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Present: Jill Lenz, Merry Wright, Linda Tarnoff, Sallie Varner, Charlie Kerlee, Tom Harmon, Toby Mai,
Larry Cobb, Kathryn Visser - Comunication and Creative Services, Meg Wilson - Director of Strategic Initiatives.
Absent: Erin Napier, Jay Kammerzell, Carrie Schmer.
Jesse Hausler, CSU ATRC (http://www.colostate.edu/dept/ATRC/).
Topic: Web Accessibility
In the context of web site design, accessibility is a measure of how easy it is to access, read, and understand the content
of a web site. The ATRC contains many links to resources for acheiving and checking accessibility.
Web accessibility is mandated by the American's with Disabilities Act,
Sections 504
and 508 of the Rehabilitation Act, and
the Telecom Act, Section 255.
Section 508 has recently been updated to include more specific guidelines. The specific part that applies to
web access is section 1194.22.
The accessibility standards defined under
section 508 are similar to the W3C Web Content Accessibility Guides (WCAG) so following either set of guidelines will produce an accessible site that also complies with CSU’s
web standards.
Jesse’s presentation focused on the steps you can take to help make sure your website can reach all people,
including those with disabilities. He demonstrated all the methods for using keyboard accessibility to navigate through a website, including
a video within a page. For visually impaired users, he reviewed the important points non–text elements
(images, audio recordings, video clips) should have, which are:
• associative text for all visual elements (remember to use a null tag to tell screen reader programs when there is nothing to read)
• a meaningful description, given the context, rather than the appearance
• a complete description of charts and diagrams
• use of the "alt" tag
He talked about "descriptive audio". This is a narrator describing the action in a video while the sound track
is playing. An example would be a narrator describing the explosions or car chase scenes in an action movie, while the sounds of
those events were audible in the speakers.
He cautioned against the use of flickering or blinking fonts or animations in the 2Mz - 55 Mz range, as these frequencies
trigger seizure disorders. Good color contrast, anchor tags that allow a user to skip to content and avoiding timed responses amd repetitive links were among
his other tips. He invited anyone to call him with further questions.
She expressed the need to move past the idea of a web site as a "bulletin board" to a web site as a primary
communication tool that requires engaging, current, active content. Our challenge is the diversity of the audience viewing the
site. One audience is educators, students and researchers; another is animal owners, vets and students and the third is national
animal health organizations, vets and producers. If approved by the vice president of Public Relations, the visual tie in for these audiences on the web pages would be the caduceus symbol.
The mock-up of the proposed site was viewed and discussed. The right hand navigation mimics the main CSU site. The top
navigation names may still be changed slightly since the Executive Council interpreted the meaning of some of the choices
differently. In general, the committee members liked it, particularly the rounded corners on images and the use of the
CSU secondary colors.
Also shown were summary slides with estimated costs for Communications and Creative Services help creating home page and 1 level
down templates and a forecast of possible timelines for various pieces of the overall design change. It could be 1 1/2 years
before it's time to implement a Content Management System and 2 years to complete the entire web site.
Committee members will receive each slide presentation via email from Jill Lenz.
Meeting adjourned at 10:50 am.
Minutes submitted by Merry Wright.
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