Introduction

This set of policies, procedures, and guidelines is to serve the interests of users who visit Brigham Young University Hawaii's Web sites and to serve the institution's interests through the use of established design principles and through a consistent "look and feel," navigation, and interaction style.

These standards may appear to constrain variations found page-to-page on the Web site, the purpose is not to impose constraints on individual creativity. Rather, the goal is to present information and applications with default settings that offer the best in usability, based on sound design principles and evaluation with users. We welcome suggestions and proposals that users and developers have for improvement. Suggestions and questions should be referred to webteam@byuh.edu.

Usability comprises issues of universal access, we have attempted to include useful and relevant provisions, references, and pointers to ensure that users with varying perceptual and cognitive characteristics (people with "disabilities") or with varying operating contexts will be able to gather information and use applications effectively. More specifically, these standards have been written to provide compliance with Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act Amendments of 1998 published by The Architectural and Transportation Barriers Compliance Board. Details can be found at: http://www.access-board.gov/sec508/508standards.htm.

For general consideration of accessibility, it is helpful for designers and developers to think in terms of people with disabilities (e.g., vision-impaired users and motor-impaired users) whose major means of navigation is through the keyboard (primarily the tab key) or some means of initiating a response that is interpreted as a press of the tab key. Developing Web pages and applications with this in mind will result in Web pages that are consistently usable for a vast international audience. The Web Accessibility Initiative offers accessibility curriculum and training.