ADA Compliance Checklist for Online Content


2017

ADA Compliance Checklist for Online Content

For all online materials reasonable accommodations must be made to web content to maximize student accessibility in your course and comply with federal ADA requirements.

Each Course Component listed below should be fully addressed.  Your course may not contain all components, but those that are used in your course will need to be accessible to all students.  Instructors bear the responsibility of ensuring subsequent changes to approved courses continue to meet these and other DEC and ADA standards.  Contact IT and/or Disability Services for assistance.

Course Component

Instructor will

YES

NO

N/A

Links

 Links

Use descriptive text for hyperlinks (i.e., “Read Syllabus” instead of “Click here”)

 

 

 

 

Links

Ensure that all links are valid, course appropriate, and unbroken

 

 

 

Links

Include the file extension in links to download files (i.e. "Syllabus (doc)" or "Worksheet.xlsx"

 

 

 

Links

Avoid using patterned buttons

 

 

 

Links

Remove or hide any buttons and tools that are not used in the course

 

 

 

Text

Text

Use a san-serif type face (i.e. Arial, Century Gothic, Helvetica, Trebuchet, Verdana) with non-justified text of no less than size 12 type for easy readability

 

 

 

Text

Use one font throughout the site

 

 

 

Text

Use Styles function to insert headings and other important navigational structures in documents

 

 

 

Text

Avoid using font color as exclusive method to convey meaning

 

 

 

Text

Avoid harsh color combinations, such as yellow-blue or red-green combinations

 

 

 

Text

Avoid overuse of all CAPS, bold or italics

 

 

 

Text

Avoid underlining words, which a screen reader can mistake for a navigation link

 

 

 

Text

Use high contrast between text and background

 

 

 

Text

Avoid extremely bright colors as a background color. Do not use patterned backgrounds or watermarks across document

 

 

 

Text

Avoid using PDFs

 

 

 

Text

Avoid the use of text boxes to set off content; screen readers will not detect content

 

 

 

Tables and Columns 

Tables and Columns

Provide textual summaries of data tables above table and make certain “Header Row” is checked in Table Tools to identify headers

 

 

 

Tables and Columns

Avoid use complex tables with split cells when possible

 

 

 

Tables and Columns

Do not use Tabs to create columns and tables; this will not read correctly with screen readers

 

 

 

Images 

Images

Ensure all images are clear

 

 

 

Images

Ensure all images have alt texts/long descriptions attached to them

 

 

 

Images

Avoid animated or blinking images, text, or cursor, which can cause seizures for some people

 

 

 

Images

Provide a description of the image in the question or answer text if used in an assessment

 

 

 

Audio 

Audio

Ensure audio quality is clear

 

 

 

Audio

Provide a written transcript with all audio files

 

 

 

Video 

Video

Ensure video quality is clear

 

 

 

Video

Provide closed-captioning and accompanying text-based transcripts for all videos

 

 

 

Other Tools

Create accessible MS-Word, PowerPoint, PDF documents and use document Accessibility Checkers

 

 

 

Additional accessibility information instructions available:



Article ID: 1648
Created: May 8, 2018
Last Updated: September 14, 2020
Author: Joshua Mitchell

Online URL: https://kb.mc3.edu/article.php?id=1648