Accessibility: Moving Forward Together
Practical tips to help make your content accessible to everyone
The update to the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) coming in April 2026 tightens the requirements for compliance with Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) Version 2.1 Level AA to provide better service and usability for the members of our web community who need accommodations. From the conversations many of you have had with our team, we know you're very aware of this deadline and we want to provide you with some guidance.
SiteImprove in your back pocket
We hope you're already taking advantage of the UC system-wide license giving you access to the SiteImprove service which, when the plug-in is enabled on your site and you register your site(s) with the SiteImprove team, will "read" your site and provide you in-depth reports for issues related to accessibility, SEO, usability, and errors for you to review and fix. If your site isn't yet using this service, read about SiteImprove from our documentation to help get you started.
Pro-active tips while you build
While having the SiteImprove dashboard is really helpful after the fact, it will save you time if you know the best practices while you're actively working on new material. To help you, use this quick list of our write-ups and other UC resources as they apply to the elements inside your WYSIWYG you can configure.
Content
- Structure the title and subtitles using proper semantic headings.
- Headings should be written in a logical sequence. Example:
- H2
- H3
- H3
- H4
- H3
- H4
- H5
- H4
- H3
- H2
- Don’t skip heading levels when structuring your content.
- H1 is reserved for your page title.
- Check your heading assignments by clicking Edit and, within the WYSIWYG, clicking your mouse on each subtitle in your content to see what paragraph heading style you applied; the Paragraph Style menu will update to show which one is currently active.
- Paragraph Heading styles documentation
- Headings should be written in a logical sequence. Example:
- Make your text as precise and succinct as possible.
- Consider writing your content then using the AI Assistant to help you tighten the language. Additionally, the AI Assistant can help you shape the language to the reading level appropriate to your intended audience.
- AI Assistant documentation
- Hyper links should be descriptive and unique on the page.
- Avoid using general language like “go here” or “page”. Instead be brief and specific. Example: Read about the latest happenings on campus with UC Davis Dateline.
- In particular, do not rely on a color to reference a button, link, or other type of content as blind users won’t be able to identify that element visually and it may be misleading for those who experience color blindness.
- Avoid reusing the same language repetitively for your links. Note on this post how the word "documentation" could have been used repeatedly, but in each instance the exact details of the type of documentation are included.
Tables
- Only use tables for tabular data, never for layout.
- If possible, avoid tables if bullet lists can be used instead.
- When using tables be sure to properly define row and column titles using the table heading feature toggle in the Table properties row or column option.
- Provide a description or title for data tables using the Caption icon in the Table properties menu.
- Table documentation
Media
- Provide meaningful Alternative text descriptions for images.
- Avoid embedding complex formulas or too much text in your images as these are inaccessible to screen readers. If there’s no avoid it, then make certain to include a text-based alternative that includes the information presented in the image.
- When uploading an image in SiteFarm, the Generate with AI feature will automatically provide a description, which you should review and edit if necessary before saving.
- If you uploaded an image prior to the availability of the Generate with AI option, you can always go back and edit the image and click the Generate with AI button to have it create a new alternative text description for you.
- Generate with AI documentation
- Videos should include text captioning and Audio files should include transcripts.
- PDF files should be created with accessibility in mind.
Webforms
- From the Web Accessibility Initiative site:
- Grouping Controls: Use the
<fieldset>,<legend>, or<container>elements to group and associate related form controls. - Form Instructions: Provide instructions to help users understand how to complete the form and individual form controls.
- User Notifications: Notify users about successful task completion, any errors, and provide instructions to help them correct mistakes. To help with this many of the webform fields offer a "required" toggle as well as a field for a Warning or Error message prompting the user for a review.
- Multi-Page Forms: Divide long forms into multiple smaller forms that constitute a series of logical steps or stages and inform users about their progress.
- Configuring your webform documentation
- Grouping Controls: Use the