Report of the analysis

Australian Catholic University: Page 1 (Home page)

• Page: http://www.acu.edu.au
• Date: 13/01/2007 - 3:30 GMT
• Author: Dey Alexander
• Comment:
  • This page shows detailed findings of an accessibility audit of the Australian Catholic University website. It forms part of a research project, "Australian university website accessibility revisited", presented at the Ausweb 07 conference.

Results by checkpoints

Checkpoint 1.1 Provide a text equivalent for every non-text element (e.g., via "alt", "longdesc", or in element content). This includes: images, graphical representations of text (including symbols), image map regions, animations (e.g., animated GIFs), applets and programmatic objects, ascii art, frames, scripts, images used as list bullets, spacers, graphical buttons, sounds (played with or without user interaction), stand-alone audio files, audio tracks of video, and video. [Priority 1]

Wrong.
The logo for the site, which includes the words "Australian Catholic University" (not included in the page title) and its campus locations is a background image. No text alternative was provided for this. (Error E)

Another background image included a slogan or tagline "Qualify for life" and again no text alternative was provided. (Error E)

Eight decorative or layout images had no ALT attribute. (Error G)

There is series of dynamically generated decorative images that rotate along with text content beneath. Some of these have unnecessary or unhelpful text alternatives, such as "potential student" and "image of piggy bank". (Error F)

Checkpoint 1.2 Provide redundant text links for each active region of a server-side image map. [Priority 1]

Not applicable.

Checkpoint 1.3 Until user agents can automatically read aloud the text equivalent of a visual track, provide an auditory description of the important information of the visual track of a multimedia presentation. [Priority 1]

Not applicable.

Checkpoint 1.4 For any time-based multimedia presentation (e.g., a movie or animation), synchronize equivalent alternatives (e.g., captions or auditory descriptions of the visual track) with the presentation. [Priority 1]

Not applicable.

Checkpoint 2.1 Ensure that all information conveyed with color is also available without color, for example from context or markup. [Priority 1]

Correct.

Checkpoint 4.1 Clearly identify changes in the natural language of a document's text and any text equivalents (e.g., captions). [Priority 1]

Not applicable.

Checkpoint 5.1 For data tables, identify row and column headers. [Priority 1]

Not applicable.

Checkpoint 5.2 For data tables that have two or more logical levels of row or column headers, use markup to associate data cells and header cells. [Priority 1]

Not applicable.

Checkpoint 6.1 Organize documents so they may be read without style sheets. For example, when an HTML document is rendered without associated style sheets, it must still be possible to read the document. [Priority 1]

Correct.

Checkpoint 6.2 Ensure that equivalents for dynamic content are updated when the dynamic content changes. [Priority 1]

Correct.

Checkpoint 6.3 Ensure that pages are usable when scripts, applets, or other programmatic objects are turned off or not supported. If this is not possible, provide equivalent information on an alternative accessible page. [Priority 1]

Correct.

Checkpoint 7.1 Until user agents allow users to control flickering, avoid causing the screen to flicker. [Priority 1]

Correct.

Checkpoint 8.1 Make programmatic elements such as scripts and applets directly accessible or compatible with assistive technologies. [Priority 1 if functionality is important and not presented elsewhere, otherwise Priority 2.]

Not applicable.
The scripting/applets don't create an embedded object which has it's own user interface.

Checkpoint 9.1 Provide client-side image maps instead of server-side image maps except where the regions cannot be defined with an available geometric shape. [Priority 1]

Not applicable.

Checkpoint 11.4 If, after best efforts, you cannot create an accessible page, provide a link to an alternative page that uses W3C technologies, is accessible, has equivalent information (or functionality), and is updated as often as the inaccessible (original) page. [Priority 1]

Correct.

Checkpoint 12.1 Title each frame to facilitate frame identification and navigation. [Priority 1]

Not applicable.

Checkpoint 14.1 Use the clearest and simplest language appropriate for a site's content. [Priority 1]

Needs checking.
We did not evaluate this checkpoint.