Accessibility & Usability

Future and Ongoing Plans...

  • Begin wider use of WEBP image format to improve load times.
  • Following 2024 Cascade User Conference, look to implement:
    • Stripping empty & improper tags from WYSIWYG editing fields.
    • Prompt editors for real alt tag values when ever image name is used, ex: photo.jpg
    • Force loading="lazy" to be added to images placed in WYSIWYG editing fields.
    • Force conversion of deprecated tag <b> to <strong>
    • Disallow use of H1 as a page should only have one usage of it.
    • Check for improper use of internal cascade links or repeated https://https:// that can result form copy/paste usage.
  • Continued refinements to the responsive design and layout. Responsive design seem to be a win for all user irrespective of device types and viewing/usage needs.
  • Continue move towards a standardized grid-template use to replace floated divs used in the past. Testing Bootstrap 5 currently with smaller projects.
  • In conjunction with Bootstrap 5 implementations increase implementation of ARIA.
  • Refine link text used on image based slides so that the links are more descriptive for screen readers (W3C).
  • Considering focus for some body copy links. Would need to be disabled for button classes and etc.
  • Currently looking into a text overlay option for the optional short but full width page header images. Users keep adding text to header images. Even with alt tags, text in images is not ideal. 
  • Removal of legacy deprecated HTML tags in future template conversions (excluding "i" used by Font Awesome).
  • Continue educating Cascade users on how and why accessibility needs to considered when adding content to their websites. (alt tags, Heading tags, descriptive link text, etc.) (This will be an ongoing endless process)

What's been done...
Due to to requests, I'll try to list more minor/granular changes and fixes going forward in addition to larger changes.

  • 2023 - Updated "DOCTYPE" for HTML 5 and removed xml declaration. Rollout sitewide with next full republishing.
  • 2023 - Removed "tabindex" off of "skip to content" link to better work with assistive technologies. Rollout sitewide with next full republishing.
  • 2023 - Specific JS files now set to "defer" to improve load times.
  • 2023 - Lazy loading added to select image content to improve load times. Will add to other content pages going for when possible.
  • 2023 - GDPR banner updated.
  • 2022-23 - Started working/testing with Bootstrap 5 for smaller projects.
  • 2021 - Base font size increased to roughly 17 pixels, max page width for larger screens widened to 1,300 pixels. Browser based zoom can provide greater control.
  • 2017 - Rolled out new templates with improved responsive design.
  • 2015 - Marketing has started captioning promotional videos on YouTube.
  • 2013 - began rollout of responsive template allowing greater accessibility across devices.
  • The base template are made to comply with Level AA before implementation so they start out compliant.
  • Alt tags are used everywhere possible. Page decoration and unnecessary images receive empty alt tags. Cascade enforces alt tags when added using the WYSIWYG options, but users still need provide meaningful text equivalents.
  • Slides changed to use text overlay rather than text as part of the image.
  • 2009 - Table based layouts removed, with the fall template rollout.
  • Tab option "skip to content" added.
  • Web forms carry labels.
  • Whenever possible documents are posted as PDF files, the industry standard archiving format of choice. Accessibility may not be ideal, but the documents can be accessed by the majority of site users unlike random formats (cws, wpf, docx, xls, etc.). Scanned files must have OCR applied whenever possible.
  • Use of JS is kept to a minimum.
  • Adobe Flash elements removed sitewide.