The Comms Report

The Comms Report

The Comms Report is a bimonthly newsletter from Strategic Communications in the Office of the Provost (OTP) that brings you up to date on our collaborative communications efforts as well as multi-media highlights happening across OTP teams.

Strategic Communications is pleased to partner with so many in the OTP to advance the vital work of our office. The Comms Report is meant to deepen connections between and among teams as we share the perspectives, programs and vision that propels us forward.

Current Issue

May 2025

Past Issues

March 2025

January 2025

November 2024

September 2024

February 2024

April 2024

OTP Comms Resources

Communications Handbook

House Style Cheat Sheet

Digital Accessibility Resources at Pitt

Digital Accessibility: Accessible Content Design Hub - Office for Equity, Diversity, & Inclusion

Accessibility Resource Hub - University Center for Teaching and Learning

The Accessibility Training Partners Program - University Center for Teaching and Learning

Web Publishing: Best Practices - Office of University Communications and Marketing

Electronic and Information Technology Accessibility Policy - Office of Policy Development and Management

Digital Accessibility How-To and Tutorials

Open the accordion sections below to find links to more detailed explanations, examples, and descriptions for a variety of digital accessibility topics.

Headings and Document/Webpage Structure

Digital Accessibility: Headings, Office for Equity, Diversity, & Inclusion (OEDI)

Digital Accessibility: Bulleted and Numbered Lists, OEDI

Headings, Very clear explanations and examples, WebAIM (Web Accessibility in Mind)

Accessible Document Design Requirements, University Center for Teaching and Learning (UCTL)

Page Structure Tutorial, Read the “Why is this so important?” section, W3C Web Accessibility Initiative

WCAG 101: Understanding the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines, WCAG

Hyperlinks

Digital Accessibility: Link Text, OEDI

Hypertext - Screen Readers and Links, Concise review of importance of meaningful hyperlinks, WebAIM

Accessible Links, UCTL

Alternative Text and Images

Digital Accessibility: Alternative Text, OEDI

Accessibility — Alt Text for Images, UCTL

W3C WAI Images Tutorial, See definitions of image types and read “Why Is This Important?,” W3C Web Accessibility Initiative

Informative Images, Examples of images and their related alt text, W3C Web Accessibility Initiative

Alt Decision Tree, A useful tool to decide how to treat alt text for an image, W3C Web Accessibility Initiative

Alternative Text, Provides very good examples of how to write alt text, WebAIM

Alt Text: What to Write, Good summary of how to write good alt text, what it should include, and how to decide when it is needed, Nielsen Norman Group

Use of Color

Digital Accessibility: Color Contrast and Color Use, OEDI

Color Contrast, UCTL

Color Contrast and Readability: The Cornerstones of Accessible Design, AFixt (Accessibility Fixed)

Color Checkers

You can find the Hex codes and RGB mix for Pitt’s brand colors at Brand Elements: Color Palettes.

Tables

Digital Accessibility: Data Table Headers, OEDI

Accessible Document Design Requirements, UCTL

Prepping Word files for PDF Output

Digital Accessibility: PDF Accessibility, OEDI

Accessibility and PDFs, UCTL

Additional Info about Digital Accessibility

Fact Sheet on Title II ADA Update

Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.2