Web Standards & Guidelines
  1. Web Standards & Guidelines
  2. Checklist

Checklist

1. General

  1. The website represents VCU and not the VCU Health System. General, Representation (1.1)
  2. The website complies with VCU copyright policies. General, Copyright (1.2)
  3. The website does not promote commercial activity outside of official university business. General, Commercial Activity (1.3)
  4. If the website contains sexually explicit content, a written warning statement is provided, and the content is accessible only through a password mechanism. General, Sexually Explicit Content (1.4)
  5. If the website is a unit's primary web presence, it is not a blog. General, Blogs (1.5)
  6. The website is listed in the VCU A-Z index with at least one site owner or technical contact provided. General, Visibility & Ownership (1.6)
  7. If the website is left out-of-date for 12 or more months, it will be moved to the VCU website archive or taken offline. General, Archival & Removal (1.7)
  8. If the website showcases stats, metrics, or data, their sources are cited and/or on file, and have been reviewed for accuracy. General, Data Integrity (1.8)

2. Accessibility

2.1 Federal

  1. The website includes skip to content links on every page. Accessibility, Federal, Skip to Content Links (2.1.1)
  2. The website includes unique title tags for every page. Accessibility, Federal, Unique Title Tags (2.1.2)
  3. If the website has form inputs, these inputs have associative labels. Accessibility, Federal, Input Labels (2.1.3)
  4. The website is equally functional and navigable when using the mouse, keyboard, or both. Accessibility, Federal, Input Agnostic Functionality & Navigability (2.1.4)
  5. The website provides alt-text for non-trivial images. Accessibility, Federal, Alternative Image Information (2.1.5)
  6. The website provides links with meaningful text and information as to its end location. Accessibility, Federal, Meaningful Link Text (2.1.6)
  7. If the website provides PDF files, these files properly allow highlighting text in a logical order and copying its contents to another program. Accessibility, Federal, PDF Highlighting & Copying (2.1.7)
  8. If the website provides videos, these videos are captioned. Accessibility, Federal, Video Captioning (2.1.8)
  9. The website has an appropriate language set on every page. Accessibility, Federal, Appropriate Page Language (2.1.9)
  10. The website utilizes suitable color contrast ratios between text and background. Accessibility, Federal, Color Contrast (2.1.10)

2.2 VCU

  1. The website will be submitted to the Web Services EIT Accessibility Coordinator for accessibility review and approval, Accessibility, VCU, Review & Approval (2.2.1).
  2. The website passes WCAG 2.0 Level AA accessibility standards. Accessibility, VCU, WCAG 2.0 AA Compliance (2.2.2)
  3. If the website provides PDF files, these files pass WCAG 2.0 Level AA accessibility standards. Accessibility, VCU, PDF Accessibility (2.2.3)
  4. The website does not contain HTML validation errors. Accessibility, VCU, HTML Validation (2.2.4)
  5. A div with the id of “skip-links” with a series of skip links enclosed is included after the opening body tag of every page within the website. Accessibility, VCU, Skip Links (2.2.5)
  6. The website is readable with stylesheets disabled. Accessibility, VCU, Readability with Disabled Stylesheets (2.2.6)

3. Branding

  1. The website loads an approved VCU branding bar at the top of every page and is not obstructed from view by visual elements. Branding, Branding Bar (3.1)
  2. The website does not use unofficial VCU logos or seals on any page. Branding, Unofficial Logos & Seals (3.2)
  3. If the website is for a unit that serves a specific part of the university, the unit name is prefixed or used in conjunction with its title or parent unit. Branding, Unit Context (3.3)

4. Captioning

  1. If the website contains audio/visual media intended for the general public or any VCU employee who has a relevant accommodation agreement on file with the ADA Coordinator, these materials have appropriate captioning. Captioning, General Public & Employees (4.1)
  2. If the website contains audio/visual media provided by instructors for students, these materials have appropriate captioning or transcriptions Captioning, Students (4.2)

