File Linking
Section 508 is a 1998 amendment to the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 that establishes federal accessibility guidelines for electronic and information
technology. South Carolina has mandated that state agency Web sites become compliant
by July 21, 2006. Winthrop University is included in this state-wide accessibility
initiative.
Studies have shown users want to know the file type of files requiring a download to view. Users with low bandwidth want to know the file size to get a sense of the time required to view a resource. Even today, the number of
internet users who have high speed access would surprise you.
Adobe PDF
The Winthrop University site uses Adobe Acrobat to display certain documents. All
Adobe files should follow these basic accessibility guidelines before being uploaded
to the Winthrop University website:
- File type and size information should be noted for each file made available on the
site.
- The information should be available at the link level and should include the following:
Subject or Title of File (file format — file size)
- Capitalization of the notations does not matter as long as you are consistent throughout the site.
- Feel free to round off to the nearest whole number when reporting file sizes.
- You may choose to hyperlink just the title of the file or the title and size.
Example 1: Biology: Graduate Brochure (pdf - 407.66 KB)
Example 2: Chemistry (PDF - 74.77 KB)
- On web pages where files are posted as .PDF, a link to the Adobe Acrobat Reader must be included.
- Link to provide: Download Acrobat Reader.
- The link may be provided within the content block or by using a linked button graphic
(on the right side of the page).
- If the page links only to PDF files, use this notice (or something similar):
NOTE: Adobe provides free software that allows users to view PDF files. To open such files,
please download Adobe Reader.
For assistance using assistive technology to access a PDF, check out Adobe's "Accessing PDF Documents with Assistive Technology: A Screen Reader User's Guide." (PDF - 368 KB)
Graphics for PDFs
