Accessibility

 

It's important to provide detailed information, such as the page URL or title and what happens when you try to access the information. It may be helpful to also explain the format that best helps you. Be sure to provide your name, email address and phone number. A member of the D49 Communications Department will respond within two business days. 

 

Our goal is to respond to any concerns within two business days, and to correct any issues within 10 business days. 

In support of website accessibility standards, and designing for inclusion using the latest Web Content Accessibility Guidelines WCAG 2.1 AA, including support for assistive technologies, we understand that font family, size and color are critical to the user experience. We know that studies have concluded that sans serif fonts are often the most legible, and serif fonts are least preferred. An online reading experience benefits greatly from using sans serif fonts like Arial at 12-point sizes and higher. While this font is 12-point on desktop views, our central stylesheet for D49.org keeps main content published in sans serif fonts that adapt to narrowing screen sizes.

 

We understand, based on the W3C accessibility requirements for people with low vision, that bolded fonts are easier to read than italics or underlined text, and the latter must be mostly reserved for hyperlinks. Similarly, many people cannot distinguish differences in color, so changes in color aren't a great way to highlight or draw attention to text.

According to WCAG 2.0 best practices for contrast, text contrast must meet a minimum ratio of 4.5:1. Text that's at least 18-point (or 14-point bold) must remain above 3:1. We understand that text published in all capital letters is difficult to read for most people, with and without disabilities, especially when the font isn't larger than the 12-point standard. We work to apply margins and borders that help keep adequate space between text and image elements.

Our use of color is meant to create pages that are clear in content and flow in design, knowing color must not used as the sole method of conveying content or distinguishing visual elements. We use tools to ensure contrast ratios remain within acceptable ranges for the visually impaired. The visual presentation of text, including images of text, must meet a minimum contrast ratio of 4.5:1, except for where text size increases visibility, it's part of an incidental or inactive user interface component, or part of a logo or other branding element. When navigating a D49.org page with a keyboard, in-focus hyperlinks often transition to black-on-white with a 110-percent increase in font size.

Keyboard Navigation

We routinely look for keyboard accessibility issues, one of the most important aspects of web accessibility. Many website visitors with disabilities rely on a keyboard, including those with motor and vision limitations. Some community members don't necessarily have a diagnosed disability, but they routinely experience tremors or joint pain that doesn't allow fine motor control. Our goal is to ensure keyboard navigation provides access to all links, using a logical and intuitive progression.

External Links

Some pages at D49.org contain links to third party sites, which are not within our control and may not comply with accessibility standards. The district is not responsible for the content or accessibility of third party sites. While navigating our sites with a keyboard, links to these sites are identified in red using focus indicators. For example, here's a link to an external site explaining web content accessibility guidelines, which will appear red when in focus.