Sacramento State - First year web report
Repair Sample
We chose to build our repair sample by looking at the homepage (root-level "index" page) of the 20 cross section websites. The following table contains links to descriptions of the evaluations performed on the pages in our repair sample as well as links to the AccMonitor reports (pass or fail) for those pages. All AccMonitor statistics presented in the report are current as of May 2007.
Campus Homepage and top-level pages
The campus homepage and the approximately 30 top-level pages (such as About Sac State), pass a Section 508 scan with AccMonitor. Though these pages have been accessible (as far as software tools are able to verify) for some time (circa 2002), they do fail in one specific areas of a manual evaluation: text resizing. Due to very rigid limitations imposed by the current design, the text on these pages (especially heading text) collides with text in other areas when enlarged more than twice (e.g. using Mozilla Firefox's View / Text Size / Increase feature). For similar reasons (text overlapping when the font-size is increased), these pages did not respond well to the application of a high-contrast style sheet. The campus webmaster has determined that this issue cannot be repaired without implementing a significant redesign of these pages.
Because some content on the homepage can be manipulated by staff not under the campus webmaster's supervision, sometimes an image without alt text (for example) appears in the far right column of the homepage and the other top-level pages. These issues are quickly identified and repaired with weekly scans using AccMonitor and communication from the webmaster.
Admissions
The top-level content for the office of Outreach, Admissions, and Records (4 pages total) passes a Section 508 scan with AccMonitor. Because these pages are designed similarly to the campus homepage, they suffer from the same text resizing problem. As with the top-level pages, the campus webmaster has determined that this issue cannot be repaired without implementing a significant redesign of these pages.
Other pages within the control of OAR are hosted in several locations, including (but not limited to) http://webapps1.csus.edu/admr/ and http://webapps1.csus.edu/prospective/. Each of the approximately 200 pages within this website failed an accessibility scan with AccMonitor. Fortunately, it was determined that these pages failed due to the same error - a missing label for a text input form field. This issue was easily fixed within a server-side include after the campus webmaster sent an e-mail request to the OAR Systems Coordinator.
Associated Students
The website is maintained by Associated Students. AccMonitor scans show a 58% Section 508 compliance rate (35 of 60 scanned files passed). The primary issue is missing alt-text, but there are also some issues with tables. A manual evaluation reveals unnecessary use of frames and some links (in a rotating news ticker) that depend on JavaScript.
Campus Calendar
The website is maintained by Associated Students. AccMonitor scans show a 8% Section 508 compliance rate (1 of 12 scanned files passed). The primary issue is missing alt-text, but there are also some issues with form field labels and tables. A manual evaluation of the homepage revealed some form elements on the page that are populated with data, and then hidden with CSS (display: none;). This is likely to be extremely confusing to screen-reader users that may be able to find this information. The campus webmaster has advised Associated Students to replace these form elements with hidden form fields.
Catalog
The website is maintained by Academic Affairs. AccMonitor scans show < 1% Section 508 compliance rate (2 of 402 scanned files passed). A manual evaluation shows that many of the site's pages have missing alt-text, links within image maps without alt-text, lack of headings (all headings are defined by bold text with increased font-size), and missing headers (<th> tags) in tables. This site depends heavily on potentially inaccessible PDF files.
College of Business Administration
The website is maintained by the College of Business Administration. AccMonitor scans show a 7% Section 508 compliance rate (55 of 811 scanned files passed). The primary issues are missing alt-text and form field labels, but there are also some issues with tables. A manual evaluation reveals numerous nested tables, lack of headings (i.e. no document outline), and graphics used in place of proper headings (and without appropriate alt-text). Links to news stories are labeled "more" and "full story" rather than given descriptive titles. This site uses a fly-out menu that is dependant on JavaScript, but when JavaScript is turned off the menu appears in its expanded form. In addition, the top-level entries on this menu link to pages with the regular HTML links to the pages found in the menu. For these reasons, the menu appears to be accessible.
College of Business Administration homepage
College of Continuing Education
The website is maintained by the College of Continuing Education. AccMonitor scans show a 67% Section 508 compliance rate (353 of 708 scanned files passed). The primary issues are missing alt-text and form field labels, but there are also some issues with plug-ins and tables. A manual evaluation reveals numerous nested tables and dependence on on potentially inaccessible PDF forms. The College of Continuing Education is committed to repairing their pages and is taking a pro-active stance in their efforts to do so. The campus webmaster is working with the CCE Manager of IT Solutions to help ensure updated pages will be Section 508 compliant.
College of Continuing Education homepage
College of Education
The website is maintained by the College of Education. AccMonitor scans show a 70% Section 508 compliance rate (336 of 479 scanned files passed). The primary issues are missing alt-text and missing alt-text within an image map, but there are also some issues with tables and frames with missing titles. A manual evaluation reveals numerous nested tables and links title "more" and "go here". This site is currently undergoing a redesign. Older pages are missing headings (i.e. no document outline), but updated pages appear to have properly nested headings.
Common Management Systems
The website is maintained by the Common Management Systems project. AccMonitor scans show a 77% Section 508 compliance rate (266 of 345 scanned files passed). The primary issues are missing alt-text and form field labels, but there are also some issues with plug-ins and tables. A manual evaluation reveals missing headers (<th> tags) in tables and potentially inaccessible Flash-based training materials.
