One Stop Accessibility (A11y)Tracker [beta]
Digital accessibility ensures everyone, including people with disabilities, can access digital content. Valley City State University (VCSU) is dedicated to this by following accessibility standards and preventing discrimination. VCSU aims for 2.1 AA compliance with WCAG to provide equal access to all services. This guide covers WCAG guidelines, Silktide's role in testing, and understanding accessibility scores.
What is WCAG?
The Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) are international standards by the W3C to make web content accessible. They focus on four principles: perceivable, operable, understandable, and robust, with three levels of compliance: A (critical), AA (important), and AAA (desirable).
What is Silktide?
Silktide is a platform that helps improve website accessibility and quality. It automates WCAG compliance testing and provides actionable recommendations. Silktide tools monitor accessibility across numerous web pages to maintain and enhance digital accessibility. VCSU utilizes this tool to analyze our digital accessibility compliance efforts.
What Does Silktide Check For?
Silktide conducts over 200 checks for web accessibility, covering WCAG 2.0, 2.1, and 2.2 at Levels A, AA, and AAA. It evaluates aspects like color contrast, alt text for images, keyboard navigation, spelling, grammar, and broken links.
Understanding Accessibility Issues: A vs. AA vs. AAA:
- A Issues: Critical problems that must be fixed for basic access.
- AA Issues: Important issues that should be addressed to improve accessibility and meet legal requirements.
- AAA Issues: Desirable enhancements that provide the highest level of accessibility, though they may not always be feasible for all content.
Dashboard Overview:
- Accessibility Scores: Displays overall A11y rating to help identify areas needing improvement.
- Broken Links and Misspellings Count: Highlights the number of broken links and misspellings to maintain content quality.
- A and AA Issues: Identifies critical accessibility issues that need to be addressed for compliance.
- Article Reports: Provides up-to-date compliance data on articles, categorized by departments and authors.
How to Use the Dashboard:
Regularly review the dashboard to track progress in meeting accessibility standards. This helps identify gaps and make improvements to
ensure continuous compliance and enhance the user experience.
Click < and > to navigate between pages:
- Page One: Category Search
- Page Two: Author Search
One Stop Resources:
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Resource Hub: Links to accessibility guidelines.
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Toolkit: Offers practical tools and checklists for best practices.
Related Resources:
New to WCAG? That's OK! Check out this short video from Silktide:
For more information or to schedule training, please contact:
Debbie Dramstad
Certified Professional in Accessibility Core Competencies (CPACC)
Web Accessibility and Applications Specialist
VCSU Technology Services
debra.dramstad@vcsu.edu
[Updated, October 2024]