WEBSITE ACCESSIBILITY POLICY, PROCEDURES & GUIDELINES

Web Accessibility Policy

We are committed to providing a website that is accessible to our customers.

Implementation of this policy will be incremental. All new pages will be made accessible before publishing. Existing pages will be made accessible as they are updated as or as required by necessity.

Overview

We provide a work environment that affords equal access and opportunity to otherwise qualified individuals with disabilities, in compliance with Sections 503 and 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 as amended and the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990. Consistent with this, we strive to provide web-based services that are accessible to all.

This policy is established to achieve the following:

Provide an accessible Web presence that enables all members of the community to have full access to information, programs and activities offered through this website; and
Establish minimum accessibility standards for web pages.

For specifics regarding the web accessibility policy requirements see t he Web Accessibility Guidelines.

Audience

This Web Accessibility Policy applies to all individuals responsible for designing, developing, and maintaining the State of Tomorrow^TM website.

Web Accessibility Standard

We use the Internet for publishing information and communicating with the public and business partners. To ensure that the State of Tomorrow website is accessible despite physical, sensory, or environmental or technological barriers, we adopt the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) of the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) as the standard for web accessibility.

Web pages that we publish or host must comply with the current Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG).

Training

Web accessibility and standards must be taught to and reinforced with our web publishers responsible for designing, developing, and maintaining the State of Tomorrow website. To continuously reinforce web accessibility awareness and web design techniques, we are charged with providing our web publishers with providing accessible web page design and web accessibility standards training.

Web Accessibility Coordinator

In accordance with Texas Administrative Code, Title 1, Part 10, Rule §206.71, the webmaster of the hosting site will be the web accessibility coordinator. This person will monitor the State of Tomorrow website for compliance to this policy and work to train the web publishers and ensure that all web pages are accessible.

Web Accessibility and Usability Testing

The public and our business partners access the State of Tomorrow website through various workstations, Internet connections, and web browser applications. To ensure that the State of Tomorrow website is designed with consideration for the types of Internet connections available, we are responsible for the testing such web pages for accessibility and usability prior to making them available to the public.

Web Accessibility Link

This policy satisfies the requirements in Texas Administrative Code, Title 1, Part 10, 206.71 as the Home Page and Key Public Entry Points of the State of Tomorrow website includes a link to this web page that contains the following information:

Contact information for the webmaster of the hosting site, who is the accessibility coordinator for the State of Tomorrow website: feedback@stateoftomorrow.com

As a further resource, visit:
The Governor’s Committee on People with Disabilities website.

Definitions

Accessible: A web page that can be used in a variety of ways and does not depend on a single sense or ability.

Generally Accessible Internet Site: A website that provides for graceful transformation, and making content understandable and navigable.

Graceful Transformation: Concept and language derived from W3C standards for accessible websites. See "Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 1.0" available at the World Wide Web Consortium website.

Home Page: The initial page or entry point to a website.

Key Public Entry Point: A web page specifically designated for members of the general public to access official information from an agency.

State Website: A state agency-owned, -operated by / or for, or -funded website connected to the Internet, including a state agency’s home page and any key public entry points.

Community: All individuals that may have an interest in our information, programs and activities offered through the Web. These include but are not limited to faculty, staff, current and prospective students, legislators and government officials, state agencies employees, patients, donors, business partners, etc.

Usability: A web design criteria that focuses on user performance, ease of navigation, is understandable, and is visually appealing.

W3C: World Wide Web Consortium. Additional information and copies of the current standards and recommendations are available through the World Wide Web Consortium website .

Web Page: A document specifically designed for members of the public to access official information from an agency via the Internet.

Website Accessibility Procedures & Guidelines

Web Publishers Training

The Web Accessibility policy requires that web publishers be trained in designing and creating accessible web pages. Web publishers can utilize the following resources to attain this training:

Self-paced classes via CD-ROM.

Accessibility training hosted by UT Austin and scheduled through the Thompson Conference Center.
Annual accessibility rally (AIR University). Hands-on training in a competitive environment hosted by UT Austin and Knowbility.
The WebAIM – Web Accessibility In Mind website. Extensive resource for self-paced learning about accessibility and staying current on techniques and issues. Check lists to verify web page accessibility are available for download.

Creating and Maintaining Web Documents

Complete the following steps when creating new or maintaining existing web pages.

Create and verify content for the web page.
Create the web page based on a template (departmental or top tier) that incorporates our look and feel.
Apply techniques learned in accessibility training to ensure priority one* accessible web pages as defined by the W3C Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG).
Test for Accessibility in accordance with WCAG.
Test functionality by viewing through browser.
Publish to production website.
Access the production site via a web browser and test the web page for functionality.

*The requirement is priority one but we would like to aim for priority two in order to provide a better experience for our customers.

Testing Techniques

Web publishers using DreamWeaver to produce web pages will begin testing for accessibility by using the Accessibility Suite for W3C/WCAG, V1.0.1 extension for DreamWeaver. The Accessibility Suite is available for download at the Macromedia Extensions website.

Web publishers not using DreamWeaver to develop pages will use testing tools appropriate for their development environment.

Complete the following steps prior to publishing a document on the State of Tomorrow website:

View the web document using the following browsers
1. Internet Explorer
2. Netscape
3. Optional: IBM Homepage Reader and JAWS
View the web document in the following platforms:
1. Windows
2. Macintosh
Test the web document using the following Accessibility Checking Tools
1. DreamWeaver Accessibility Suite
2. Bobby
3. W3C Checklist of Checkpoints for Web Accessibility Guidelines. Keep a completed copy of this checklist for each page/site reviewed until a new change is made and the new documentation supersedes this.
4. WebAIM tools
Review the web page(s) for issues that the automated checking tools cannot identify (e.g., color contrast or text alternatives to items conveyed with color.)
Test the web page(s) after publication to ensure it functions the same way on the production server as on the development server.
Consider asking the O.T.I.S. Webmaster to review the web page(s).

Complete the following steps after major changes or redesign. These steps are intended for overall website changes, as opposed to single page changes, and for high-profile, public-facing web pages.

Test the web pages in an environment including people with disabilities.
Perform a usability tests on the web pages. A more usable page is a more accessible page.

Compliance

We make every effort to maintain an accessible website. Please follow the steps below when encountering an inaccessible web page:

Send an email to feedback@stateoftomorrow.com.
We shall remove from the production website all web pages that are not accessible.
Upon specific request, or in the interim until a web page is made accessible, the owner of the inaccessible web page shall make the information available in an alternate format to any individual needing access to that web content.