Web Accessibility at the University of California

Top Tips for Designing Accessible Web Sites

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These suggestions improve the accessibility of Web sites and reflect good design standards in general. Following them takes you well down the road toward implementing UC's recommended technical standards, the Section 508 guidelines for Web sites.

Selecting any of the topics will open a page with more information.

Getting Started

These suggestions improve the accessibility of Web sites and reflect good design standards in general. Following them takes you well down the road toward implementing UC's recommended technical standards, the Section 508 guidelines for Web sites. Readers are encouraged to submit ideas for additional design tips.

• Use alt attributes appropriately on all images.
• Use descriptive text for links.
• Use plain text for text.
• Use skip navigation links.
• Maintain contrast between text and background colors.
• Use headings appropriately.
• Use unique names for links.
• Use valid markup and styles.
• Don't use frames.
• Don't provide a separate text-only alternative site.

Beyond the Basics

• Use cascading style sheets (CSS) to present page content.
• Markup data tables correctly.
• Define tab order, if appropriate.
• Use color judiciously.
• Use the longdesc attribute for images with complex meaning.
• Use relative font sizes.
• Test in multiple browsers/operating systems.

Advanced Tips

We are developing more detailed explanations about each of these tips. In the meantime, readers are encouraged to contribute information and ideas about the challenges listed here.

• Use "go" or "submit" buttons to select items in a menu or combo box or to submit information in a form.
• Have accessible style sheets that can be changed by the user.
• Avoid using automatically activated form elements, i.e., dropdown menus.
• Use image maps carefully.
• Break compound lists into sections marked by headings.