ADA Accessible Course Catalogs: Important Considerations for Every College & University

Imagine a prospective student using a screen reader to explore your institution's course offerings. If your catalog relies on hover-only menus, embeds degree requirements in untagged PDFs, or uses color alone to convey important information, that student may not be able to access the content.

The DOJ's updated Title II ADA regulations require public institutions to meet Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1 Level AA standards, and the course catalog falls squarely within that scope. Those standards are organized around four core principles: content must be perceivable, operable, understandable, and robust. Here is what meeting those standards looks like for college and university catalogs.

Building Accessibility Into Your Catalog's Structure and Navigation

For students using assistive technology, the structure of a catalog page matters as much as its content. Without proper heading hierarchy, organized through semantic HTML (H1, H2, H3), screen reader users have no reliable way to skip between sections. Instead of jumping directly to course descriptions or degree requirements, they must listen to every element on the page in sequence.

Beyond headings, keyboard operability is a foundational requirement. Any catalog feature that requires a mouse for use, including hover-activated menus, non-keyboard-accessible dropdowns, or interactive filters, creates a barrier for students using alternative input devices.

Link text is part of this picture too. Descriptive links that clearly communicate their destination, rather than generic prompts, ensure that students navigating by screen reader can make informed decisions about where to go next. For example, a link like "Download the Annual Report" communicates clear action and purpose. A link that simply reads "Read More" does not give a screen reader user enough information to make an informed decision.

Visual Design and Media Content That Works for Every Student

Visual content is one of the most common sources of accessibility gaps in a course catalog. Images that lack alternative text are invisible to screen readers, leaving students who are blind or visually impaired without context for maps, charts, or program graphics that sighted users can immediately interpret.

The fix is straightforward: meaningful images need descriptive alt text, and decorative images should be marked so assistive technology can skip them. Similarly, video content embedded in catalog pages must be accessible. Program overview videos and virtual tours need accurate captions for students who are deaf or hard of hearing, and audio descriptions ensure that what appears on screen is also communicated in words.

The same principle of perceivability applies to color. When information is communicated through color alone, students with color blindness may miss it entirely. Any use of color to signal something important needs a corresponding text label to carry that meaning independently. Color contrast is a related but distinct concern. WCAG 2.1 sets a minimum contrast ratio of 4.5 to 1 between text and its background, a threshold that ensures readability for users with low vision. Catalog pages that use light gray text on white backgrounds, or similarly low-contrast combinations, may look clean visually but can create challenges for a portion of students.

PDF Accessibility and the Course Catalog: What to Address

Of all the accessibility considerations that apply to a course catalog, PDFs tend to be the most operationally complex. PDF accessibility requirements include a tagged structure so assistive technology can identify headings, lists, and tables, alt text for meaningful visuals, a declared document language, and a logical reading order.

When evaluating a catalog management platform, institutions should examine whether the technical foundation of accessibility requirements, including structural tagging, is handled automatically. Even when it is, catalog editors remain responsible for best practices around alt text, descriptive link text, and proper heading use.

Catalog accessibility best practices are a useful reference point for institutions getting started. Institutions managing large volumes of catalog PDFs should audit existing documents against these standards and build a review process for anything new before it goes live.

A Catalog Accessibility Checklist to Get Institutions Started

Meeting ADA accessibility standards in a course catalog is an important, ongoing commitment. For institutions starting that process, this checklist maps key catalog features to the four WCAG principles they support.

• Perceivable: Images have descriptive alt text, decorative images are coded to be skipped, color is never the sole signal for important information, text meets a 4.5 to 1 contrast ratio, and video includes captions and audio descriptions.
• Operable: All interactive elements work without a mouse, navigation is consistent across pages, and links use descriptive text.
• Understandable: Heading hierarchy follows a logical H1, H2, and H3 structure and page layouts behave consistently throughout the catalog.
• Robust: PDFs have tagged structure, selectable text, image alt text, a declared language, and a logical reading order, and HTML is used in place of PDFs wherever possible.