Compliance Changes Coming for University Websites
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Information Technology Services will soon oversee a two-phase process designed to ensure all Truman websites meet new accessibility guidelines.
All Missouri state agencies are required to comply with Federal Section 508 guidelines requiring electronic and information technology be accessible to people with disabilities. Recently, these requirements were combined with other guidelines and standards both in the U.S. and abroad, including standards issued by the European Commission, and with the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG 2.0), a globally recognized voluntary consensus standard for web content and ICT.
All University websites, including those maintained by individual offices, departments or other Truman-affiliated organizations, will need to follow these new guidelines. ITS is currently in the process of identifying and notifying personnel responsible for maintaining University websites. Those individuals will be contacted directly for next steps in preparation for phase one of the transition. The two-phase process will begin Sept. 14.
Phase One
Phase one is targeted at updating publicly available WordPress web content, webpages or posts. This is primarily HTML content which does not require a user ID or password for site visitors to gain access. Typically, these are pages maintained at department levels. Phase one is schedule to be completed by Nov. 2.
Phase Two
Phase two will focus on making all publicly available documents or files – including PDFs or videos – compliant with the new guidelines. Anyone who maintains a University webpage is encouraged to review the content now and remove any material that may be out of date and no longer used, particularly expired documents such as PDFs. This will make the conversion to compliance easier and faster. Phase two will begin Nov. 2.
There will be future updates regarding guidance on social media compliance, course remediation and third-party content accessibility requirements, and more detailed information and migration plans will be made available on accessibility.truman.edu.
All Missouri state agencies are required to comply with Federal Section 508 guidelines requiring electronic and information technology be accessible to people with disabilities. Recently, these requirements were combined with other guidelines and standards both in the U.S. and abroad, including standards issued by the European Commission, and with the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG 2.0), a globally recognized voluntary consensus standard for web content and ICT.
All University websites, including those maintained by individual offices, departments or other Truman-affiliated organizations, will need to follow these new guidelines. ITS is currently in the process of identifying and notifying personnel responsible for maintaining University websites. Those individuals will be contacted directly for next steps in preparation for phase one of the transition. The two-phase process will begin Sept. 14.
Phase One
Phase one is targeted at updating publicly available WordPress web content, webpages or posts. This is primarily HTML content which does not require a user ID or password for site visitors to gain access. Typically, these are pages maintained at department levels. Phase one is schedule to be completed by Nov. 2.
Phase Two
Phase two will focus on making all publicly available documents or files – including PDFs or videos – compliant with the new guidelines. Anyone who maintains a University webpage is encouraged to review the content now and remove any material that may be out of date and no longer used, particularly expired documents such as PDFs. This will make the conversion to compliance easier and faster. Phase two will begin Nov. 2.
There will be future updates regarding guidance on social media compliance, course remediation and third-party content accessibility requirements, and more detailed information and migration plans will be made available on accessibility.truman.edu.