Financial Aid
The website is maintained by Student Affairs. Each of the approximately 55 pages within this site failed an accessibility scan with AccMonitor. Fortunately, it was determined that these pages failed due to the same error - a missing label for a text input form field. This issue was fixed within a server-side include after the campus webmaster sent an e-mail request to the Financial Aid System Manager.
Help Desk
The website is centrally controlled, but not maintained by the campus webmaster. AccMonitor scans show a 100% Section 508 compliance rate. A manual evaluation revealed some issues with a number of simple tables that need to be examined and one complex data table that needed to be repaired.
Human Resources
The website is maintained by the Office of Human Resources with web support from Business Information Services. AccMonitor scans show a 0% Section 508 compliance rate. A manual evaluation reveals that all of the site's pages have missing alt-text, links within image maps without alt-text, links dependant on JavaScript, bullet images with inappropriate alt-text (these images should use the null string rather than confusing text describing the bullet), inaccessible fly-out menus, lack of headings (all headings are defined by bold text with increased font-size), and missing headers (<th> tags) in tables. Fortunately, the HR site is currently undergoing a redesign using the campus templates. The campus webmaster is working with Business Information Services to help ensure the redesigned pages will be Section 508 compliant.
Library
The website is maintained by IT staff in the Library. AccMonitor scans show a 51% Section 508 compliance rate (666 of 1305 scanned files passed). The primary issue is missing alt-text but there are also some issues with tables, frames with missing titles, and plug-ins. A manual evaluation reveals numerous nested tables, lack of headings (i.e. no document outline), and graphical bullets with the potentially confusing alt-text ("bullet image"). Several links to are labeled "more" rather than given descriptive titles.
News
The website is maintained by Public Affairs. AccMonitor scans show a 32% Section 508 compliance rate (996 of 2110 scanned files passed). The primary issues are missing alt-text and missing alt-text within multiple image maps, but there are also some issues with form field labels, tables, and plug-ins. A manual evaluation reveals numerous nested tables, lack of headings (i.e. no document outline), and graphics used in place of proper headings. The word "image" or "graphic" (e.g. "news header graphic") is used liberally in the alt-text for images, which may be redundant and potentially confusing for screen-reader users. No attempt is made to separate presentation from content, which is evidenced by hundreds of instances of the <font> tag in a single page.
Public Affairs plans to move their news site into a Content Management System this summer (2007). The campus webmaster is working with the Public Affairs Electronic Communications Coordinator to ensure pages created with this new system will be Section 508 compliant.
Police
The website is maintained by the Department of Public Safety with web support from Business Information Services. AccMonitor scans show a 0% Section 508 compliance rate. The primary issue is missing alt-text. A manual evaluation reveals an inaccessible fly-out menu present on all pages. By adding appropriate alt-text to a few dozen images and updating this menu (which can be repaired in one place via a server-side include) these pages can be brought into compliance, and with little effort. The campus webmaster is working with Business Information Services to help ensure these pages will be updated and made Section 508 compliant.
Public Affairs
The website is maintained by Public Affairs. AccMonitor scans show a 70% Section 508 compliance rate (26 of 37 scanned files passed). The primary issue is missing alt-text, but there are also some issues with tables and plug-ins. A manual evaluation revealed no major issues other than missing headers (<th> tags) in simple tables. By adding appropriate alt-text to a few images and examining the code used to embed multimedia these pages can be brought into compliance. In addition, promotional videos used throughout this site should include captions.
SacLink
The website is centrally controlled, but not maintained by the campus webmaster. AccMonitor scans show a 43% Section 508 compliance rate (46 of 108 scanned files passed). The primary issue is missing alt-text, but there are also some issues with tables. A manual evaluation revealed no major issues other than missing headers (<th> tags) in simple tables. Missing alt-text will be repaired as Help Desk staff time allows.
Schedule
The homepage for this site is centrally controlled, while the bulk of the content is maintained by Office of Academic Affairs. In addition, the online schedule has been recently moved from static webpages within this site to a dynamic, searchable schedule within our CMS implementation, My Sac State. What remains on the campus web server is documentation pertaining to the schedule, fee information, forms, a calendar, etc. Examining these pages, AccMonitor scans show a 62% Section 508 compliance rate (131 of 211 scanned files passed). The primary issue is missing alt-tex, but there are also some issues with tables. A manual evaluation revealed no major issues other than use of a few potentially inaccessible PDF files.
Services to Students with Disabilities
The website is maintained by Services to Students with Disabilities. AccMonitor scans show a 90% Section 508 compliance rate (110 of 122 scanned files passed). The primary issue is missing alt-text, but there are also some issues with plug-ins and tables. A manual evaluation revealed no major issues. By adding appropriate alt-text to a few images and examining the code used to embed multimedia these pages can be brought into compliance, and with little effort.
Services to Students with Disabilities homepage
Transportation and Parking
The website is maintained by University Transportation and Parking Services with web support from Business Information Services. AccMonitor scans show a 94% Section 508 compliance rate (51 of 54 scanned files passed). The primary issue is missing alt-text. A manual evaluation reveals an inaccessible fly-out menu present on all pages. By adding appropriate alt-text to a few images and updating this menu (which can be repaired in one place via a server-side include) these pages can be brought into compliance, and with little effort. The campus webmaster is working with Business Information Services to help ensure these pages will be updated and made Section 508 compliant.