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Recap: Social media for all (repost)

March 17, 2021 by Web Strategy and Development

Missouri State seal

Missouri State University is committed to developing digital content that anybody can access and understand, regardless of their physical abilities. MSU’s information should be equally available to people who have disabilities including (but not limited to) visual, auditory and cognitive.

Social media for all

Accessible content helps everybody, even people who have no disabilities. Whether you’ve experienced a slow internet connection at home, accessed information on a mobile device or wanted to watch a video with the sound off, accessible practices make those tasks easier.

And it helps Missouri State enroll students, ensure legal compliance and support the public affairs mission.

Kevin Agee, a content strategist from the office of university communications, presented “Social media for all: Creating accessible content” via Zoom on Dec. 2. The presentation slides are now available.

Download the presentation slides (PDF)

Filed Under: web-strategy-and-development Tagged With: Accessibility, Training, Web Press

Web Accessibility Clinic

May 21, 2020 by Web Strategy and Development

What’s the best way to announce new office hours?

How much italics should I use?

Is it OK to just say, “click here”?

While updating your office/department website over the past two months, you may have had questions like these.

This year’s virtual Web Accessibility Clinic, partnering with Global Accessibility Awareness Day, will provide answers.

Points of emphasis

Use the notice block when appropriate, but don’t go overboard.

Use bold and italics lightly.

Make sure you’re following the style guide.

  • Regularly check time-sensitive notices on your website to be sure they’re current, particularly those referencing office closures.
  • Consider using a Notice block for short-term, brief, important information.
  • Don’t bold or italicize an entire sentence. Treat just the important word(s).
  • Link text, by itself, should provide the user with an idea of the destination. Click here, More info and Read more should be avoided.
    • Examples of links that may be unclear if read out of context of the surrounding content:
      • Click here to see program requirements.
      • More info about web accessibility.
      • Read more about building websites with Web Press.
    • Examples of links that are concise, descriptive and clear:
      • Program requirements
      • Learn about web accessibility
      • Building websites in Web Press
  • Select Editorial Style Guide entries include:
    • In time references, use figures with a.m. and p.m throughout. Omit :00.
      • Examples: Summer office hours are 9 a.m.-4:30 p.m. Telephone support is available 2:30-4 p.m. daily.
    • In email addresses, capitalize each word. Example: BoomerBear@MissouriState.edu.
    • Preferred capitalizations, spelling and usage:
      • Phone numbers: use dashes, not periods. Omit parentheses around the area code. 417-836-5000
      • Most words beginning with “non” or “post” should be formatted as one word with no hyphen (ex. noncredit, nondegree, nondegree-seeking, postbaccalaureate, postdoctoral, postdoctorate). Post-master’s should be hyphenated.
      • Email, not e-mail.
      • Use only one space between sentences. Do not use a space at the end of a paragraph or bulleted list item.
    • For web addresses, write descriptive link text.
    • Common Bear terms:
      • Bear CLAW
      • Bear Line
      • BearWear
      • BearFare
      • BearMail
      • BearPass
      • Bear Park North (South)
      • BoomerMeals
      • Bear Breaks

Content editing best practices

Headings make your content easier to read. Use them.

Alt text helps everyone understand the meaning behind your non-text content (images, infographics, etc.). Not everyone can see, or will want to see, your photo(s).

Link text, or descriptive links, helps the user know where a link goes.

Headings

  • Headings are an outline of your content and should make sense out of context.
  • Headings divide your content into consumable sections.
  • Do not select heading level based on resulting visual presentation style.
  • Page title is heading level 1 (h1); first heading in your content will be h2; subtopic will be h3; etc.
  • Do not use bold paragraph for heading.
  • Avoid centering headings.

Alternative text for non-text content

  • Provide alternate (alt) text for non-text content.
    • Images, including poster/flyer images (infographics).
    • Alt text should convey in text whatever meaning is conveyed by the image/flyer.
      • If the image has a lot of information, charts, diagrams, etc., the alt text should contain 1) a short description conveying the essential information presented by the image, and 2) a long description following the image or on another page.
        Bar chart displaying cost comparisons as detailed in the following paragraphs.

Link text (descriptions)

  • Very critical to the page containing the link and the destination page.
  • Links should make sense out of context.
  • Do not use meaningless or incomplete text like click here, learn more, download, etc.
  • Do not use URLs for link text.
  • Optimal link text is typically 2-6 words.
  • Each unique destination should have unique link text.

