UAMS Web Accessibility Reference Guide

A practical resource for content management system and calendar editors

Creating Content Everyone Can Use

Every webpage, calendar event, image and document you publish helps someone connect with UAMS. The accessibility decisions you make help determine whether patients, employees, students, researchers and visitors can find, understand and use the information they need.

Use this guide for practical reminders, examples and best practices when creating or maintaining content in the UAMS content management system (CMS) and calendar.

Your Role in Web Accessibility

• Create clear, organized, readable webpages.
• Provide meaningful alternative text for images.
• Make videos, audio, links, forms and tables accessible.
• Choose accessible document formats.
• Check content before publishing and maintain it over time.

Accessibility Standards at UAMS

UAMS follows the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1 Level AA, the standard required by the Justice Department’s ADA Title II web rule. All UAMS web content must meet this standard by April 26, 2027. That date reflects the one-year extension the Justice Department issued in April 2026.

Publishing tip: Before publishing, ask: Can everyone access this? Is it clear and easy to navigate? Have I chosen the most accessible format?

Images and Alternative Text

Alternative text (alt text) communicates an image’s content or purpose to people who cannot see it. Screen readers use alt text to describe meaningful images.

Meaningful and Decorative Images

• For meaningful images, write concise alt text that conveys the essential information in context.
• Don’t open with “image of” or “picture of.”
• Mark purely decorative images as decorative, or use empty alt text where supported.

Less helpful: “Student” 

Better: “Nursing student practicing blood pressure measurement during clinical training.”

Complex Images

Charts, maps, infographics and organizational charts often need both short alt text and a detailed text alternative placed nearby or linked clearly. For example, an infographic showing five steps should also provide the five steps as webpage text.

Avoid Images of Text

Don’t make event flyers, posters, schedules or screenshots the only source of important written information. Put event titles, dates, locations, registration details and instructions into actual CMS or calendar text. A supporting image may still be included. Logos are the exception: a logo can contain text, and its alt text should name the organization.

Publishing tip: If information needs to be read, searched, updated or accessed on different devices, it usually belongs on a webpage, not inside an image.

Final Check: Images

• Meaningful images have accurate alt text, and decorative images are handled appropriately.
• Complex graphics have complete text alternatives.
• Important information is available as real webpage text.

Videos and Audio

Multimedia should provide equivalent access to visitors who cannot hear spoken information or see important visual details.

Captions

• Provide synchronized, accurate captions for speech and meaningful sounds.
• Review auto-generated captions for names, terminology and errors.
• Check that captions are readable and don’t cover important information.

Transcripts

Provide transcripts for audio and video content, including spoken words and meaningful sounds. Place the transcript as text on the page near the player, or in an accordion directly below it. Captions and transcripts serve different purposes, so provide both.

Audio Descriptions and Narration

Communicate important visual information through narration, audio description when needed or an appropriate detailed alternative.

Less helpful: “Click this button, then enter it here.” 

Better: “Select the Submit Request button at the bottom of the form. Enter your department name in the first field.”

Titles and Players

• Use descriptive media titles, such as “How to Schedule an Appointment at UAMS.”
• Check captions, keyboard-operable playback controls and access to the transcript.

Publishing tip: Plan captions, transcripts and descriptive narration during production instead of fixing problems afterward.

Final Check: Videos and Audio

• Captions and transcripts are available and accurate.
• Important visual details have an accessible alternative.
• Media titles are clear, and players work with a keyboard.

Links, Forms, Tables and Keyboard Navigation

Visitors must be able to interact with web content, not simply read it.

Descriptive Links

• Describe the destination or action instead of using “click here” or “read more.”
• Identify downloadable file types when appropriate.
• Check whether link text makes sense without surrounding context.

Less helpful: “Click here to download the guide.” 

Better: “Download the UAMS Employee Benefits Guide (PDF).”

Accessible Forms

Forms that collect protected health information or personally identifiable information should not be built in the CMS. Those forms are created by IT or in Microsoft Forms. Contact Web Services before building one.

For other forms built with the form tool in the CMS:

• Give every field a visible label. Don’t rely on placeholder text inside the field.
• Use the field description for instructions or format hints.
• Mark required fields as required, and make sure “Required” appears in text, not only as color or an asterisk.
• Write error messages that explain how to fix the problem.

Less helpful: “This field is invalid.” 

Better: “Last Name is required. Please enter your last name before submitting the form.”

