Accessible websites are designed to be usable by anyone, regardless of device, language, culture, location, or physical or mental ability. Specifically, web accessibility is a set of practices, choices, and standards aimed at making websites that people with a diverse range of hearing, movement, sight, and cognitive abilities can easily navigate and use.

Cornell is committed to diversity and inclusiveness, with the goal of providing an accessible, usable, and welcoming environment to all. Accessibility should be an integral part of any web project, and all web content should conform to the latest version of W3C’s Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) using the AA standard. See University Policy 5.12, Web Accessibility Standards, for specifics. Information and resources to help colleges, departments, and teams achieve this goal are readily available at webaccessibility@cornell.edu.

Siteimprove: A Tool for Testing Web Accessibility

Web development best practices include bringing your website to level AA conformance based on the latest Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG). Web accessibility is an ongoing process, and meeting the required success criteria calls for a combination of automated and manual testing.

By using the Siteimprove evaluation service, you will identify approximately 75% of common web accessibility issues found across sites. Additional manual testing will help identify the remaining issues. Siteimprove is available at no cost by staff and faculty for websites related to official university business, or in support of the university mission.