EIR Accessibility Tools and Resources

There are many tools and resources that can help your agency achieve EIR accessibility, and we make some of those available to you here. We hope you will find them helpful. 

Development Tools and Resources 

Basics 

Forms 

Glossary 

  • The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) has developed a comprehensive glossary and dictionary of all web-related terms. 

HTML 

  • HTML5: This robust technical specification for web developers facilitates accessibility.  

  • The Illinois Center for Information Technology and Web Accessibility provides a detailed list of HTML best practices for developing accessible sites. 

Multimedia 

  • Texas Workforce Commission developed the following documents pertaining to the benefits of multimedia, who is affected by multimedia inaccessibility issues, and what techniques are important for ensuring accessibility compliance with state law and international standards: 

PDF 

Plain language 

Tables 

Web applications 

Testing Tools and Resources 

Accessibility 

Colorblindness 

  • Color Oracle is a free color blindness simulator for your computer. 

  • Daltonize lets you check images or a web page for colorblind visibility. 

Checklists 

Screen readers 

  • Developed for computer users whose vision loss prevents them from seeing screen content, JAWS reads aloud what is on the computer screen. Check WebAIM for tips on using JAWS to evaluate web accessibility and a list of JAWS keyboard shortcuts, especially for new or occasional JAWS users. 

  • VoiceOver is a built-in screen reader integrated into all Mac operating systems and products. 

Standards and guidelines 

  • Section 508 requires federal agencies to make their electronic and information technology accessible to people with disabilities. Visit this site for detailed and summarized information on the Section 508 Standards

  • All Texas state agencies and institutions of higher education are required to comply with Texas Administrative Codes 1 TAC 206 (State Websites) and 1 TAC 213 (Electronic and Information Resources). 

  • The Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI) develops guidelines widely regarded as the international standard for web accessibility including Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG). 

Usability Tools and Resources 

  • Developed by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Usability.gov is a guide for developing usable and useful websites. 

  • UsabilityFirst.com is an online guide to usability resources including a usability glossary

  • Discover 508 for SharePoint is a product that improves usability and accessibility of SharePoint sites for blind and visually impaired users performing​​ core collaborative tasks, such as uploading documents, creating lists and libraries, managing users and groups, creating calendar events, editing Wiki content, etc. 

  • Jakob Nielsen’s Usability Heuristics presents 10 general principles for user interface design. 

Management Tools and Resources 

Designate an EIR Accessibility Coordinator - IRM notifies DIR via online form. 

NOTE: Much of the following content was created by third parties, therefore, DIR can neither endorse the content, products, services, or viewpoints expressed by the linked files, nor assume any responsibility for the content of these presentations. 

Persons having difficulty accessing electronic information on a state website should contact the specific agency hosting the website. 

About File Formats

Some documents on this page are in the PDF format. Please download the Adobe Reader in order to view these documents.