News

Best and Worst College Web Sites for Blind Students

December 12, 2010

Some college Web pages treat blind students who rely on text-to-speech readers better than others. Jon Gunderson, coordinator of assistive communication and information-technology accessibility at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, has reviewed Web pages at 183 institutions. He selected the colleges mostly from 15 major athletic conferences, since those institutions are similar in size and mission. He also surveyed all institutions in California’s two university systems, and those in one Colorado university system, because of their large enrollments. He reviewed university home pages, main pages from the admissions offices and colleges of liberal arts, as well as all other pages with links on those primary sites. The percentages in each column indicate the proportion of pages that met Mr. Gunderson’s accessibility criteria.

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Institution	Rank	Total Average Score¹	Web Site Name²	Additional Headings³	Online Applications⁴	Information Tables⁵	Pictures⁶	Web site Design⁷
Missouri State U.	1	91.8	97.6	79.3	92.2	50	90.4	99.2
California State U. at Northridge	2	87.2	83.9	75.5	91.2	58.3	93.2	98.9
Calif. Polytechnic State U. at San Luis Obispo	3	82.6	61.1	92.9	97.5	60	97.6	96.4
U. of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign	4	82.2	92.8	90.8	77	50	48	98
Indiana U. at Bloomington	5	81.2	91	88.1	49.5	62.5	69.3	100
California State U.-Channel Islands	6	80.7	51.7	96.5	98.2	50	100	96.5
Oregon Institute of Technology	7	79.3	81.8	85.8	77.5	43.7	57.5	96.9
Nevada State College	8	78.1	68.4	45.6	97.7	n/a	93.4	95.6
U. of Evansville	9	77.6	92.5	90.8	0	50	86.2	97.7
California State U. at Chico	10	77.3	70	75.8	70.5	62.5	96.4	81.2
Michigan State U.	11	76.9	53.5	81.9	92.5	29.1	92.3	95.1
U. of Tulsa	12	76.5	96.4	1.7	0	0	99.4	98.8
College of the Holy Cross	13	76.2	88.6	69.9	20	12.5	47.9	92.6
U. of Minnesota-Twin Cities	14	75	76.1	94.3	24.7	50	91.6	93.1
U. of Illinois at Chicago	15	74.8	66.1	72.5	95.4	16.6	80.3	92.1
Loyola U. Chicago	16	73.6	92.8	80.9	0	6.2	84.2	97.1
California State U.-East Bay	17	73.4	47.5	77	90	63.8	90	92
U. of Texas at Austin	18	72.3	56.3	66.9	88.4	41	96	77.8
Southern Illinois U. at Carbondale	19	72.3	56.5	82.6	82.2	43.7	90.2	73.9
U. of California at San Francisco	20	71.7	70.5	80	71	52.2	54.1	94.1
U. of Kansas	21	71.6	69	45.8	79.3	16.6	74.4	97
Pennsylvania State U. at University Park	22	71.4	50.6	70.7	84.6	75	79.3	94.2
Duke U.	23	71	80.4	45.6	50	n/a	76	93.4
U. of Houston	24	70.7	71.4	84.4	1.5	50	87.3	96.9
Texas Tech U.	25	70.3	65.2	44.5	80.8	50	79.6	88.2
California State U. at Fresno	26	70.1	58	75	6.2	75	85.1	92.8
California State U. at San Bernardino	27	70	53.8	57.1	81	64.2	94.5	87.9
San Francisco State U.	28	69.8	52.4	68.3	69.3	59.3	86.1	93.9
U. of California at Riverside	29	69.7	75.8	5.9	86.7	37.5	83	98.3
Cornell U.	30	69.5	62.6	53.3	58.7	25	95.1	94.2
U. of Oregon	31	69.1	72.5	55.8	80.9	25	50.8	95
