Accessibility

• Introduction to accessibility
• Webpages and electronic documents
• Training and presentations

Introduction to accessibility

The World Wide Web is a primary communication channel for students, staff, alumni and other members of the University community. In a web context, equity of access has two significant aspects:

1. Web content should be easy to find, appropriate, understandable and navigable. This includes making the language clear and simple, and providing understandable ways to navigate within and between pages. Where appropriate, text should be translated into languages other than English.
2. Web content should be accessible to people who have a technological, physical or other disability. The Australian Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission recommends compliance with the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) accessibility standards.

The university cannot discriminate against a person on the grounds of disability. This includes the provision of information on the University website.

Staff should refer to the latest guidelines from the World Wide Web Consortium's (W3C) Web Accessibility Initiative to facilitate access to the widest possible audience, including people who:

• may not be able to see, hear, move, or may not be able to process some types of information easily or not at all
• have difficulty reading or comprehending text
• may not have or be able to use a keyboard or mouse

The university's web publishing templates satisfy all the technical requirements of the W3C web content accessibility guidelines.

When creating content in the university templates, please consider these W3C accessibility checkpoints:

• Images and animations: Use the alt attribute to describe the function of each visual.
• Image maps: Use the client-side MAP element and text for hotspots.
• Multimedia: Provide captioning and transcripts of audio, and descriptions of video.
• Hypertext links: Use text that makes sense when read out of context. For example, avoid "click here".                                             
• Page organisation: Use headings, lists, and consistent structure.
• Graphs and charts: Create a summary where appropriate.
• Scripts, applets, and plug-ins: Provide alternative content in case active features are inaccessible or unsupported.                             
• Tables: Make line by line reading sensible. Summarise.
• Check your work: Use W3C validators.

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Webpages and electronic documents

If you have any suggestions or comments about the following links, please contact us.

• Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission (HREOC) web accessibility guidelines - the standards that Australian universities are required to meet.
• W3C web accessibility initiative - the international standards for accessibility of browsers, computer applications and web content.
• Web Accessibility Network for Australian Universities (WANAU) - an informal network for university staff who are interested in promoting, practising or learning about web accessibility
• W3C validators - use the validators on this Web Services page to check that your webpage meets accessibility guidelines.
• Disability Liaison Unit - services and support for University of Melbourne students who have disabilities.
• Equal opportunity at the University of Melbourne

Training and presentations

• Steps to making a university web site accessible (Microsoft Word document 2.98MB- images and text descriptions) - OZeWAI Conference held at Latrobe University 1-3 December 2004, Presenters: Claire Spencer and Stephen Davies.
• Training course - Make your webpages accessible using Dreamweaver MX helps staff create accessible webpages in the university web publishing templates. See web training for more information about Web Centre courses.
• Website accessibility (pdf, 64kb) - Presentation held at the university in July 2004 by Dr Andrew Arch, Manager Online Accessibility Consulting, National Information & Library Service, Australia.
• Disability action plan (pdf, 48kb) - Presentation by Nola Birch, University of Melbourne Disability Liaison Unit, with Dr Andrew Arch (see above) July 2004.