KU Web sites recognized for accessibility to computer users with disabilities

LAWRENCE -- The University of Kansas Web site and the KU admissions Web page have been recognized for exemplary accessible design by the National Center on Accessible Information Technology in Education. KU's Web site was among 102 major research university sites that were evaluated for their general accessibility to people with disabilities.

"We are thrilled that our Web sites have received this honor," said Marilu Goodyear, vice provost for information services. "We have made accessibility of KU's Web presence a high priority because we know the information is important for all users."

Accessible design is evaluated based not on how a Web site looks but rather on how well it functions to provide information to all users. For instance, if a user with a visual impairment cannot view a photo or graphic, he or she can know the content of the image because it would be descriptively labeled in the site's behind-the-scenes coding. Most users never see this coding, but it allows visually impaired users to listen to their screen-reader software describe these image captions aloud. Without this coding, some users can find it difficult to know exactly what content exists on a Web page.

Other features that were recognized include:

 • scalable fonts, which allow the user to enlarge or shrink the text size through a browser's resize functions
 • a "skip navigation" option, which allows sight-impaired users to skip listening to repeated navigation elements as they click through the pages in a Web site
 • a "toggle navigation" link, which allows a user to hide the navigation menu to provide more room on the screen to view content

"I hope this recognition encourages more people and organizations to follow the accessible design guidelines when creating their Web sites," said Julie Loats, KU Web administrator. "The guidelines are not only beneficial to people with impairments; they make Web sites user-friendly for all people."

Current Web Content Accessibility Guidelines for the State of Kansas are available online at da.state.ks.us/itec/WASPriorities112001.htm.