Accessibility Policy

If you have any questions or comments, or if you find any of this information inaccurate or you need to report a problem on one of our pages, please feel free to contact the webmaster.

Links

• Many links have title attributes which describe the link in greater detail, unless the text of the link already fully describes the target page.
• Link references are written out to make sense out of context.

Multimedia

• Content images used in this site include descriptive ALT attributes. Purely decorative graphics include null ALT attributes.
• Content tables used in this site include descriptive ALT attributes for summary purposes.

• Purely decorative graphics are often coded as background images to content elements.

Text

• This site uses relative font sizes, compatible with the user-specified "text size" option in visual browsers.
• This site uses real headers, real lists, and real links.

Visual design

• This site uses cascading style sheets for visual and print layout.
• If your browser or browsing device does not support stylesheets at all, the content of each page is still readable.

Printed pages

• Clicking the "print this page" link will display a stripped-down version suitable for printing. This is accomplished by using a style switcher to exchange a print stylesheet for the screen one.

Software

The University of Houston-Downtown website has been tested for viewing with Internet Explorer 6 & 7 for Windows, FireFox 2 & 3 for Windows and Macintosh, Opera 9 for Windows and Macintosh, and Safari 2 & 3 for Macintosh and Safari 3 for Windows.

Links to other helpful software is below.

• JAWS, a screen reader for Windows. A time-limited, downloadable demo is available.
• Lynx, a free text-only web browser for blind users with refreshable Braille displays.
• Links, a free text-only web browser for visual users with low bandwidth.

Services & Tools

• W3C HTML Markup Validation Service and the W3C CSS Validation Service, provides a free service for verifying that web pages conform to published HTML standards. This includes a utility to check for broken links.
• Web Page Backward Compatibility Viewer, a tool for viewing your web pages without a variety of modern browser features.
• evolt.org's Browser Archives.
• Web development and accessibility tools for Mozilla & Firefox
  • Firebug
  • WAVE Toolbar
  • Web Developer Toolbar
• Lynx Viewer, a free service for viewing what your web pages would look like in Lynx.

Outside References

• Texas Administrative Code Chapter 206 accessibility guidelines.
• Texas Administrative Code Chapter 213 accessibility standards for institutions of higher education.
• U.S. Federal Government Section 508 accessibility guidelines. Note the 508 guidelines are being refreshed and are currently under review.
• Dive Into Accessibility, an excellent guide which relates each rule to the type of person it helps. (We would like to thank the author for allowing others to use his accessibility statement.)
• W3 accessibility guidelines, an in-depth explanation of the reasons behind each guideline.
• W3 accessibility techniques, which explains how to implement each guideline.
• W3 accessibility checklist, a busy developer's guide to accessibility.

Compliance Exceptions and Exemptions Handling

Exceptions

• An exception request shall be submitted to the president or chancellor of an institution of higher education for each electronic and information resources development or procurement, including outsourced development, which does not comply with the standards and specifications described in Chapter 206 and/or Chapter 213 of this title, pursuant to §2054.460, Texas Government Code.   
• An approved exception shall include the following:     
  • a date of expiration;     
  • a plan for alternate means of access for persons with disabilities;
  • justification for the exception including relevant cost avoidance estimates; and     
  • signature of the executive director of the agency.   
• Institutions of higher education shall maintain records of exception requests according to that institution of higher education's internal accessibility policy.
• The department shall establish and maintain a list of electronic and information technology resources which are determined to be exempt from the standards and specifications of all or part of Chapter 206 and/or Chapter 213 of this title.

Exemptions

A list of electronic and information technology resources which are determined by UHD to be exempt from the standards and specifications of all or part of Chapter 206 and/or Chapter 213 of this title are listed below:

• There are currently no accessibility compliance exemptions on record as of the date this page was last updated, 3/9/12.

UHD Website Information & Contacts:

• Report accessibility issues or questions to the Office of Disability Services at UHD or send email to the Accessibility Coordinator.
• Report website technical questions or issues while using the UHD website.
• Visit the UHD Contacts page for additional information or our A-Z listing for a comprehensive listing of UHD departments and services.

Related resources

• WebAIM, a non-profit organization dedicated to improving accessibility to online learning materials.
• Accessify, a site containing simple tools for webmasters as well as tutorials.
• Section 508 Compliance
• Site Validation (W3C)
• Governor's Committee on People with Disabilities

 

Page maintained by UHD Webmaster

Last updated or reviewed on 3/9/12