Website Accessibility

Accessible means providing a person with a disability equal opportunity to acquire the same information, engage in the same interactions, and enjoy the same services as a person without a disability in an equally effective and equally integrated manner, with substantially equivalent ease of use, according to the UF policy on Accessibility and Reasonable Accommodation for Individuals with Disabilities.

All online materials, including those shared via Canvas, UF Health websites, third-party party websites, social media platforms, etc. are required to meet the new accessibility standards, including but not limited to:

• Website content (headlines, files, links, images, forms, videos, etc.)
• PDFs
• Microsoft Office files (Word, PowerPoint, etc.)
• Videos
• Social media

There are seven exceptions to website and mobile accessibility requirements, but access must still be provided as described elsewhere.

Exceptions include:

• Archived content created or reproduced before April 24, 2026, kept only for reference and not updated (e.g., previous semester Canvas sites).
• Content posted by third parties (unless contracted or employed by UF).
• Changes that would fundamentally alter services, as determined by UF’s ADA Coordinator.
• Individualized, password-protected documents such as PDFs or presentations about a specific person.
• Preexisting documents (like PDFs or slides) made public before compliance rules, unless actively used for core services or participation.
• Social media content posted before April 24, 2026.
• Situations where meeting accessibility requirements would cause undue financial or administrative burden, as determined by UF’s ADA Coordinator.

For more information regarding exceptions, please visit the Electronic Information Technology and Communication Accessibility policy. 

There are two sides to consider in terms of website accessibility and compliance:

1. The content you upload to these sites: This part is your/the editors responsibility.  This includes things like ensuring you provide alternative text descriptions when you upload images, that any videos you create have captions and audio descriptions and that you avoid using PDF and non-website documents (e.g., DOC, XLS, etc.), or if you do, you must make them accessible.
2. The technical code/back-end side: This is handled by the UF Health Web Services team. You can rest assured the website itself will exceed any accessibility requirements.

Web pages should be your “go-to” method of adding content to your site to provide the best user experience. PDFs and other downloadable files should only be used if no other option is available. If a PDF or Microsoft Office file is the only means to post your content, you must make sure they are accessible.

PDF files in your Media Library should be reviewed right away by your website editors and administrators. Remove any outdated PDFs that are no longer used on your site. If a PDF must stay, it will need to be remediated to meet accessibility standards.

PDF remediation can be time-consuming and requires access to Adobe Acrobat Pro. Start by deleting any files you can easily remove. Once you clear out unused documents, you can focus on updating the remaining files.

UF provides a free Adobe Acrobat Pro license to faculty, which can be requested through the appropriate UF channel. Staff members will need their department to purchase a license to access the tools required for PDF remediation.

Web Services cannot advise on vendors or the software approval process. Please contact your department or college IT team for assistance with purchasing a license.