Materials and Resources for Producing Accessible Documents, Websites and Other Digital Content
At the University of Maine System we prioritize accessibility in the creation of all digital materials, websites, digital content and virtual events.
Producing accessible electronic materials is rarely more difficult or time-consuming than producing inaccessible materials once you know a few basics. In general, accessible electronic materials work with assistive technologies, such as screen-readers, with similar ease of use and transmit all of the same information to users with disabilities. Materials that must be made accessible may include:
- Charts, graphics, images, photos, etc., which must have sufficient text descriptions that allow an assistive-technology user to be able to read the content with a screen-reader
- Documents must be created using structural elements that allow for easy navigation
- Public access video and audio require captions or transcriptions
- Websites must comply with the technical and functional requirements of Section 508 of the Americans with Disabilities Act
University of Maine System resources
The below are resources for learning how to create accessible materials within the University of Maine System:
- University of Maine System Document and Web Accessibility Checklist
- Digital Video and Audio Accessibility
- Planning Accessible Meetings and Conferences; A Suggested Checklist and Guide (External Site) – University of Maine Center for Community Inclusion and Disability Studies
External Resources
Digital Document Accessibility
The below are resources for learning how to create accessible materials that have been produced outside of the University of Maine System:
- Google Accessibility (External Site)
- Microsoft Office and Windows Accessibility (External Site)
- Adobe Acrobat (PDF) Accessibility (External Site)
- Matterhorn Protocol for Accessible PDFs (External Site)
Accessibility Testing
- Online PDF Accessibility Tester – EIII (External Site)
- WAVE Web Page Accessibility Tester – WebAIM (External Site)
- WAVE Chrome Extension – Allows testing within authenticated sites (External Site)
- Functional Accessibility Evaluator for WCAG (External Site)
- Cynthia Says (External Site)
- AInspector Plugin – Mozilla (External Site)
Accessibility Checklists
- NCDAE Accessibility Cheatsheets by Software Product (External Site)
- USDA Accessible PDF Checklist (External Site)
- Word 2010 Checklist (External Site)
- WebAIM Web Development Checklist – HTML, Scripts, Plug-ins, etc. (External Site)
- Adobe PDF Accessibility Repair Workflow (External Site)
- ePub Accessibility standards (External Site)
Teaching/Learning
- University of Maine System Universal Design for Learning (External Site)
- EDUCAUSE ADA Compliance for Online Course Design (External Site)
- Ryerson Digital Accessibility Open Textbooks (External Site)
Web-Based Accessibility Training Resources
The below are web-based accessibility training resources, some of which are produced within the University of Maine System, others of which have been produced by external resources.
Digital Audio/Video
- Live Event Captioning – CART (External Site)
- Note: UMS:IT does not fund these services. Contact Strategic Procurement for help contracting with services.
- Captioning Practices at the California State University (External Site)
- Recorded Video/Audio should be uploaded to Kaltura (External Site) or Youtube for automatic captioning. In most cases you will need to manually “correct” the automatic captions to reach the required accuracy level for accessibility.
Software/Web Development
Other Accessibility Resources
The below are additional accessibility resources for learning how to create accessible digital materials:
- Top 10 Tips for Making Your Website Accessible – University of Maine at California (UC) Berkeley (External Site)
- Website Accessibility Self-Assessment – UC Berkeley (External Site)
- Accessibility Tutorials – Michigan State University (External Site)
- Common Software Tools and Improve Accessibility – Penn State (External Site)
- Facebook Accessibility (External Site)
- University of Maine System Nondiscrimination & Accommodation Request Notice