OREGON STATE UNIVERSITY
Open search box
All OSU digital content must follow applicable digital accessibility requirements, whether the content is public-facing or intended for internal university audiences.
This includes web pages, documents, PDFs, media, web applications, software, course materials, and other digital content. Accessibility is a shared responsibility across the university community, including the people who create, publish, purchase, and maintain digital content.
WCAG 2.1 Level AA is the technical standard for evaluating accessibility. For most public entities, including large public universities, the DOJ Title II compliance deadline is April 26, 2027.
COE is also moving public-facing web content away from locally hosted college servers. While existing COE-hosted public content remains publicly available, content owners are responsible for maintaining accessibility compliance. If inaccessible content is reported and cannot be remediated within a reasonable timeframe, COE may need to unpublish, disable access to, or remove the content to keep university services compliant.
For platform guidance and hosting transition details, see Supported Platforms for Web Content.
These items resolve a large percentage of issues:
Use real headings (H1/H2/H3) in logical order (don’t “fake” headings with bold/large text).
Add meaningful link text (“Download the application PDF” vs “click here”).
Provide appropriate alt text for informative images (leave decorative images blank if supported).
Ensure color contrast is sufficient; don’t rely on color alone to convey meaning.
Ensure pages are usable by keyboard only (tab through menus/forms).
Add captions/transcripts for video/audio.
Avoid posting scanned PDFs; prefer accessible HTML pages or properly-tagged documents.
Use WAVE or axe DevTools in your browser to identify common issues quickly.
Use the W3C “How to Meet WCAG” quick reference as your checklist.
Use WebAIM’s evaluation guide to learn what automated tools miss (keyboard use, form labels, focus order, etc.).
Follow the recommendations in the compliance quick fixes section above.
Refer to the OSU Drupal accessibility recommendations.