Humboldt State U.	32	68.9	63.5	64.8	31.5	56.8	94.2	97.2
U. of Colorado at Denver	33	68.9	52	60.2	91.7	69.4	83.5	73.9
California State U.-Dominguez Hills	34	68.6	48	73.2	5.2	75	94.6	86.2
Arizona State U.	35	68.2	57.4	46.5	89.3	0	68	95
California Polytechnic U. at Pomona	36	68.2	44.7	72.2	91.7	50	67.4	93.3
U. of California at Berkeley	37	67.8	73.1	53.6	22.1	82.2	90.4	81.5
U. of Utah	38	67.7	38	57.1	5.2	98.3	76.2	87.7
Western Oregon U.	39	67.7	62	88	0	n/a	92	100
U. of Michigan	40	67.5	57.6	59.5	67.6	25	71.5	92.8
U. of Nebraska at Lincoln	41	67.4	49	53.4	44.9	81.6	95.5	94.9
St. Louis U.	42	67.1	81.9	83.8	0.6	50	64.5	90
U. of Detroit Mercy	43	67	65.7	94.2	1.9	50	78	96.1
Brown U.	44	67	70.5	86.8	3	45.8	67.7	95.9
U. of Nevada at Reno	45	67	61.7	80	6	50	94.1	98.8
Oregon State U.	46	66.7	82.1	61	8.1	40	73.6	93.6
San Jose State U.	47	66.7	39.4	66.6	92.7	20	92.7	87.7
Illinois State U.	48	65.9	65.7	82.8	0	50	77.5	97.8
Adams State College	49	65.6	59	78.7	6	n/a	93.9	96.9
U. of Montana	50	64.6	63.3	72.5	52.3	54.1	77	0
Virginia Tech	51	64.5	62.4	62.1	20	41.6	90.6	93.1
U. of Dayton	52	64.5	80	10.7	0	50	92.3	92.3
Dartmouth College	53	63.7	70	72.4	0.6	41.9	90.8	87.4
U. of California at Davis	54	63.7	48.8	56.2	75.4	33.3	80	82.9
St. Joseph’s U.	55	63.6	63.5	76	91.9	23.3	5.8	93.6
California State U. at Long Beach	56	63.4	39.1	43.4	95	52.2	68	98.3
Texas A&M U.	57	62.9	73.6	45.3	78.3	50	18.6	96.2
Colorado State U. at Pueblo	58	62.6	98.9	33.3	n/a	25	80.6	3.2
Duquesne U.	59	62.5	73.4	46	2.2	0	90.9	88.2
U. of Arizona	60	62.5	86.9	15.9	92.4	50	12.6	98.1
Sonoma State U.	61	62.5	61.3	64.1	75	46.8	86.7	47.1
Oregon Health and Science U.	62	62.5	77.3	0	42.8	57.1	88	92.8
U. of Central Florida	63	62.1	59	65.3	33	12.5	68.5	90.5
U. of Missouri	64	61.9	66.5	59.6	46.2	44.2	69.7	79.8
Creighton U.	65	61.9	72.2	8.3	32.3	n/a	94.2	91.6
U. of Notre Dame	66	61.8	63.3	38.3	30	0	86.7	87.2
Northern Arizona U.	67	61.6	82.3	72.5	0	n/a	68.6	0
U. of New Mexico	68	61.2	55.3	61.4	44.6	56.2	69.6	81.1
U. of California at Los Angeles	69	61.2	84.6	85.8	6.3	50	92.6	23.1
Colorado State U. at Fort Collins	70	60.4	61.1	20	41.1	67.9	78.4	92.3
U. of Iowa	71	60.2	53.7	55	45	n/a	78.7	73.7
North Carolina State U.	72	60.1	66.6	53.3	19.5	75	79.7	71.1
Mesa State College	73	59.5	51.7	60.7	0	25	96.4	100
Florida State U.	74	59.2	60	63.3	2.5	33.3	88.3	82.3
Iowa State U.	75	58.1	58.3	20.4	35.2	25	94.8	86.8
Boston College	76	57.9	66.4	61.3	0	42.8	61.3	92.8
U. of Wisconsin at Milwaukee	77	57.9	48.4	86	0	34.7	83.9	93
San Diego State U.	78	57.8	40.4	49.3	61.1	10.7	94.5	80.8
California State U. at Los Angeles	79	57.4	45	44.1	24.1	37.5	82.8	83.3
U. of Maryland at College Park	80	57.3	59.7	55.5	3.3	50	77	84.5
U. of Pittsburgh	81	57.2	54.7	52.7	23	n/a	52.9	77
U. of California at San Diego	82	57.2	56	46.1	42.2	50	56.5	86.2
Portland State U.	83	56.9	86.2	87.7	0	19.5	85.1	0
U. of Rhode Island	84	56.4	46.1	13.8	81.2	n/a	61.1	90.2
U. of Miami	85	56.3	65.2	49.5	2	25	74.2	83.5
U. of Nevada at Las Vegas	86	56.2	60.1	39.3	1	50	84.8	91.9
St. Bonaventure U.	87	56.1	57.6	88.4	0	n/a	56	76.9
