Grad Students can easily navigate the site which has the most up-to-date information about key resources such as thesis requirements, awards and funding information and professional development opportunities (Grad Navigate). As well, we invite you to view our grad student video gallery.

Grad Navigate features a one-stop shop of professional development training opportunities that are offered by various departments and are open to all graduate students. They will count towards TA training hours.

The site also features a special page for staff and faculty and another page for postdoctoral fellows interested in grad news, tools, and initiatives.

The design is mobile-friendly and responsive, making it much easier for everyone to view the site on their mobile devices. It is also AODA-compliant.

You can view the website at: .

The website also features technical upgrades that make it accessible to a wide variety of users. The site template automatically adjusts to almost any device width, and is 鈥渞etina ready鈥� for those with high-resolution devices. It is also AODA (Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act) compliant, meeting the Level AA standards outlined in WCAG (Web Content Accessibility Guidelines) 2.0.

Check out the new Undergraduate Admissions website today at .

鈥淒esignated public sector organizations and large organizations shall make their internet websites and web content conform with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.0, initially at Level A and increasing to Level AA.鈥�

All new website templates and new content must be compliant for the following dates:

• January 1, 2014 for 聽WCAG 2.0 Level A
• January 1, 2021 for WCAG 2.0 Level AA

You are not required to change old material until 2021l, however, if someone requests an accessible format of a section on your site, you must be able to provide it to them.

What is an accessible website?

In short, an accessible website is inclusive to all users, regardless of 聽web browsing experience or any physical disabilities they may have.

The WCAG explain how to make web content accessible to people with disabilities. There are four guiding principles:

1. 笔别谤肠别颈惫补产濒别听– Information and user interface must be presented to users in ways they can perceive.
2. 翱辫别谤补产濒别听– Users must be able to use the interface. It cannot require interaction that a user cannot perform.
3. 鲍苍诲别谤蝉迟补苍诲补产濒别听– Users must be able to understand the information as well as how to use the interface.
4. Robust 鈥� Users must be able to access the content as technologies advance. In other words, as technologies and user agents evolve, the content should remain accessible.

(Sourced from )

From a template perspective

The CCMS website template is now fully compliant with both Level A and Level AA.聽 The key components of having an accessible website include:

• Presentation: does not rely on a single sensory characteristic (ie: no flash).
• Text: content is organized using <p> tags and a <title> tag that describes the topic/purpose.
• Colours: colours are easily distinguished as is contrast ratio.
• Zooming: quality is not lost when resized to 200%.
• Keystroke functionality: the users needs to be able to easily navigate the site using keyboard strokes
• Navigation menus and Functional components: repeating functions (ie: navigation, search) that are on multiple pages appear in the same order.

From a content perspective

Website content managers must ensure that any new website content is Level A compliant by January 2014 and all their website content must be Level AA compliant by January 2021.

The key components of having accessible website content include:

• Non text: All non-text content has a text alternative.
• Lists:聽 Lists, groups of links, or other listable items are listed using <ol>, <ul>, or <dl>.
• Paste from plain text:聽 Web content can be perceived easily when reading top to bottom in the source code.
• 滨尘补驳别蝉:听 Text is used to convey information rather than images of text if it鈥檚 possible at all.
• Links: All links describe its purpose accurately by itself or within the context of the links.
• Headings: Headings are used properly in a hierchical fashion, and describe the topic accurate.
• Plain language: Paragraphs and sentences are short and written in plain, concise language.

This information is covered in our .

Not on the CCMS?聽 Need help making your website accessible?

At 杏吧原创 over 300 departmental and administrative websites聽 are on the .聽 Acceessibility standards apply to websites both on and off the 杏吧原创 template.聽聽 All websites that fall under the carleton.ca domain need to meet these accessibility standards.聽 is here to help.

If you manage a website not on the CCMS, to get started.

Learn more about Accessibility at 杏吧原创

杏吧原创 University is committed to achieving barrier free accessibility for persons with disabilities studying, visiting and working at 杏吧原创.

The goal of the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act (AODA) is to develop a fully accessible Ontario by the year 2025. In order to reach this goal, five standards are being developed in the areas of Customer Service, Employment, Information and Communication, Built Environment and Transportation.

Learn more at the website.

The new 杏吧原创 Current Students site runs off WordPress 3.5.1 and uses (SASS) as a CSS pre-processor.

When coding the site, it was important for it to be fully accessible and responsive.

When designing the site, the were looking to showcase more stories on the homepage, to enhance the search function and to improve online student communications.

The new Current Students website is:

• AODA Compliant
  The new site meets Level AA com pliancy, as outlined in the .

• Responsive
  Using , the new template adjusts to the screen size of the device the user is on.聽 This eliminated the need to create a separate mobile template.

• Retina ready
  The new site features graphics suitable for hi-resolution devices.聽 This was done using and vector graphics.

• 聽Visually appealing
  The new banner offers an attractive visual representation of the top stories.

• Consistent
  The content is now contained in a consistent template.聽 In the previous design, users were switched to a different template once they went past the homepage.聽 The new site maintains its consistent design throughout.

• Searchable
  Improved “杏吧原创 Help” search tool for locating support services.

In addition, the site has gone from 杏吧原创.ca/students to students.carleton.ca.聽 This new URL is in line with the sub domain architecture that we’re moving towards.聽 Rest assured, carleton.ca/students will continue to work.

Check out the new site today at .

At this event, the Web Services department presented on various topics, including聽 upcoming AODA web requirements, the new CCMS template for departmental and administrative websites, training and support and latest accomplishments.

.

As such, 杏吧原创 websites and web content must conform to accessibility standards by January 2014.

If you maintain a website under the聽carleton.ca聽domain that is not a part of the CCMS (杏吧原创 Content Management Service) run by ITS, it is important that you fill out the .

You聽 will then receive information about how to check your websites accessibility level, and information on how to become fully compliant.

CCMS users should expect similar instructions in the near future.