Resources for Computer Accessibility

New Accessibility Compliance Date

The compliance date for the new rule on Accessibility of Web Content and Mobile Apps Provided by State and Local GovernmentsÌý¾±²õÌýApril 24, 2026.

To comply, all web content and mobile apps must meet the technical standard of the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) Version 2.1, Level AA.

For more information view: 

This page provides instructions on computer accessibility.

Getting Started

For more information on accessibility guidelines, policies and laws, please see:

Training

To learn how to fix accessibility issues, please see UHʻs page.

Creating accessible websites & testing them:[1]

Information on how to create accessible websites may be found on the UH’s page.

View the Siteimprove Dashboard to get an overview of how accessibility scores have changed over time.  Utilize the options on the dashboard to see all sites or those for a specific campus.  If you are a Siteimprove user you can also see the scores for just your site as well.

To test your websites for accessibility issues, please see the following tools:

Note: For any extension mentioned above from the Chrome Web Store, in order to download and install the extension, you will need to log out of your Â鶹´«Ã½account on your web browser. Once the installation is finished you can then log back in.

Creating accessible documents & files:

provides resources for: Adobe Acrobat and InDesign, Microsoft Office for Word, Excel, and PowerPoint, and Google tools Docs, Sheets, and Slides.

For PDF remediation services, please see and .

To learn how to fix accessibility issues for documents and files, please see UHʻs page.

Creating accessible videos with closed captions:

Closed captioning allows for viewers to toggle on/off captions or subtitles when viewing videos. In order to play a video that allows for closed captioning, one must either have a player, like YouTube, or “merge” both a sidecar file (.srt, .vtt, etc.) and video in a player that allows for this feature.

The following are free to minimal cost resources on creating accessible videos with closed captions:

  • YouTube explains .
  • Uploaded videos on can also be closed caption.
  • Service-for-fee like Ìý²¹²Ô»å allows its users to add videos in public spaces.

The following are paid services available for captioning videos:

  • Otter.ai (Standard Tier) – Utilizes powerful AI tools to create and collaborate on transcriptions.
  • 3Play Media (Premium Tier) – Their three step process for transcription uses speech recognition, human editing, and human quality assurance to provide the highest accuracy.

For more information on available captioning tools, and for help in determining which tool may best suit your specific needs, please refer to our Creating Accessible Media page.

Creating auditory transcriptions:

Providing auditory descriptions will also aid with a visual representation. Please see the following links: and .

More information on accessibility at UH:

The 2017 IT All-Campus Workshop includes Google Slides for accessibility and .

The Center for Disability Studies’ Media Center offers accessibility services. For more information, please contact Dr. Kiriko Takahashi at kiriko@hawaii.edu.

General information on accessibility:

  • for making files accessible.
  • University of Washington’s (UW) Faculty Room – information on basic , additional , and a of case studies, practices and Q&As regarding accessibility.
  • Why icon fonts pose an accessibility problem:
    • (28:57), , and 
  • Procurement guidelines for other Universities:
    • University of Washington’s
    • University of California’s

[1] While automated accessibility auditors are excellent resources, they still require a knowledgeable person to address false-positives and false-negatives in their reporting.