5. Content

  1. The website has a link to the VCU homepage with the text "Virginia Commonwealth University" on every page. Content, VCU Homepage Link (5.1)
  2. If the website is for a unit of the university that has a parent unit, a link to the parent unit is provided on every page. Content, Parent Unit Link (5.2)
  3. The website provides contact information (e.g. address, phone, email) on every page. Content, Contact Information (5.3)
  4. The website provides a date of when the site or its pages were last updated or reviewed on every page. Content, Last Updated Date (5.4)
  5. The website does not use the phrase "PO Box ####" on any page. Content, Postal Box (5.5)
  6. The website includes links to the required inclusion resources. Content, Inclusion Links (5.6)
  7. The website provides a helpful 404 error page. Content, 404 Page (5.7)
  8. The website includes an input to the VCU search tool. Content, Search (5.8)
  9. If the website displays academic course and program information, it is supplementary to, not duplicated from, information in the VCU Bulletin. Content, Bulletin Information (5.9)
  10. If the website showcases, supplements, and/or summarizes academic course and program information, it includes a VCU Bulletin statement. Content, Bulletin Statement (5.10)
  11. The website does not deliver primary content via an iframe. Content, Third Party iFrames (5.10)

6. Content Management

  1. If the website requires a content management system (CMS), the VCU approved content management platform, TerminalFour, is used. Content Management, CMS Platform (6.1)
  2. The website contains a link to the TerminalFour “Direct Edit” mode of the site in the footer of every page. Content Management, Direct Edit Link (6.2)
  3. The website uses the appropriate TerminalFour navigation tags to generate links used to navigate the site. Content Management, Navigation Tags (6.3)
  4. The website provides configurable global header and footer sections within its TerminalFour page layout(s). Content Management, Configurable Head & Foot (6.4)

7. Design & Browser Compatibility

  1. The website utilizes HTML5 and works on modern browsers. Design & Browser Compatibility, Modern Support (7.1)
  2. The website does not use tables as the primary means of site structure or layout. Design & Browser Compatibility, Structure & Layout (7.2)
  3. The website utilizes external CSS stylesheets for styling. Design & Browser Compatibility, External Stylesheets (7.3)
  4. The website provides at least a 16px x 16px favicon. Design & Browser Compatibility, Favicons (7.4)
  5. If the website is not under development, assets such as images, css and javascript are not served from development environments. Design & Browser Compatibility, Development Environments & Resources (7.5)
  6. The website does not use Flash. Design & Browser Compatibility, Flash (7.6)

8. Domain

  1. The website uses a vcu.edu top-level domain. Domain, Top-Level Domains (8.1)
  2. The website uses a subdomain for a college, school, academic/administrative department, or central system/application. Domain, Subdomains (8.2)
  3. The website does not include "VCU," "ram," or "rams" in its subdomain. Domain, University & Mascot Names (8.3)
  4. The website does not include a person’s name in its domain or subdomain. Domain, Personal Names (8.4)
  5. The website uses a top-level domain hosted on a VCU approved web server. Domain, Hosting (8.5)

9. Mobile

  1. The website is responsive and mobile-friendly. Mobile, Responsive & Mobile-Friendly (9.1)
  2. The website utilizes viewport meta tag(s) to properly handle device width. Mobile, Viewport Meta Tags (9.2)
  3. The website passes the Google Mobile-Friendly Test. Mobile, Google Mobile-Friendly Test (9.3)
  4. The website has buttons and inputs that have a decent tap target area. Mobile, Tap Target Area (9.4)
  5. The website provides content that is equally available, visible, and navigable regardless of viewport size or viewing device. Mobile, Availability, Visibility, & Navigability (9.5)
  6. Content that requires the user to download an external application from a mobile application store or download library must include download instructions and contact information to request the content in alternate formats. Mobile, Third Party Mobile Applications (9.6)

10. Security

  1. The website is loaded over HTTPS with a valid certificate. Security, HTTPS (10.1)
  2. The website has a secure connection. Security, Secure Connection (10.2)
  3. If the website contains pages that require authentication or forms requesting sensitive data, these pages send requests over SSL with a secure connection. Security, Authentication & Form Requests (10.3)
  4. The website does not automatically redirect visitors to an external non vcu.edu domain. Security, Redirects (10.4)

11. Analytics

  1. If the website is using Google Analytics, it grants at least two VCU domain accounts administrator access to its Google Analytics account. Analytics, Redundant Account Access (11.1)
  2. If the website is using Google Analytics, it grants webservices@vcu.edu administrator access to its Google Analytics account. Analytics, Web Services Account Access (11.2)