Web accessibility can feel overwhelming at first, but getting started doesn’t have to be. This page highlights the essential actions, tools, and guidelines you should know right away to make your web content accessible and compliant with current laws. Use this as your starting point to understand expectations, learn best practices, and confidently move forward.
If you're interested in specific guidance by your role on campus, you can find that guidance below.
Step 1: Understand Your Responsibility
Creating accessible web content is a shared responsibility at the University of Iowa. Anyone who creates, edits, uploads, or manages digital content—webpages, documents, images, videos, or applications—plays a role in ensuring that content can be accessed and used by everyone.
Accessibility is not just a best practice; it is a legal requirement. Federal law and university policy require digital content to meet accessibility standards. Understanding your role is the first step toward creating content that supports equal access for all users.
Helpful resources:
Step 2: Know the Requirements
University web content is required to meet established accessibility standards, including WCAG 2.1 Level AA. These guidelines outline how content should be structured, written, and presented so it works for people using assistive technologies. You don’t need to memorize the guidelines to get started—but it’s important to understand what standards apply to your content and what compliant means in practice. The resources on this site break down those requirements into clear expectations and actionable guidance.
Guidance for Accessibility:
Step 3: Start with the Basics
Begin with focusing on the most common accessibility issues that affect users the most. These foundational practices apply to nearly all web content and can significantly improve usability and compliance–small changes to your content can make a big difference right away.
Start with these key items:
- Using clear, structured headings to organize content
- Adding meaningful alternative text for images
- Ensuring sufficient color contrast for text and graphics
- Writing descriptive link text (avoid “click here”)
- Captioning videos and providing transcripts when needed
Step 4: Use the Right Tools
You don’t have to do accessibility work alone—or from scratch. The University of Iowa provides guidance and training opportunities to help you create accessible content more efficiently and confidently.
Accessibility tools can help you:
- Identify common issues in web pages and documents
- Check color contrast and heading structure
Step 5: Get Help When You Need It
Explore the available resources to get some initial guidance. You don’t have to figure everything out on your own–if you have questions, need clarification, or aren’t sure how to fix an issue, help is available.
- Accessibility Liaisons–Each college or unit selected a staff member to serve as a point of contact for accessibility, with training and support from campus accessibility experts. If you have a question, please reach out to your unit liaison first.
- ITAccessibility@uiowa.edu–Technical accessibility questions
- OCRC Disability–General disability-related inquiries
- Support and Guidance FAQ
Researchers
Digital accessibility guidance for researchers. Ensure research materials, studies, and publications are accessible.
Instructors
Digital accessibility guidance for instructors. Tips, tools, and technologies to support accessible teaching and learning.
Staff
Digital accessibility guidance for staff. All UI staff are essential in creating a digital experience that's accessible for everyone.