1. Accessibility audit Process & lessons learned Elizabeth Rogers & Jonathan Woodcock Communications & Public Affairs September 18, 2013

2. Overview Purpose: why is this important? Process: step by step Scope: implications and what we learned ACCESSIBILITY AUDIT

3. AODA accessibility compliance deadline of January 1, 2014. ACCESSIBILITY AUDIT

4. AODA accessibility deadlines ACCESSIBILITY AUDIT DateWCAG Level January 1, 2014A January 1, 2016AA January 2, 2021AA with multimedia The University of Waterloo is committed to striving for WCAG Level AA by January 1, 2014 wherever possible.

5. Purpose Why is this important? Pinpoint issues so they can be fixed by Jan. 1, 2014 Develop a process to audit content, provide feedback and fix issues Estimate time & effort required to audit websites for accessibility. ACCESSIBILITY AUDIT

6. Process How do we begin? Inventory content Audit content Correct content Inform stakeholders Report on findings

7. Inventory content Create or update the content inventory for each website that details auditable items –Webpages –Headings –Images –Multimedia –Links –Files (PDF, DOC, etc.) ACCESSIBILITY AUDIT

8. Audit Evaluate webpages using software and humans –WAVE online checker and WAVE Toolbar –Readability indices for plain language assessment –Checklist for items requiring human evaluation (such as effective alt text, link text, headings, images) –PDF Accessibility Checker (PAC) –Contrast ratio analyzer (for text and images of text) ACCESSIBILITY AUDIT

9. Why is a human check important? To check things the tools can’t evaluate. ACCESSIBILITY AUDIT -

10. Why is a human check important? To check things the tools can’t evaluate. ACCESSIBILITY AUDIT - -Is the alt text effective? -Are headings used correctly? -Does link text describe where the link takes you? -Are tables used to communicate data effectively rather than for layout? -Is the language appropriate for the website?

11. Report on findings What’s working well? Where are we meeting the requirements? What errors are the tools detecting? (Headings used out of order, for example.) What habits/patterns need to be addressed? (For example, are we missing the mark on link text or alt text?) Recommendations for soft (training) or hard (development) solutions. ACCESSIBILITY AUDIT

12. Follow up Meet with stake holders Make the fixes ACCESSIBILITY AUDIT

13. Scope How much work was involved? 22+ websites managed by CPA –Homepage and Pathway pages –About Waterloo –News –Office of the President –Office of the Provost –Strategic Plan –Prestigious event websites such as LINC and Canada Day. ACCESSIBILITY AUDIT

14. Not including individual news items, stories and events -- Websites ranged from 7 to 90+ pages each. More than 930 pages audited * in total Approximately 22 FTE days spent ACCESSIBILITY AUDIT Scope How long did it take? *Source: http://www.xml-sitemaps.comhttp://www.xml-sitemaps.com

15. How does our audit compare to what our colleagues will face? Including news items and events*: Find Out More: 538 pages Faculty of Engineering: 563 pages Faculty of Arts: 719 pages ACCESSIBILITY AUDIT *Source: http://www.xml-sitemaps.comhttp://www.xml-sitemaps.com

16. Tools and resources What’s available? Content inventory/audit template Report template Checklist for writers Checklist for images Checklist for PDFs (in progress) WCMS accessibility SEW courses (and ongoing support from instructors) ACCESSIBILITY AUDIT

17. Questions?