Accessibility and Inclusive Design Resources

What is digital accessibility?

Why is accessibility important?

It’s The Right Thing To Do

The web is all about providing access, information, and opportunity to as many people as possible. It is only right that the University community fosters inclusivity, and works to ensure that all can participate.

It’s Our Policy

The UW-Madison Web Accessibility Policy requires compliance with the Federal Rehabilitation Act’s Section 508, and looks to the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.0 for guidance in meeting campus accessibility commitments. 

(excerpt from https://it.wisc.edu/learn/guides/accessible-content-tech/ )

Learn more about accessibility

• An Introduction to Web Accessibility
• Make It Accessible

• Usability.gov

• HHS.gov

• 18F Accessibility Guide

PDF Accessibility

All PDFs that are linked to on the website should be accessible. The links below provide a basic overview of how to meet minimum accessibility standards for PDFs. Please see the Webaim PDF Accessibility standards for more background information.

How do I create Accessible PDFs?

• Accessibility compliance: PDF files without images

• Accessibility compliance: PDF files that contain images

• Accessibility compliance: PDF files that use custom design

• InDesign: Creating Accessible PDFs for the web (coming soon)

  • More Adobe documentation: InDesign Accessibility

Accessibility Online Tools & Resources

• Alternative Testing Tool: Wave
• Webaim.org

• Alternative Text

• Color Contrast Checker

• Link Standards

• Tables

• Web Accessibility Tutorials

Accessibility for Emails and Email Campaigns

• Accessibility and Email Campaigns

• Accessibility Challenges in Email Design

• Accessibility in Email Marketing

• Other Resources

  • Optimizing Images for Emails (need to update this resource)

Inclusive Design

Resources

• Microsoft Inclusive Design

• Inclusive Design Patterns (Book by: Heydon Pickering)