Managing the WWU website

Not sure where to begin? We can help.

The Walla Walla University website is a primary resource for a variety of audiences to learn about Walla Walla University's mission, campus culture, programs, services, and events. It is important to maintain current and accurate information to best serve the needs of these audiences. All web editors should have basic familiarity with Typo3 to enable them to make updates as necessary. This page provides tutorials for your reference.

Quick references:

Making accessibility a priority

Content contributors have a significant impact on a website’s level of accessibility through their creation and editing of content on a ongoing basis. When adding, updating, and editing the website, keep in mind all the differently-abled users who will access the site and only make changes that allow all users to have equal access and similar experiences. Focus on readability and usability. Accessible websites improve the experience for all users.

Our website represents our university. The quality and meaning communicated through our messaging and the content is judged by users who visit and interact with it. High quality, inclusive content that is accessible to everyone reflects positively on our university’s reputation. Likewise, poor, un-engaging, inaccessible or broken content communicates a negative image for all to see.

Use this checklist during content creation to stay proactive about digital accessibility:

Content

Most people have more trouble reading from a screen than from paper and read 25% slower online.

How to help:

Include only one idea per paragraph
Use the inverted pyramid style and start with the conclusion or main point
Break content into bulleted lists when possible
Write with short paragraphs, short sentences, and short words

Write page titles that accurately reflect the topic on the page for better SEO results and improved visitor experience.

Avoid writing instructions based on the location on the page. For example, instead of "in the box to the right," combine location and text. This can be done by writing "In the box to the right, titled 'Our contact info.'"

Links

Naming conventions
Users frequently go to a site to complete a task and you can help them accomplish this efficiently with clear calls to action, such as "Register for U-Days" rather than "CLICK HERE to register."

People who use screen readers can scan and navigate a website by the links on a page. This means that links should convey clear and accurate information about the destination and be understandable out of context. To fix this issue, re-word the hyperlinks included on your page. For example, a link that says, “Click Here” is far less descriptive than one that says, “Visit our contact page.” Because screen readers often create a list of all the links on a page and users hear the links out of context, it is best practice to use the destination page name in your hyperlink. If a link is to a file such as a PDF or Word document, provide that info in the link text “Download the handbook PDF” so users know what to expect.

Avoid using the page URL as the linking text.

Frequent review
One of the most frustrating experiences for any user is a broken link on the website. A reality of the website is that destination pages can change frequently and without notice. An important function of our content managers is to audit links frequently to make sure they continue to transport viewers to the correct destination. The Marketing and University Relations Web Content Manager will communicate with you on a quarterly basis to encourage periodic reviews of your content, including links, for accuracy.

Headings

Use a logical heading order and the built-in style formatting tools to make it easier for screen reader users navigate your pages.

Each page should use only one Heading 1. Following that heading, all headings should be used in ascending order. Maintaining this consistency allows users to navigate a page effectively using a keyboard. This also enables screen reader users who use quick access menus to get a list of all the headings on the pages and skim content.

Images and alt text

A picture is worth a thousand words, but, if you can’t see the picture, the meaning can be lost without a text alternative. All images used on the website must include alt text.

Alt text should convey meaning of content displayed visually as concisely as possible. Long alt text will result in a poor experience for screen reader users. For example, with a chart, good alt text would be, “Chart shows a 15% increase in revenue over five years.”
Functional images like icons or buttons that are used to convey actions should include alt text like “print this page.”
Decorative images that do not inform or improve the meaning of the content and simply enhance the visual look and feel of the page should include blank alt text so that the screen reader will skip over the image. Simply use “” for alt text. If “” does not exist, the screen reader will read the name of the image file which can be a major distraction.
Whenever possible images that include text should be avoided. Currently no screen reader can read text in images. If it cannot be avoided, it’s best to have the exact same text in the alt text.
If the image is linked, describe the link destination in the alt text.

Multimedia

Provide captioning and audio descriptions for video.
Review any auto-generated closed captions for accuracy.
Provide a transcript of audio content.
Our MUR office can facilitate captioning through rev.com which will incur a cost ($1.50/min). Here are the steps to take in order for this to happen:
1. Upload your video using this link: mikeshiner.com/video-upload. Make sure to click “start upload” after adding it.
2. Once the video has finished uploading, there will be a screen asking some questions.
  1. Division: select MUR.
  2. Title: Add the title of your video.
  3. Caption: If you would like a description to be added to the YouTube video, you can add that here.
3. Fill out this form indicating that you have uploaded the video along with the account number to charge the cost to: http://wwuform.formstack.com/forms/video_captioning_request. This link can also be found on the MUR page under “Photo/video.”
4. We will let you know once your video has been captioned. After that, you can upload it to the website using the directions here: http://iebw.mikeshiner.com/about-wwu/marketing-and-university-relations/how-to-use-typo/typo-basics/embedding-videos

If you have video content on your pages, please work with the Web Content Manager to make your content accessible.

PDF's

One of the most common ways of providing people with additional information on the internet is through the use of PDF's. Like with a webpage on the website, the PDF's that we create and upload need to be accessible to everyone.

Remember:

All images present in a PDF must contain alt text
Headings should follow a nested structure
Tables need to have properly defined header rows
Create sufficient contrast between the text of the PDF and the background

Prior to uploading a PDF to the website, web managers should use the Ally PDF checker available via the "Accessibility Toolbox" in D2L Brightspace to check the accessibility level of created PDF's. How to use the Ally tools - Accessibility Toolbox.

If your department would like to upload to the website a PDF document created by the Marketing and University Relations department that was originally intended for print, please fill out a new design request and the MUR department will create an accessible version of the PDF.

Final Checks

Once the webpage you've been working on has been made visible to everyone, there are two important final checks you can use to help ensure that the page you created is accessible to everyone.

Tab Through the Page

It is important to ensure that the webpage you created can be navigated simply by using the "TAB" and "ENTER" keys on your keyboard. This is similar to how a screen reader would navigate a page and will help give a clear view of how a person using one will be navigating the page.

This is also important as it can help to avoid "keyboard traps", sections of the page that are impossible to escape from due to the presence of an unending loop. This is most likely to occur when using social media embeds.

Use an Accessibility Checker

Accessibility checkers scan through you webpage to check its accessibility and show you where improvements can be made. This is helpful in finding missed alt text for images, improperly formatted tables, and improperly formatted headings; things that are easy to disregard when creating a page. The Siteimprove accessibility checker offers an easy to use extension for most web browsers, see the link below.
Download the siteimprove accessibility checker