The City of Oklahoma City is dedicated to serving all people. We need to give equitable access to all of our digital services and web content. We must consider the need of Oklahoma City residents, City staff and anyone doing business with the City.

Purpose

This standard explains what you need to do to make your web content and services accessible. We need to design and build services and content that everyone can access and understand.

These standards apply to public facing websites, online applications and digital content primarily intended for use by City residents and visitors.

They apply to:

  • Everything online run by or for the City, its departments and commissions
  • Digital content created by elected officials, employees, consultants and vendors.

Standard requirements

All new City of Oklahoma City websites, online applications, and digital content are required to:

  1. Follow Oklahoma City's equitable design requirements and Level AA of the most recent Web Content Accessibility Guidelines.
  2. Provide vital information for the public at a 5th grade level. In cases where technical or legal language is necessary, you must provide a summary at 5th grade level. Vital information is defined by the City's Language Access Policy (being finalized).
  3. Provide human translation of vital information in the threshold languages defined by the Language Access Policy (being finalized). This includes clear navigation to translations. Currently these languages are xxxxxx. Translation for other relevant languages is encouraged.

All City digital content must comply with all City, State and Federal laws and regulations, and with all state and federal Constitutional guarantees, such as the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act.

Current supported technologies

The City's Public Information and Marketing team designs and maintains OKC.gov. OKC.gov is meant for residents to access City information and services and is available for all departments. OKC.gov's design allow access to uses of assistive access to users of assistive technologies, non-English speakers and the broader public. OKC.gov also follows all standards outlined in this document. Departments are encouraged to work with Digital Services to meet the City's accessibility standards through OKC.gov.

All department websites are required to meet the standards described in this document. Departments not using OKC.gov must ensure compliance with these standards.

Background

The City of Oklahoma City designs websites and digital tools to empower all people living, working or visiting. Disabilities can make it difficult to use websites, online applications and digital content. In addition to meeting accessibility compliance obligations defined in ADA Title II, we want to build a better online experience for everyone, particularly those who have disabilities or difficulty reading English.

The equitable design requirements listed below improve websites and services for all users, including those with disabilities. They ensure we include all people when providing online services and information.

Affordable

  • Websites must minimize data transfer required to perform basic functions.
  • Websites must minimize the amount of data on each page. For example, by not using images unless they directly convey information needed to use the service.
  • Websites should show download size on large documents in advance of download.

Secure

  • The City’s IT policies (link) outlines the technical requirements for making websites secure.

Mobile first

  • Websites must be designed to be easily accessed on mobile devices.
  • PDFs should be eliminated in favor of web pages because they do not work well on mobile devices. At minimum, any PDFs used must be accessible to someone using assistive technology such as a screen reader.

Standard details – accessibility requirements

All websites for the City must follow all technical requirements of the most recent Web Content Accessibility Guidelines, Level AA. At time of standard publication this means compliance with Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.1, Level AA, and its four principles:

Perceivable - Information and user interface components must be shown to users in ways they can perceive.

Operable - User interface components and navigation must be operable.

Understandable - Information and the operation of the user interface must be understandable.

Robust - Content must be robust enough that it can be interpreted reliably by a variety of users.

In addition, all websites must follow these specific Level AAA requirements:

  • Abbreviations: A mechanism for identifying the expanded meaning of abbreviations is available.
  • Attachments: Attachments are accessible to everyone, including users who use assistive technology like screen readers.
  • Editing: When web content is edited, it is re-tested for accessibility.
  • Help: Help in context is available.
  • Link text: Make sure all links are provided at the point in the content at which they're useful without visibly displaying the URL or "here".
  • Pronunciation: There is a way for identifying pronunciation of words where their meaning is ambiguous.
  • Reduced Motion: Respect a user's preference for reduced motion.
  • Skip to Main Content: Allow screen reader users to easily skip repetitive navigation.
  • Unusual Words: There is a way for identifying definitions of words or phrases used in an unusual or restricted way, including idioms and jargon.
  • User Testing: User testing is a standard practice for ensuring accessibility.