Q. How do I made a FAQ accessible under Title II standards?

How to Make an Frequently Asked Question (FAQ) accessible under Title II digital accessibility standards.

This FAQ serves as a template and guide for creating an FAQ or editing an FAQ to be digitally accessible. This template will include examples of proper header usage, hyperlinked text, numbered lists, and an image with alternative (alt) text to reference.

What is Title II?

On April 24, 2024, the Department of Justice (DOJ) published a new rule on digital accessibility under Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). This rule requires that university web content and mobile apps, including academic course content, be in compliance with certain digital accessibility standards by April 24, 2026. LibAnswers' Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) are University web content that must be updated to meet these digital accessibility standards.

University Guidelines for Accessibility for All Web Pages.

Follow the University of Maryland's (UMD) Division of Information Technology (DIV-IT) Six Essential Steps as a starting point for making an FAQ accessible. The following list includes all 6 steps:

1. Headings.
   • Use properly formatted headings to structure a web page or document.
   • Heading levels should never be skipped (h1, h2, h3, h4...)
   • Create bulleted and numbered lists by using styles buttons.
2. Links.
   • Write meaningful link text.
   • Links embedded in text should describe the link’s destination.
   • Avoid using text such as "click here” or "read more" to describe the link destination.
3. Color and Contrast.
   • Use sufficient color contrast.
   • Avoid using color alone to convey meaning.
   • Add labels to charts and graphs.
4. Images.
   • Provide meaningful alternative (Alt) text to convey the purpose of an image (including pictures, illustrations, and charts.)
   • The alt text should be functional and provide an equivalent user experience. For example, an appropriate text alternative for a search button would be “search,” not “image of a magnifying glass.”
5. Tables.
   • Create tables with column and/or row headers.
   • Ensure proper reading order.
   • Don’t use tables to format a document.
6. Media.
   • Add captions to your videos.
   • Edit and correct all machine or automated captions.
   • Provide a transcript for audio files.

FAQ Specific Accessibility Standards

There are three important guidelines to follow when making an FAQ accessible.

1. Navigable: The FAQ should provide ways to help users navigate, find content, and determine where they are.
    
   Titles:
   • Web pages have titles that describe the topic or purpose. In FAQs, the question becomes the page title and the site name (When a user hovers over the tab, they will see the page title).
   • Consider the question title, does this accurately reflect what is provided in the answer? An FAQ should be answering one question at a time.
   • If the answer offers more information than the question itself, consider creating a separate FAQ for the additional questions or modifying the question to better reflect the answer.
   
   Headers and Labels (LAA):
   • Write headings as phrases or questions as opposed to single words.
   • Link text must give a clear description of what the link is, no using the term "click here." Link several words to create larger target, as it makes it easier for users to click a link.
   • This also applies to file names. Give a clear, descriptive file name.
   • Remember that anything saved to Files in LibAnswers is not as easy to discover as it would be in-text. It is not indexed for search other than file title.
    
2. Adaptable: The FAQ should be content that can be presented in different ways (for example simpler layout) without losing information or structure.
   
   Info and Relationships:
   • Info, structure, and relationships shown through presentation can be present in the code or available in text. (Bullets in a list should be present as <li> in the HTML of a document instead of dashes "-". Headers should be identifiable as <h1>,<h2>, etc instead of only altered text size.)
   • Make sure to only use tables for tabular data and not for page organization.
   
   Sensory Characteristics:
   • Information should not be solely conveyed via shape, color, size, visual location, orientation, or sound.
   • Don’t give directions on where things are located on the page because depending on screen size, that could change.
    
3. Text Alternatives: Provide text alternatives for any non-text content so that it can be changed into other forms people need, such as large print, braille, speech, symbols or simpler language.
   
   Non-text Content:
   • All non-text content is presented to the user has a text alternative that serves the equivalent purpose, except for the situations listed:
     • Controls, input.
     • Time-Based Media.
     • Tests.
     • Sensory.
     • CAPTCHA.
     • Decoration, formatting, invisible.
   • Caption and audio description are best for multimedia, but captions are the minimum. Turn off autoplay from all media.
   • Avoid using abbreviations for words. Example: bc instead of because. w/ instead of with. Text to speech readers will not be able to interpret intended meaning. 
   • Fully write out acronyms the first instance you use them before using them for the duration of your post.

   Final Checks

   When finishing an FAQ, you can use the FAQ Accessibility Checklist to confirm that your FAQ is accessible. Please note that not every point in the FAQ Accessibility Checklist will apply to every FAQ.

4. 
   Caption: Above is an image with the alt text: Woman working behind a computer.