Aggie UX and Accessibility
Your compliance shortcutUsing a design system like Aggie UX is one of the most powerful strategies for proactively creating accessible websites. By using Aggie UX, you let our team focus on solving technical challenges in design and development. This frees up your team to focus on creating engaging, accessible content — no need to worry about the underlying technology.
Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) requires that all university websites, mobile applications, documents made available online and digital course materials be fully compliant with Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1 Level AA accessibility standards by April 24, 2026.
Breaking the Reactive Accommodation Cycle
Changes to the ADA formally shift accessibility requirements from a reactive accommodation stance to a proactive, mandated requirement. We’ve been working toward a proactive stance for creating accessible Texas A&M University websites through the creation, maintenance and growth of the Aggie UX design system.
Aggie UX is designed, developed and deployed while keeping accessibility in mind. Every piece of Aggie UX is measured against WCAG 2.1 Level AA accessibility standards — the federal requirement for university websites. WCAG Level AA compliance includes resolving all Level A and Level AA issues.
Integrating Accessibility into Aggie UX
at every step of the processFrom concept to launch, every component, template and functionality we provide is measured against WCAG Level A / AA compliance.
Design
Aggie UX is designed with a strong understanding of both design and technical accessibility requirements. This combined expertise allows us to design components and templates that can be visually engaging, user-focused and brand-compliant while being compatible with WCAG 2.1 Level AA requirements. We provide access to our design files on Figma, where you can create web page mockups using our components and templates that will visually mirror what you can create using our code or CMS implementations.
Front-end Development
We use authoring best practices to ensure the creative vision for components and functionality comes to life in compliant code. Each component is stored in our component library alongside documentation that highlights any relevant accessibility considerations. Each component is audited for WCAG 2.1 Level AA compliance (including keyboard operability and screen reader compatibility), ensuring that the code exported to our sites is robust, clean and future-proofed.
Cascade and WordPress
Our official Aggie UX Cascade templates and WordPress theme implement our accessible components into robust content management systems. Our CMS implementations ensure the technical heavy lifting — like semantic HTML structure and screen-reader labels — is handled automatically. We take care to make sure that site owners have the tools they need to make accessible content baked into the CMS, ensuring they don’t have to touch code to make an accessible website.
Using Aggie UX
This is where you come in. While we can make the platform accessible out-of-the-box, making the content accessible is the responsibility of the site owner. We provide the tools necessary to meet the requirements, empowering you to focus on crafting structured content and providing accessible alternatives for media.
Built for Continuous Improvement
Accessibility is a moving target, not a “one-and-done” checkbox. Aggie UX has the unique ability to evolve alongside new standards and user needs in real-time.
Technical Agility
When a component is optimized or a new WCAG guideline is released, we can update the design system accordingly. Because Aggie UX is a centralized design system, we have the ability to address issues impacting multiple sites and deploy solutions that impact all sites using our theme and templates.
Transparent Processes
We maintain a transparent feedback loop for improving Aggie UX over time. Users can report bugs, suggest component enhancements and view planned improvements on public dashboards. We built Aggie UX as a resource for the Texas A&M community, and we continue to improve it with input from those using the system.
An Accessible Platform Ready for Accessible Content
The Aggie UX team focuses on making an accessible platform, positioning you to be able to create accessible content.
What Aggie UX Provides
- Consistent UI patterns and layoutsConsistency in UI patterns help users predict how a site works.
- Accessible navigation and interactive elementsOur navigation components can be tapped, clicked and interacted with via keyboard. Visible hover and focus states paired with large-enough clickable areas also increase accessibility.
- Accessibility-tested semantic componentsAggie UX continuously adds new components and functionality while ensuring accessibility across all enhancements. If accessibility issues are found, they are addressed and fixes are published in a new version of Aggie UX.
- Accessible fontsOur font styles promote legibility and can be resized to help people who are low-vision.
- High-contrast color palettesAll components are designed to have enough contrast to promote visibility while being brand-compliant.
- Screen reader supportWe use semantic HTML and use ARIA labels as needed to help people using screen readers navigate and understand the site.
- Accessible, mobile-friendly code for tablesOur tables can be read by screen readers and displayed on mobile devices without requiring horizontal scrolling.
- The ability to add media alternativesWe provide methods to add alt text and other alternatives to multimedia content.
- User-controls on videosPeople visiting Aggie UX sites have the ability to pause and start videos, including videos used in sizzle reels in page headers.
Your Responsibilities
- Add page titles and use headingsEach page should have at least one heading (H1). Other headings on the page should be used hierarchically — not picked based on how they look.
- Write in plain languageEnsure your content makes sense in the order it appears on the page and is written in a way that most people can understand it.
- Write accessible link textInstead of linking vague text like “click here,” link words that describe what will happen or where you will go when you click. Write distinct link text for links that go to different locations.
- Add alt text to imagesAll images need alt text that describes what you see in the image / the meaning the image contributes to the content.
- Provide alternatives for multimedia contentFor video, provide captions, transcripts and audio descriptions. Provide transcripts for audio-only content.
- Create accessible tablesUse the code Aggie UX provides to create tables with table headers and captions. Only use tables to display data in columns and rows, not to create layouts.
- Ensure document accessibilityAll PDFs, presentations, Word Docs, and other documents uploaded to or linked to on your site must be accessible.
- Follow accessibility guidanceFollow guidance provided for creating accessible websites, such as avoiding uploading images or not setting videos with sound to autoplay.
- Use the Siteimprove dashboardsMonitor your sites’ accessibility scores and fix errors as they arise.
Monitor Site Accessibility
All Texas A&M website owners have the ability to monitor the accessibility (and quality assurance) of their sites using Siteimprove. Use Siteimprove to identify potential issues, learn how to address them and watch your scores over time. If you are responsible for a Texas A&M website, email web@tamu.edu with your name, NetID and the sites you are responsible for to get access.
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Site Launches
Schedule a launch readiness review and request assistance with your site launch.
Bugs and Issues
Let us know if something is broken or isn’t working as expected in Aggie UX.
Features
Have an idea to make Aggie UX better? Let us know!