Lehigh U.	88	55.1	75.4	71.1	0	n/a	50	58.6
U. of Oklahoma	89	54.8	45.1	61.1	3	50	85	89.3
Columbia U.	90	54.7	69.1	66.9	11.8	0	21.9	84.8
U. of Northern Colorado	91	54.1	54.3	69.8	1.1	25	81.8	0
Rutgers U.	92	53.9	76.2	84.3	0	37.5	0.6	86.8
California State U. at Bakersfield	93	53.6	30	14.2	87.8	0	90	87.1
California State U. at Sacramento	94	53.5	35.2	59	95.1	42.5	66.6	0
U. of Louisville	95	53.2	22.9	12	95.1	50	97.5	69.6
U. of Wisconsin at Madison	96	53.1	37.9	41.8	36.1	20	75.1	91.4
California State U.-Monterey Bay	97	53.1	44.9	42.3	89.7	50	88.1	3.3
Xavier U.	98	53	54.5	43.5	0	0	44.2	98.4
U. of North Carolina at Chapel Hill	99	52.8	50.4	25.2	61.9	37.5	54.8	79.4
Drake U.	100	52.6	60.1	63.8	0	50	26.5	72.3
U. of California at Merced	101	52.5	51.9	39.2	1.8	32.1	63.7	88.2
Purdue U.	102	52.4	75.6	29.8	2	38.8	37.3	95.5
Tulane U.	103	52.3	50.6	53.9	3.3	36.2	79.1	80.9
U. of Colorado at Colorado Springs	104	52.1	60.6	72.7	3	50	57.5	60.6
Ohio State U.	105	52	30.5	23	70.7	45.8	74.3	85.8
Kansas State U.	106	51.9	45.7	70.3	0.7	16.6	51.3	94.7
Butler U.	107	51.9	60.3	60.7	0	25	33.3	98.5
U. of Wisconsin at Green Bay	108	51.8	40.4	62.4	1.6	12.5	71.2	72
Stanford U.	109	51.5	55	78.2	4.3	25	16.7	96.9
Idaho State U.	110	51.2	70.9	37.5	0.9	20	34.8	98
Washington State U.	111	50.9	78.8	12.5	0	n/a	35.3	94.2
U. of Virginia	112	50.8	48.3	43.5	4.7	25	76.2	80.6
U. of Washington	113	50.6	46.5	35.6	41.7	50	57.8	74.7
California Maritime Academy	114	50.6	64.1	80	3.6	50	79.3	10
Princeton U.	115	50.4	53.4	18.8	0.9	46.4	87.1	87.1
Fort Lewis College	116	50	38.4	38.4	0	n/a	38.4	100
Wake Forest U.	117	49.9	52.2	64	3.6	50	35.2	88.7
West Virginia U.	118	49.5	30.2	39.4	0	n/a	83.3	97.2
Eastern Oregon U.	119	49	42.1	20.3	0	12.5	93.7	95.3
Georgia Institute of Technology	120	48.7	55.4	15.9	0	50	60.8	100
Bradley U.	121	48.7	50.8	71.4	0	0	51.7	64.2
Bucknell U.	122	48.6	77.1	0	1.2	33.3	38.5	100
American U.	123	48.2	67.4	32.8	1.4	26.3	74.2	97.1
U. of Northern Iowa	124	48	47.2	26	40.9	n/a	69.5	56.5
U. of California at Irvine	125	47.7	45.7	34.6	25.5	45	70.3	62.5
U. of Richmond	126	47	57.3	68.4	1	n/a	8.4	88.4
Syracuse U.	127	46.9	45.4	13.7	23.2	0	64.2	90.3
U. of Wyoming	128	46.9	52.5	87.9	0	n/a	18.7	50
Yale U.	129	46.6	57.5	37.8	6.9	50	85.6	32
Marquette U.	130	46.1	46.5	89.3	0	10	0.6	93.6
Cleveland State U.	131	46.1	43.6	18.9	0	33.3	72.6	97.8
California State U. at Fullerton	132	46.1	31.3	34.4	12.7	30.5	95.8	65.5
U. of Texas at El Paso	133	45.7	17.6	22.2	80	44.6	92.4	66.6
St. John’s U. (N.Y.)	134	45.1	59.5	59.9	0	16.6	1.2	93.3
Northwestern U.	135	44.7	39.5	14.8	5.1	41.6	81.8	87.4
Indiana State U.	136	44.6	36.1	25.5	0	20	68.8	93.3
U. of Colorado at Boulder	137	43.7	55.9	65.7	0	33.3	30.9	53.2
George Washington U.	138	42.9	35.6	68.2	18	50	12.5	86.2
Brigham Young U.	139	42.8	25	50	20	n/a	33.3	100
Temple U.	140	42.7	26.2	40.5	34.1	55	54.4	71.2
U. of South Florida	141	42.6	50.6	22	4.4	43.7	33.7	77.9
Clemson U.	142	41.9	73.6	3.3	1.2	27.7	9	89.8
U. of Memphis	143	41.6	12.2	10.4	92.9	50	88.2	2.3
DePaul U.	144	41.5	33.1	79.5	23.1	n/a	14.1	81.3
