Any staff, faculty or student worker who is designated to manage, create and/or update content for their department or unit is responsible for following the IT Accessibility Regulations.
An approver or publisher is a common role within a Content Management System, or CMS. They determine if the content of their department or unit communications being readied for delivery to the public via the Internet is acceptable. They manage the design, processing and delivery of web-based communication on the website through specific workflows – and are usually a webmaster. The Approver/Publisher has web production and project management expertise, and is typically an administrator in the CMS, with an extensive knowledge of its use.
Responsibilities:
- Keep up to date on industry initiatives, including accessibility, through continuing education efforts.
- Check if content is appropriate for web applications and make sure it’s concise, meaningful and meant for our external audience.
- Check style and presentation—is it easy to read?
- Check to make sure the wheel is not being re-created; if content is present on another part of the site or within an external site, suggest that the content provider establish links instead of recreating those assets.
- If links are used, make sure they are meaningful; they should not read “click here” or “read more”. Instead, encourage content providers to utilize link text that indicates where the site visitor is being directed.
- Check spelling, grammar and presentation of information, to include placement and proportion of pictures, use of headings and tables, etc.
- Check links to ensure they are directed properly.
- Check representation of any images or tables and ensure that tables are designed and labeled properly with headers. If not, notify content provider and provide explanation.
- Ensure that PDFs are accessible and that flip-books are not in use, unless an exception has been granted. If referenced documents are not accessible, notify content provider and provide explanation.
- Ensure that any videos contain closed captioning as well as a link to the transcript. If not, notify content provider and provide explanation.
- Publish or reject CMS workflows based on the above criteria. If rejected, provide a full explanation to the content provider explaining in detail the reason for the rejection.
- Educate CMS users regarding accessibility initiatives and encourage additional training.
Additionally, when working to design pages or sites:
- Validate HTML and CSS.
- Design with accessibility in mind; use accessibility web development tools.
- Test your site’s accessibility with page-by-page or enterprise testing.
- Determine key public entry points of respective sites and perform routine accessibility checks.
- Periodically spot check pages within your site for usability and accessibility.
- Check code within workflows for the presence of “skip nav” and to remove extraneous code.
If you need assistance with web accessibility, contact itaccessibility@tamu.edu.