Answers to common questions regarding the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) mandate and Florida State University's digital accessibility requirements.
The April 2026 Mandate
What is the specific deadline for FSU to be compliant?
All public web content, mobile apps, and digital course materials must meet WCAG 2.1 Level AA standards by April 24, 2026.
Does the mandate apply to content behind a login (like Canvas)?
Yes. The DOJ Title II update explicitly includes "password-protected" or "authenticated" content. All instructional materials in Canvas for current and future courses must be accessible.
What qualifies as "Archived Content" that does not need remediation?
Content is generally exempt if it was created before April 2026, is retained exclusively for research or record-keeping, and is not currently being used for active administrative or academic purposes.
Remediation & Support
Is there central support available to fix my digital content? (e.g., Web pages, PDFs, Word documents, etc.)
Compliance and remediation are a distributed responsibility. Departments and units are encouraged to reprioritize their web teams or task student interns with reviewing legacy content to ensure compliance. Training is available via Siteimprove Academy and LinkedIn Learning.
What should I prioritize first in Siteimprove?
Focus on the "Accessibility" score within the DCI dashboard. High-traffic pages like homepages and syllabi should be remediated first to reduce barriers for the largest number of users.
Multimedia & Social Media
Is "Audio Description" really required for every video?
Yes. For prerecorded video, both captions and audio descriptions are required. You can satisfy this by naturally describing visual actions within your video's main script.
Do I need to fix backdated social media posts?
New social media posts must be accessible moving forward. While backdating every post is not strictly required, high-impact pinned posts or essential information should be updated with Alt-Text and captions.