Content structure

  • Use paragraphs, unordered and ordered lists appropriately.
  • Write for your target audience.
  • Do not use a heading or bold paragraph for announcement or notice. Use “Intro” or “Notice” markup instead.
  • Do not add blank paragraphs to generate separating space.
  • Do not create manual lists (e.g., starting lines with a hyphen).
  • Do not bold or italicize entire paragraphs, even one-line paragraphs. Treat just the important words.
  • Do not use all capital letters.
  • Avoid centering content.
  • The template is spacious by design to facilitate touch interfaces; do not try to circumvent vertical spacing.

Tables

  • Used for presenting organized data.
  • Never use for layout (e.g., two columns).
  • Should always have headers (th). No need to bold or specify header as a heading style.
  • Do not combine multiple tables into one with embedded description row preceding each table.
  • Precede with descriptive heading, paragraph or include a table caption.

Access previous accessibility presentations

  • Web Accessibility Clinic (Oct 2018)
  • Web Accessibility Summit (June 2018)

More assistance

  • Web help desk

Filed Under: Web Strategy and Development Tagged With: Accessibility, Training, Web Press

Tune up your website on May 16

May 10, 2019 by Web Strategy and Development

When:  10 a.m.-noon Thursday, May 16
Where: Meyer Library room 106
Training: 10 a.m.

At 10 a.m. Brian Heaton and Kristeena Laroue will present a brief training session. Brian will cover the top five website accessibility issues. Kristeena will demonstrate access technology, so you can better understand how your website may be used.

After the session, you can grab a computer, discover accessibility issues and make corrections. Everyone that improves their website will be eligible to win a prize. The grand prize is free registration to the Web Accessibility Summit hosted by Missouri State on May 29.

So stop in, fix some errors and help us celebrate Global Accessibility Awareness Day.

Free bonus

We will also give you some tips to make your website more search engine friendly, so your pages appear more frequently in search results.

Filed Under: Web Strategy and Development Tagged With: Accessibility, Training, Web Press

Attend the Web Accessibility Summit

May 9, 2019 by Chuck Busby

faculty center for teaching and learning logo

Date: Wednesday, May 29
Time: 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.
Location: Glass Hall

The Web Accessibility Summit is a one-day conference that is focused on website accessibility. If you are a website or social media content contributor on campus, this conference will be beneficial to you.

The schedule is packed with digital accessibility sessions, including the following:

  • Inclusive design workshop with Derek Featherstone, international authority on accessibility and inclusive design
  • Single-page application workshop with Rachel Cherry, founder/director of WPCampus
  • Social media keynote with Chris D’Orso, SUNY College at Brockport, and Justin Romack, Texas A&M University
  • How to write for accessibility with Kai Raymer and Kevin Agee, Missouri State University
  • Transcribing techniques with Michael Fienen, nuCloud

For more information contact Sara Clark.

The post Attend the Web Accessibility Summit appeared first on Provost Communiqué.

This post originally published on Provost Communiqué.

Filed Under: Provost Tagged With: Accessibility, Provost Communique

Learn best practices for accessibility

April 11, 2019 by Web Strategy and Development

Join us for the 2019 Web Accessibility Summit, a conference about all things website accessibility for professionals in higher education and beyond, hosted this year by Missouri State University.

Details

When: May 29, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Where: Missouri State University, Glass Hall
Cost: $40

Workshops and track sessions will focus on how to make your web presence more accessible with technical and non-technical solutions. Networking opportunities will encourage sharing of information and resources with colleagues from around the state.

Missouri State faculty and staff should register through My Learning Connection. You may use your noncredit fee waiver to cover conference registration costs.

Non-MSU faculty and staff can register now.

Seating is limited so don’t delay.

Organizers

Several Missouri higher education institutions are organizing this event:

University of Missouri logo. St. Louis Community College Missouri State University logo. Missouri State University - West Plains logo. Truman State University logo. Missouri University of Science and Technology logo. A.T. Still University logo. University of Missouri-Kansas City logo.

Filed Under: News, Web Strategy and Development Tagged With: a11ysummit, Accessibility, conference, News, Technical, Training, Web Press, Web Strategy and Development

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