Accessibility statement
We are committed to making the information and resources provided through our website accessible to all users.
We aim to be standards compliant and follow general usability principles to help all visitors to this web site.
This central section of the Cardiff University web site meets level AA (2) of the World Wide Web Consortium's (W3C) Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI) Web Content Accessibility Guidelines, and as far as possible meets level AAA (3).
Pages on the Cardiff University site aim to conform to both the spirit and the letter of the United Kingdom Disability Discrimination Act (DDA) 1995. In accordance with the DDA and the Special Educational Needs and Disability Act (SENDA) 2001, we aim to ensure that all Cardiff University web pages conform partially to the W3C's WAI Web Content Accessibility Guidelines at Level AA, and we are engaged in improving compliance with these Guidelines.
It is possible that some of our older pages might not conform to these standards. However, we are actively engaging with information providers across the University to ensure that all future web pages are compliant with accessibility guidelines.
We intend to continue improving the accessibility of our site, so if you have any difficulty accessing the site and require further help, or if you have any suggestions to help improve our accessibility, please contact us.
The following statement explains how the Cardiff University website (www.cardiff.ac.uk) meets the 2018 The Public Sector Bodies (Websites and Mobile Applications) (No. 2) Accessibility Regulations.
About this statement
This statement was prepared on 16 September 2019. It was updated on 23 September 2019.
This page will be updated as further accessibility improvements are made.
How accessible this website is
This website can be used with a screen reader and has the following built-in accessibility features:
- ability to skip to the content of each page
- you can navigate it using a keyboard or voice commands
- you can zoom in or out
- the design uses high colour contrast
- the design adapts to different devices and screen sizes
- the design does not use colour as the only way to distinguish something
- moving content can be stopped
- images of text are not used in the design or content
- each part of the page is highlighted as it is selected
- form fields have accessible labels
- each page is structured with correct, meaningful HTML
When we publish information on this website, we will:
- structure content well
- use plain English (except for academic or scientific words that don’t have an alternative)
- use short sentences
- explain acronyms
- make sure PDFs or other documents are accessible
- write good link text
- make images and videos accessible
- ensure new features work on assistive technologies
However, we know that some aspects of this website are not fully accessible and we are continuing to work on resolving them:
- some content may not be in plain English or short sentences
- navigation links may be confused with other links on the page
- lists of content may contain duplicate links
- wide HTML tables cannot be viewed on small screens
- a large proportion of PDFs and other documents are not fully accessible to screen reader software
- video and audio may not have captions or transcripts
What to do if you cannot access parts of this website
If you need information on this website in a different format (accessible PDF, large print, easy read, audio recording or braille) please contact web@cardiff.ac.uk. We will consider your request and respond within five working days.
Reporting accessibility problems with this website
If you find any problems not listed on this page or think we’re not meeting accessibility requirements, contact our Assurance Services team.
Assurance Services
Enforcement procedure
The Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) is responsible for enforcing the Public Sector Bodies (Websites and Mobile Applications) (No. 2) Accessibility Regulations 2018 (the ‘accessibility regulations’). If you’re not happy with how we respond to your complaint, contact the Equality Advisory and Support Service (EASS).
Technical information about this website’s accessibility
Cardiff University is committed to making its website accessible, in accordance with the Public Sector Bodies (Websites and Mobile Applications) (No. 2) Accessibility Regulations 2018.
This website is partially compliant with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines version 2.1 AA standard, due to the non-compliances listed below.
Non-accessible content
The content listed below is non-accessible for the following reasons.
Non-compliance with the accessibility regulations
Specific aspects of this website are non-complaint with the WCAG 2.1 AA standard, as shown in the table below. As the site becomes more compliant over time, this table will be updated.
| WCAG 2.1 Success Criteria | Description | Non-compliant pages | Proportion of pages that are compliant |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2.4.4 | Link text used for multiple different destinations | 6,682 | 80.40% |
| 2.4.4 | Image link is missing alternative text | 4,292 | 87.40% |
| 1.4.1 | Link identified only by colour | 3,546 | 89.60% |
| 1.3.1 | Element ID is not unique | 2,949 | 91.30% |
| 2.4.7 | Element not highlighted on focus | 2,359 | 93.10% |
| 1.3.1 | HTML is used to format content | 1,195 | 96.50% |
| 4.1.2 | iFrame is missing a title | 622 | 98.20% |
| 1.3.1 | "u" tag used to format text | 494 | 98.50% |
| 1.4.3 | Colour contrast is insufficient | 526 | 98.50% |
| 1.3.1 | Local link destination does not exist | 438 | 98.70% |
| 1.3.1 | Heading is missing text | 386 | 98.90% |
| 2.4.4 | Link text is too generic in its current context | 289 | 99.20% |
| 1.1.1 | Image with no alt attribute | 117 | 99.70% |
| 1.3.1 | "Bold" tag used to format text | 91 | 99.70% |
| 2.4.2 | Webpage title is missing text | 75 | 99.80% |
| 2.4.6 | Form control label is missing text | 44 | 99.90% |
Documents
Most of the 454 PDFs and 352 Word documents on www.cardiff.ac.uk that have been published since 23 September 2018 are non-compliant.
Maps
Sophisticated, interactive maps may not have an accessible alternative.
Disproportionate burden
At present there are no accessibility problems on www.cardiff.ac.uk that we consider to be a disproportionate burden to resolve.
Content that’s not within the scope of the accessibility regulations
Older PDFs and other documents
Documents that were published before 23 September 2018 and are not essential to providing our services are exempt from the regulations.
Audio and video
Live video streams such as our graduation ceremonies are exempt from the accessibility regulations. Other audio and video are exempt from the regulations until September 2020.
Special collections and archives
Our historical library collections are exempt from the regulations.
Maps
Interactive maps are exempt from the regulations, but an accessible alternative is required.
How we tested this website
This website is tested weekly by Cardiff University using a tool called SiteImprove. This tool reports accessibility problems and we tackle them in order of greatest impact.