Accessible Tables

• Use tables for data, not page layout.
• Mark header rows and columns with the CMS table-header tools, not bold text.
• Add a caption that describes what the table contains.
• When copying a table from Word or Excel, paste it as plain text, then rebuild the header row in the CMS. Pasted tables often carry hidden formatting and no header markup.
• Keep the grid simple: avoid merged or split cells, which break the row and column relationships screen readers depend on.
• Wide tables scroll sideways on a phone. If a table has many columns, consider whether the information works better as headings and lists.

Keyboard Navigation

Keyboard behavior is built into the UAMS theme and blocks, so editors check it rather than fix it.

1. Press Tab to move forward and Shift + Tab to move backward.
2. Use Enter or the space bar, as appropriate, to activate controls.
3. Confirm you can see where the keyboard focus is and that it moves in a logical order.
4. Check that every important action works without a mouse and that focus never gets trapped.

Publishing tip: If a control can’t be reached or used with a keyboard, or a form or interactive component can’t be corrected in the CMS, contact Web Services.

Final Check: Interactive Content

• Links, form labels, error messages and table headers are meaningful.
• All interactive controls work with a keyboard and show visible focus.
• Color is not the only way important information is communicated.

Documents and Readability

Choosing the right format and organizing information clearly helps visitors find and understand it.

Should This Be a Webpage or a PDF?

If the content…	Consider…
Changes frequently	Webpage
Is mainly read online	Webpage
Is event details, announcements or instructions	Webpage or calendar event
Must be printed	Accessible PDF
Collects information from visitors	Form tool in the CMS, or IT or Microsoft Forms if it collects protected health or personal information
Must be an official downloadable document	Accessible, structured document

When PDFs Are Necessary

• Use real headings, lists and table headers in the source document.
• Include alt text, descriptive links and sufficient contrast.
• Verify reading order, document tags and the document title.
• Check the final PDF. Exporting from Word doesn’t guarantee accessibility.

Write and Structure Content Clearly

• Use plain language, short paragraphs and meaningful headings.
• Use the built-in CMS heading styles in logical order. Don’t substitute bold text.
• Use real numbered and bulleted lists.
• Explain unfamiliar acronyms and avoid unnecessary jargon.
• Left-align body text. Avoid fully justified text, which creates uneven gaps between words.
• Avoid all caps, and underline only links.

Less helpful: “All individuals desiring to initiate the registration process must complete the requisite documentation prior to the established deadline.” 

Better: “Complete the registration form before the deadline.”

Color Contrast and Resizing

• Normal text: at least 4.5:1 contrast with its background.
• Large text (at least 18 point regular or 14 point bold): at least 3:1.
• Important interface components and graphics, such as icons and form field borders: at least 3:1.
• Don’t rely on color alone to communicate information.
• Text must be resizable to 200% without losing information or functionality.
• Content must also work at 400% zoom without scrolling sideways (reflow).

Publishing tip: Use a contrast checker instead of relying on visual judgment.

Final Check: Documents and Readability

• The chosen format is accessible, and any necessary PDFs have been checked.
• Headings, lists, wording and links are clear and structured.
• Contrast, resizing and non-color cues are adequate.

Maintaining Accessible Content

Accessibility is an ongoing responsibility. Review content when you create or update it, and on a monthly basis after that.

Blackboard Ally for Websites

UAMS uses Blackboard Ally for Websites to check pages automatically.

1. Contact Web Services to have an account created.
2. Review flagged issues and the accompanying guidance.
3. Correct problems within your editing permissions.
4. Recheck the page to confirm the fix.
5. Complete a manual review for barriers the checker may miss.

Manual Review

• Confirm alt text accurately describes the image’s purpose.
• Review descriptive links, heading structure and readable wording.
• Check captions, transcripts and linked documents.
• Move through interactive content with a keyboard.

Know When to Ask for Help

Editors can usually correct alt text, links, headings, wording and image-only announcements. Contact Web Services for issues involving underlying code, inaccessible third-party tools, controls that don’t work with a keyboard or problems outside your CMS or calendar permissions.

Publishing tip: An automated accessibility score is not the goal. The goal is content visitors can successfully use.

Final Check: Maintenance

• Automated checks and manual review are complete.
• Issues within your editing permissions have been corrected and rechecked.
• Unresolved technical barriers have been referred to Web Services.

UAMS Resources and Support

Use these resources whenever you need guidance or encounter an issue you cannot resolve.

• UAMS Web Accessibility Knowledge Base
• Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1
• Justice Department ADA Title II web rule guidance
• UAMS Web Accessibility Publishing Checklist

Need Help?

• UAMS Web Accessibility Knowledge Base
• Open a ServiceNow ticket. When opening a ticket, include the link to the webpage or calendar event, a description of the issue and any checker results.

Every page matters. Each accessible webpage, event, image and document helps someone access UAMS information and services.