What Is Web Accessibility?
The W3C Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI) is a leading global authority on web accessibility. According to the WAI:
When websites and web tools are properly designed and coded, people with disabilities can use them. However, currently many sites and tools are developed with accessibility barriers that make them difficult or impossible for some people to use.
Making the web accessible benefits individuals, businesses, and society. International web standards define what is needed for accessibility.
UT Dallas has implemented web accessibility standards and practices, which are presented in detail on the University’s Web Accessibility page.
Like UTD, the Naveen Jindal School of Management is committed to making our website and webpages as accessible as possible. Not only does good web accessibility practice ensure the Jindal School has the widest possible audience, but a commitment to web accessibility also has benefits for all users and for the school as an organization. Web-accessible pages tend to have better search-engine-optimization (SEO) value, better user experience and are presented more thoughtfully.
Web Accessibility for Video and Audio
When we embed* video or audio content on our website — such as YouTube videos or podcasts — we need to ensure that this content is accessible for people with disabilities. For general web accessibility, JSOM Web Services is responsible for making sure that these page elements have sufficient font size and color contrast for people with visual impairments, are navigable for users who use the keyboard only (rather than a mouse) and are labeled properly for people using screen readers.
In order for video and audio web content to be web-accessible, there is an additional accessibility requirement: The audio information needs to be readable for people with hearing impairment. The two most common ways this is achieved is through the use of closed captioning and written transcripts. Closed captioning provides a running, written version of the audio content as the video plays. Written transcripts are published in text format below the embedded video/audio element so the user can scroll below the embed to read the content.
Embedded Video/Audio
All video and audio content embedded on a JSOM webpage needs to have either closed captioning or a written transcript available on the page. If neither of these accessibility features is present, then JSOM Web Services cannot embed your content on our webpages. We can, as an alternative, provide a hyperlink to the video** or audio service where the content is hosted.
** Hyperlink to the Video/Audio
By hyperlinking to a video, we can direct a user to video/audio content on our website. When the user clicks on the hyperlink, he or she will be sent to where the content actually lives. In most cases, this will be JSOM’s YouTube channel. The user can still easily access the content there.
Video Content Guidelines for the Website
Read our article dedicated to creating and posting video content on the JSOM website.