Connecticut

The State of Connecticut Web Site Accessibility Committee has developed Universal Web Site Accessibility Policy for State Web Sites – Version 4.0 as a set of requirements for all state government agencies to follow. State agencies must also conform to WCAG 1.0 Level A standards.

To comply with this policy, state agencies must demonstrate that they are both conforming to WCAG 1.0 and the following design requirements:

Universal Design

1. Include a document type declaration (DOCTYPE) in your web pages.  This declares what version of HTML you are using in your documents, and assists the browser in rendering your pages correctly.
2. Maintain a standard page layout and navigation method throughout the web site.
3. Use headings, lists, and consistent structure.
4. Avoid the unnecessary use of icons, graphics and photographs.
5. Use plain backgrounds and simple layouts to improve the readability of text.
6. Ensure that foreground and background color combinations provide sufficient contrast when viewed by someone having color deficits or when viewed on a black and white screen.
7. Provide a text-only index or site map of your site.
8. Include textual as well as graphical navigation aids.
9. Do not abbreviate dates; for example, use December 1, 2000 rather than 12/1/00.
10. Ensure that dynamic content is accessible or provide an alternative presentation or page.
11. Until user agents allow users to freeze moving content, avoid movement in pages.
12. Test your web pages with a variety of web technologies; including ,but not limited to, graphical browsers with the images turned off, browsers with JavaScript disabled, a text based browser, using only your keyboard, and using assistive technology.
13. Avoid the use of HTML tags or extensions which are supported by only one browser.
14. Check web pages and images at different monitor resolutions, monitor sizes and color depth settings.
15. Hyperlinks to downloadable files should include a text description that includes the file size and file type.
16. You may consider the development of a text-only version of the document or site to facilitate access not only by people with visual impairments, but users of non-graphical browsers or slow Internet connections. Keep in mind, however, this option requires considerable resources and discipline to keep the two versions of the content in sync.

Text-Based Design

1. End all sentences, headers, list items, etc. with a period or other suitable punctuation.
2. Avoid using side by side presentation of text, for example, columns and tables.
3. Provide alternate versions of forms; Alternatives might include a simple list or paragraph of what is needed to submit a form entry and then provide a link to a mailto: feature or simply an appropriate e-mail address to send the text.
4. Minimize the number of hyperlinks that appear in a single line of text – one hyperlink is best; consider using vertical lists for links wherever possible.
5. Avoid/Limit the use of bitmap images of text, unless a textual alternative is also provided.
6. Consider beginning lists with a descriptive identifier and the number of items so the users will have an idea of what the list represents and the total length of the list. Using numbers instead of bullets will also help the user to remember items that interest them.
7. Provide meaningful and descriptive text for hyperlinks, don’t use short hand, e.g. “click here”; instead “Follow this link to our News Page”.  (Screen readers can search specifically for linked text, “click here” provides no indication of where the link will take them.) If documents are provided in a specialized format (e.g. PDF (Portable Document Format) , etc.) provide the equivalent text in plain text or HTML format.

Graphics and Images

1. Keep the number of colors in your images to a minimum.
2. Minimize the file size and number of images you display on any one page.
3. Design your background image at the lowest color depth and resolution you can.
4. Ensure that text can always be clearly read at any location against the background.
5. Avoid/Limit using image maps; provide an alternate text-based method of selecting options when image maps are used, e.g., separate HTML page or menu bar.
6. Use the ALT attribute with image tags to provide associated, meaningful, text for all images, pictures and graphical bullets.
7. Consider using the “longdesc” attribute of the IMG tag to specify a link to a long description of the image. This description should supplement the short description provided using the ALT attribute. When the image has an associated image map, this attribute should provide information about the image map’s contents. This is particularly important for server-side image maps.
8. If image files are used for graphical bullets in place of standard HTML, it is best to use a bullet character like an asterisk ” * ” or “o” in the ALT = text field of the <IMG> tag (rather than describing the bullet as: “This is a small purple square”).

Audio/Visual Features

1. Provide text transcriptions of all video clips.
2. If possible include captions or text tracts with a description or sounds of the movie.
3. Provide descriptive passages about speakers and events being shown through video clips.
4. Give a written description of any critical information that is contained in audio files contained on your website.
5. If you link to an audio file, inform the user of the audio file format and file size in kilobytes.

Scripts, applets and plug-ins

1. Provide alternative content in case active features are inaccessible or unsupported.