Accessibility Guidelines

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Accessibility Guidelines

Website accessibility refers to the intentional practice of developing, designing, and maintaining a website so that all page viewers, including those with disabilities, can understand, navigate, and engage with all aspects of the website. 

Knowing that website accessibility is an essential component of website design and development, the page layouts and content types available for the college.mayo.edu website have all been created with accessibility in mind, ensuring:

  • Clear and consistent navigation options
  • Sufficient contrast between foreground text and background colors
  • Mobile responsive designs that automatically adjust content to maximize readability regardless of the size of the screen used to view the page

As you make updates to pages on the college.mayo.edu website, ensure the following elements remain accessible to all potential page visitors:

Image accessibility standards

When adding an image to the T4 Media Library, ensure that you always add appropriate "alternative text" or "alt text" in the Description / Alt text field. 

Providing appropriate descriptions of all images is inclusive to a variety of page viewers, including those that have visual disabilities. Digital assistive reading devices rely on accurate image descriptions to help users understand what is happening in an image on a website.

Example

Julie Heimbach, M.D., Transplant Center Director, sits next to a pediatric patient in a hospital exam room at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota.Appropriate alt text

"Julie Heimbach, M.D., Transplant Center Director, smiles as she sits next to a pediatric patient in a hospital exam room at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota."

Inappropriate alt text

"A medical appointment."
"Provider and patient"
"Julie Heimbach, M.D."

Document accessibility standards

Only PDF documents should be added to the T4 Media Library and linked to content within a page on the college.mayo.edu website. However, its often easier to ensure a document is accessible during its initial creation than it is after it has been saved as a PDF. 

Microsoft provides an overview of creating an accessible Word document and how to check for accessibility while you work in Word. 

An accurate and full check of a PDF document for accessibility begins with the original file being created and saved properly. Do not use the Print to PDF function. Always use "Save as Adobe PDF" when creating a PDF file in Microsoft Word.

How to check a Word document for accessibility

Note: You should not add Word documents to the college.mayo.edu website. Only PDFs should be added to the website. That said, it is recommended to check the accessibility of a Word document prior to saving the document as a PDF to upload to the website. 

  1. Open the Word document.
  2. Select Review from the top menu bar.
  3. Click Check Accessibility. 
  4. Click Check Accessibility again.
  5. Follow the recommendations in the inspection results in the right sidebar window.
  6. Select File from the top menu bar.
  7. Click Save as Adobe PDF.
  8. Change the file name and location as needed. Click Save. 

Note: It is extremely important for accessibility purposes to save the document properly when converting a Word document to a PDF:

  • Do not use the Print to PDF function.
  • Always save the document using the Save as Adobe PDF function. 

How to check a PDF for accessibility

Note: It is significantly easier to check a PDF for accessibility if it was saved properly from the program that was used to create the PDF. Always Save as Adobe PDF. Do not use the Print to PDF function.

See below for other tips on how to ensure a document is accessible before saving it as a PDF when using Microsoft Word. 

  1. Prior to starting this process, ensure you have access to use Adobe Acrobat Pro DC. If you do not have this program on your computer, contact Help Desk to request access. 
  2. Open the PDF document in Adobe Acrobat Pro DC. 
  3. Click on the Accessibility Checker on the right sidebar (purple icon with stick figure person).
  4. Click Accessibility Check.
  5. The Accessibility Checker will run. Issues with the document will appear on the left side of the document when the Accessibility Checker is finished.
  6. Click through the issues that have been found. Follow the on-screen instructions to fix the accessibility issues.
  7. Once you've fixed all of the accessibility issues, re-save the document. Click File. Click Save As. 
  8. Update the name of the PDF to ensure you know which version is the original, and which is the accessible version. 

File naming

Whether you're naming a PDF file or an image file, there are a few things to keep in mind to ensure accessibility and adherence to the MCCMS file naming conventions.

Appropriate and consistent file naming practices positively impact file users by:

  • Fostering a more intuitive understanding of the files they're accessing.
  • Ensuring assistive technology has correct and concise information to read to its users.
  • Finding information more easily through the use of relevant keywords that improve search engine optimization (SEO).

All image files used on the website from Mayo's Media Asset Management (MAM) should always include the number of the image file from MAM in the file name. 

How to make file names accessible

  • Starting the file name with a letter character
  • Concise or unique words related to the file content or words from the actual document title
  • Using keywords in the file name
  • Using hyphens to separate words
  • Using lower kebab case (for example, one-two-three)
  • Using international standard date notation (for example, 2023-12-25)
  • Using leading 0s for numerical order (for example, 01, 02, 03; 001, 002, 003)
  • Maintaining character length to approximately 30 (for example, one-two-three = 13 characters) and limited to 250
  • Using the same format for similar files (for example, memorandum-2023-12-25; memorandum-2023-12-30)

Image-specific guidelines

  • Dimensions. If an image needed to be resized prior to uploading to the Media Library (for use in a content type that doesn't use CDN PXL, such as a General Content Type), please include the dimensions of the image in the file name.
  • Gallery. If adding an image to a photo gallery, please include the word "gallery" and the date in the file name.
  • MAM number. All images that are being used on the website that have been downloaded from Mayo's Media Asset Management (MAM) should include the file number that is used in MAM in the file name prior to uploading the image to the T4 Media Library. This helps us be able to find the original photo quickly in the future if we need a different version of it. 

Examples of appropriate file names

Images

  • internal-medicine-residents-group-01
  • mayo-clinic-logo-black
  • WF4423004_0045
  • WF4423004_0061-nephrologists-laptop
  • internal-med-pool-gallery-2024-18-07 (for gallery images)

PDF documents

  • application-form-accessible-2023-12-25
  • curriculum-rotation-schedules-v1

Note: If you are replacing an existing PDF file and the file names match exactly, it will create an error on the website. If the program is specifically requesting the PDF file names to match exactly, reach out to the ESDE team for further instructions.

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