This guidance applies to digital content. By digital content, we mean any content (eg text, images, videos) that is published online – that could be on social media, in an email or on a website or blog.
What is digital accessibility and why is it important?
Digital accessibility is about ensuring that your digital content can be accessed by all users, including those with disabilities, so that no one is excluded from any of the information we provide as a University.
Accessible digital content also benefits those without disabilities, including those accessing it on a mobile, those with a slow internet connection and those in certain temporary situations, eg bright sunlight or a noisy environment.
Providing accessible digital content means that everyone has a better experience online and a better experience online means happier users who are more likely to perform the action you want them to – such as apply for a course, book on to an event etc.
The guidance published here will help you understand how to make sure any digital content you produce is accessible. This information is likely to be relevant to you even if you don’t work directly with digital content. Most of the content (that is to say, information) produced by departments across the University ends up online in some way so getting to grips with accessibility rules is something that everyone will need to do.
Why our digital content must be accessible
Providing accessible web content is a legal requirement. The Public Sector Bodies (Websites and Mobile Applications) (No 2) Accessibility Regulations 2018 outline the rules regarding web accessibility and, as a university, we must adhere to them. As an inclusive university, we also want to ensure that everyone has access to the information we provide regardless of accessibility needs.