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Indiana University
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Web development

Get your website in order

The world has changed—and our digital campuses need to change right along with it. Since our websites often serve as our virtual front door, they need to clearly communicate our stories, make it easy to find information, and be accessible to anyone. It’s a lot to ask—but we’ve created the resources you need to make it happen.

Find the right resources for your site

Developing websites can be challenging, whether you’re a one-person shop or part of a larger team.

To help make it easier, we’ve created informational sites that tackle every part of the process, whether you need assistance with the IU Framework or need tips for creating content.

Check out the resources listed below—and if you’re still unsure, feel free to contact us.

Put accessibility first

Creating accessible content benefits everyone. Make accessibility part of your everyday workflow to ensure everyone can benefit from what IU has to offer.

Discover accessibility resources

Create an inclusive virtual tour for your campus or school

Virtual tours are an excellent way for students to visit your space from where they are. But, with any experience, making it more inclusive provides the highest quality experience possible to everyone interested in Indiana University. So consider the following when building your virtual tour:

  • If you have an interactive or 3D tour, make sure the more inclusive version is equivalent in the most important content and will result in an equal outcome. Images, videos, or other media at significant stops on the interactive or 3D tour must be represented in the more inclusive tour.
  • Present the more inclusive tour first, with the interactive or 3D tour included as an enhanced version of the virtual tour. This will meet IU policies, and still permit use of the interactive or 3D tour. An interactive or 3D tour must not stand alone as the only tour content on a page.
  • A large tour may require multiple pages. If so, consider breaking it up into natural or logical sections. And remember, videos and images increase loading time. Avoid having more than 10 or 12 stops per page.
  • Try to make text rich and descriptive—this helps deliver an experience that more closely replicates physical tours. See the Center for Ray Bradbury Studies’ text-based tour or the IUPUI School of Science’s self-guided tour for examples of well-crafted tour text.
  • Include text transitions (for example, “Continue down the hall” or “Let’s go to the second floor”) to connect locations.
  • Include alt text describing the images, in addition to image captions. Tour stop descriptions (the text about a stop) should not duplicate alt text for the image or captions for the video. They should work together. Learn more about alternative text from the Knowledge Base.
  • Include appropriate captions, transcripts, and audio descriptions for any videos.
  • Use a semantic heading, paragraph text, image, or other media for each tour stop without using <figure> and <figcaption>. Simplifying the HTML reduces potential issues.

To get started, review virtual tour wireframes with accessibility annotations to ensure you master inclusion on your site.