Tools and Procedures
The California State University System strives to make internet content accessible to everyone. Websites within the CSU system are required to comply with web accessibility guidelines as defined in section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973. Section 508 requires that online information be made equally accessible to all users regardless of disability. Our pages are developed using a variety of testing procedures and tools in order to ensure compliance with the 508 standards.
Below is an outline of our testing process and some of the tools we use:
Ensure HTML code is valid and standards compliant:
Run page through automated testing for 508 web accessibility compliance:
- Hi Software AccVerify
- Cynthia Says Portal 508 Test
- WebAim Wave
- Firefox Total Validator
Perform visual/manual testing on a representative sample of pages:
- Remove styles and scripting to make sure page is well-structured
- Check alt tags on images to make sure descriptions are meaningful
- Check links to make sure link text is descriptive and includes titles if needed
- Check contrast of content against background
- Check forms for field labels
- Check data tables for structure and summary information
- Listen to a sampling of pages, particularly those with interactive and multimedia elements in a screen reader to check alternative text and make sure controls are accessible using FireVox/JAWS
Multi-media:
- Make sure video and audio includes synchronous captioning and controls are functional without mouse.
Non-HTML Content (e.g., PDF, Microsoft Word, PowerPoint files, Flash):
- Check non-HTML documents for accessibility.