Meeting the PDF Accessibility Challenge
The UND website hosts over 8,000 PDFs, most of which do not meet accessibility standards. With the Department of Justice now requiring all online content to comply with WCAG 2.1 Level AA by April 2026, we must act to ensure accessibility for all users.
To address this issue, we’re exploring several solutions. Some universities have eliminated PDFs entirely from their websites due to accessibility lawsuits. While this is an option, we prefer to take more balanced steps first.
What You Need to Know and Do
- Effective immediately, do not upload any new PDFs unless necessary (e.g., for forms requiring signatures or printable documents). If the content can be presented as a web page, it must be published as such. PDFs should only be used for print-specific purposes. No exceptions.
- Existing PDFs can remain for now, but most must be converted into web content or remediated. We are actively exploring tools and solutions to facilitate the remediation process. You may begin remediation efforts now using available resources or wait for further instructions.
We will provide more information, including new tools and processes to support these changes after an RFP process.