How to make PDFs accessible
PDF files published on the University of St Andrews website must meet accessibility standards. This is so the website, and all the content within it can be used by as many people as possible. Considering that there are…
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Designing for users on the autistic spectrum
Users on the autistic spectrum can benefit from accessible web-based services. This guidance is for web and digital professionals who want to make sure that their service is accessible for users on the autistic spectrum.
How to make videos accessible with closed captions
Subtitles are transcripts of a video’s dialogue or audio contained in SubRip (SRT) files that are attached to videos. They provide context and clarity to video content.
Making the University website accessible
New regulations which affect the University of St Andrews came into force on the 23 September 2018. These regulations state that a public sector body website must meet certain accessibility standards and publish an…
Why to avoid marketese on the web
Marketese is a writing style which favours promotional, self-congratulatory and boastful language over technical and objective wording. At the University of St Andrews, we aim to avoid using marketese on the web at all…
Usability testing around the University
The digital communications team has been conducting usability testing since 2015. Usability testing allows us to evaluate the design of a webpage, or more specifically, a particular process such as signing up for a…
Updating the undergraduate pages with HEFCE information
A couple of weeks ago, the content team spent some time going through a ‘Information for Students’ guide from the Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education, but we call it the HEFCE guide (HEFCE stands for Higher…
Making web pages more accessible with WAI-ARIA
We are reviewing our digital pattern library to see how it can be more accessible. This article gives an overview of WAI-ARIA.
Why we don’t use video backgrounds
The release of HTML5 in 2014 introduced a standard way to embed videos directly on a web page, rather than needing to use a plug-in such as Flash. With an easier way to embed videos, using video backgrounds on web…
Resources for web writers
When writing for the web, you have to keep a lot in mind: format, accessibility, devices, audience, house style and more. Luckily, there are plenty of useful tools out there to help you make your writing as…