Accessibility Statement
What is Accessibility?
Web Accessibility refers to the degree to which the information on a website can be properly utilized by all individuals, including
those operating under limited conditions (e.g. users with limited or no vision). With the passage of Section 508
of the Rehabilitation Act Amendments of 1998, accessibility has become an increasingly important aspect of web design and presentation. For a
more detailed introduction to Web accessibility, visit the Web Accessibility in Mind
(WebAIM)
website or the World Wide Web Consortium
(W3C)
website. For information about the accessibility features of this web site, keep reading.
A Note on Web Browsers
Great effort has been taken to ensure that the Academic Affairs website displays properly for all of our viewers.
However, there are some problems that can arise. Most, if not all, of these problems stem from using web browsers
that are old (such as Netscape 4) or otherwise non-compliant with current W3C standards
(such as Microsoft Internet Explorer). If you are experiencing problems with the Academic Affairs site and are
using one of these browsers, we recommend that you try viewing the site in a standards-compliant browser
such as Mozilla Firefox,
Netscape 7+
or Safari for the Mac.
All of these browsers can be downloaded for free at their respective sites and are among the best browsers to date in
terms of W3C compliance. If you are using a standards-compliant browser and the problem is persisting, please let us know by
contacting the Academic Affairs Web Team.
Site Validation
To help encourage developers to create accessible websites, the W3C has published the
Web Content Accessibility Guidelines
(WCAG).
These guidelines explain how to make Web content accessible to people with disabilities. This site has been created using validated
XHTML and CSS code, and has been
designed to maintain level AAA compliance to the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines and all points of the Section 508 Guidelines. For more information about site validation, or to see the
validation results for this site, click on these links here or at the bottom of any page on this site:
Access Keys
Access Keys are keyboard combinations that have been set aside to perform a specific function or go to a specific page within a website. These shortcut keys can be utilized at any time while within the Academic Affairs Website by doing the following:
- Hold down the ALT key (Mac users, hold down the CONTROL key).
- Press the appropriate number from the list of access keys below.
- PLEASE NOTE: Different browsers handle access keys differently. Browsers also frequently have their own pre-defined shortcut keys. For best results, familiarize yourself with your browser's pre-defined shortcut keys to ensure that there are no conflicts.
The following is a list of the Access Keys used within the Academic Affairs Website along with a short description of their respective functions.
| Access Key | Function |
|---|---|
| 1 | Jump to Content: Bypass all navigation links and go straight to the content of the page. |
| 2 | Jump to Main Navigation: Bypass all header links and skip to the Main Navigation. |
| 3 | Home: Return to the Academic Affairs Main Page. |
| 4 | Sitemap: View the Sitemap for the Academic Affairs Website. |
| 5 | Search: Places keyboard focus on the search box located on the right side of the top navigation bar. |
| 6 | Printer-Friendly Version: Opens a Printer-Friendly Version of the current page in a new window. Printer-Friendly Versions have been stripped of all navigation elements and non-essential graphics and contain only the content portion of the page. |
| 7 / 8 | Decrease / Increase Font Size: These shortcuts decrease and increase the font size respectively. The font-size is only changed for text elements which are not image-based in nature (e.g. the size of the content text will change, but text within the banner image will not). This function requires Javascript to work. Also, if you have cookies enabled in your browser, your chosen font size will be applied to all Academic Affairs documents when they are loaded. If cookies are not enabled, you will have to change the font size every time you load a page. |
Pop up windows
Due to the problems they can present to users of assistive technology, the use of pop up windows has been minimized as much as possible on the Academic Affairs website.
However, there are occasions where pop up windows are used, such as for opening off-site links. To prevent confusion, links which open in a new window
will be immediately followed by this graphic: ().
In the event of long lists of links that open in new windows, the graphic may not appear after every link. Instead, the use of pop up windows for the links will
be mentioned in the text that introduces the links.