California State U. at San Marcos	145	39.9	12.2	16.3	0	68.7	96.1	100
Wichita State U.	146	39.5	46.2	57.9	0	12.5	10.2	85.9
U. of Massachusetts at Boston	147	39.4	22.6	16	37.5	62.5	60	74.6
U. of Southern California	148	37.6	39.9	26.8	9	35	32.1	75.1
Eastern Washington U.	149	37	36.2	8.4	0.5	n/a	69.1	81.3
U. of Pennsylvania	150	36.5	9.3	9.3	0.5	12.5	96	95
Colgate U.	151	36.5	0	0	0	n/a	87.5	100
Seton Hall U.	152	36.4	30.7	43	0	49.4	64	14.6
Villanova U.	153	36.3	36.9	22.6	48.1	16.6	40.4	47.6
Baylor U.	154	34.3	40.8	54.7	1.3	n/a	33.1	18.9
Rice U.	155	32.8	29.2	32.9	0	50	20.7	80.4
Harvard U.	156	32.8	22.9	17.3	6.3	50	24.1	97.3
Valparaiso U.	157	32.6	18.3	36.6	0	n/a	23.9	98.5
Texas Christian U.	158	30.2	22	44	2.7	12.5	38.9	44
U. of Alabama at Birmingham	159	29.1	33.3	9.5	35.4	n/a	55.5	7.9
East Carolina U.	160	28.5	35.4	41.2	0	38	24.1	29.6
U. of Southern Mississippi	161	28	15.5	25.8	7.8	20	52.6	50.5
Southern Oregon U.	162	27.4	15.8	13.3	0	12.5	28.3	95
U. of North Carolina at Charlotte	163	27.1	24.2	19.5	34.3	37.5	28.9	32.5
California State U.-Stanislaus	164	27	7.3	1.1	66.6	n/a	85.3	31.4
Marshall U.	165	26.9	23.7	16.2	53.9	7.1	5	47.5
U. of California at Santa Cruz	166	26.6	9.8	10.4	1.2	45.8	62.7	43
Oklahoma State U.	167	25.5	2.3	1.5	35.9	50	70.7	7.6
Lafayette College	168	24.7	27.7	24.4	10.5	0	28.8	31.1
U. of California at Santa Barbara	169	24.6	11.9	23.8	0.9	n/a	71.5	26.6
Georgetown U.	170	24.3	13.4	19.2	7.5	50	64.3	20
Southern Methodist U.	171	21	5.8	3.6	3.8	n/a	12.4	94.1
Montana State U.	172	20.8	24.6	19.1	1.2	25	48.7	0
U.S. Military Academy	173	20.2	23.6	43.2	0	25	4	6.7
La Salle U.	174	19.3	0.4	0.8	0	n/a	57.7	68
U. of Cincinnati	175	18.9	16.8	10.9	1.3	41.6	25.2	33.6
Providence College	176	18.4	3.3	2.6	4	n/a	92	5.3
Great Basin College	177	15.2	2.8	5.7	0	12.5	80	0
U.S. Naval Academy	178	11.1	3.5	4.7	0	n/a	35.7	14.2
Wright State U.	179	11	11.4	18.9	0	0	15.6	7.8
Weber State U.	180	6.2	6.2	7.4	27.7	41.6	5.5	0
Youngstown State U.	181	3.7	1.8	3.6	0	n/a	8.5	6
Fordham U.	182	3.3	7	4	0	21.4	0	0
U.S. Air Force Academy	183	0	0	0	0	n/a	0	0

1. The average of all six categories studied.
2. The Web site must have text where a browser’s text reader will pick it up. The same must be true for all Web pages on the site.
3. All additional headings on a page must contain text, and font sizes need to be ordered largest to smallest, consecutively.
4. All elements of online applications need to be properly labeled so that text readers will find them. Such elements include: password boxes, radio buttons, file buttons, check boxes, “select” buttons, “submit” buttons, and “reset” buttons.
5. If you use a table to display information, include proper tags in the cells: “th” tags to indicate categories and “td” tags to indicate data.
6. If there is a picture included anywhere on the Web site, there should be text, coded for text readers, describing the picture.
7. Tables should be used only for organizing data in rows and columns. If you are designing a Web site, use a cascading style sheet instead of a table.