to your social work application, the hyperlink should say "Social Work Application." Read the link by itself and make sure what it says describes to users what it is, even without other content or context.

 

Videos

When uploading a video, the video platform should give you the option to include open captioning, closed captioning or subtitles. Ensure that the open captioning, closed captioning or subtitles align with the audio in the video and if they are automatically generated, read through them completely and correct any errors. Video hosting sites like Youtube offer instructions for automatic captioning.

Photos

All photos must include alt tags that describe those photos in detail. When uploading a photo to a webpage, you will see a box or field called "Alt Text." This is where you should place your description of the photo.

An Example of Alt Text:

BGSU Mascots, Freddie and Freida, at football game

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