Guidance for Digital Accessibility Compliance: Informational Content
Informational content provides guidance, instructions, or reference information intended to help users learn, understand, or complete a task. It does not collect information from users, serve as an official legal record, or require fixed formatting.
Preferred Format
Whenever practical, informational content should be published as web content (HTML) rather than as a PDF or other type of document (such as Microsoft Word or PowerPoint).
Examples
- Guides
- Handbooks
- Brochures
- FAQs
- Instructional materials
- Reference documents
- Checklists
- How-to resources
Design Principles
- Preserve information, not layout. Users come for the information, not the page numbers or document formatting.
- Optimize for the web and take advantage of the strengths of HTML, including searchability, responsiveness, reusability, and accessibility.
- Improve the experience. Conversion is an opportunity to improve content by updating outdated information, simplifying language, reorganizing topics, and removing unnecessary content whenever appropriate.
- Make maintenance easier. HTML content is typically easier to maintain than a traditional document. Future updates simply require editing individual webpages and/or web components, whereas traditional documents require editing or recreating a source document that then has to be exported, remediated, and republished as a PDF.
Converting Informational Documents to HTML
Converting informational content to HTML improves accessibility, searchability, mobile usability, and long-term maintenance while reducing the need for future document remediation.
Keep in mind that the goal is not necessarily to recreate the PDF online, but to present the information in the format that best serves users. Ask yourself, "If we were creating this information for the first time today, how would we write/publish it?"
After you've worked through the following steps to revise or develop your web content, you can submit a Marketing and Website Support Request. The districtwide web team will receive your request and can answer any questions you have before working with you to publish the content on the website.
Understand the Purpose
Before converting a document, answer the following questions:
- What is the user trying to accomplish?
- What information is most important?
- Is every page still needed?
- Is any content outdated or duplicated elsewhere?
Many informational documents contain content that can be simplified, reorganized, or removed during conversion.
Organize Content for the Web
Instead of preserving the original document layout, organize content into logical sections or web pages. For example, if you have an 87-page handbook, you might come up the following structure:
- Student Handbook
- Academic Policies
- Registration
- Financial Aid
- Student Conduct
- Graduation
Large documents should become collections of related pages rather than a single, extremely long webpage.
Write for the Web
Content should be optimized for online reading and users should be able to scan and locate information quickly.
See our Editorial Style Guide to learn how to write for the web.
Replace Document Features with Web Components
Many PDF elements have better HTML equivalents. The Communications and Web Team can help you figure out the best component to present your information.
| PDF Element | Preferred HTML Alternative |
|---|---|
| Table of contents | Left navigation or in-page table of contents |
| Forms | Digital form (for example, Formstack) |
| Contact lists | Contact component |
| Images | Responsive images with alternative text |
| Large comparison tables | Accessible HTML tables |
| Callout boxes | Notice or alert component |
| Appendices | Separate pages or downloadable resources if necessary |
Improve Navigation on Handbook-Style Content
For larger resources (such as handbooks or manuals), consider using a documentation-style page template with persistent navigation that functions like a table of contents. This allows users to easily browse and move between sections, jump to related content, and search content.
Note: This feature is currently in development by the web team. We expect it will be available in Fall 2026.
Preserve Only Necessary Downloads
If a printable version is still needed:
- Publish the HTML content as the primary resource.
- Offer a downloadable PDF as a secondary option.
Review Before Publishing
All our web content can be made available to review in a staging environment before it is published to the live website. Before publishing, verify that:
- All content is current.
- Headings are logical.
- Images include alternative text.
- Tables are necessary and accessible.
- Links are descriptive.
- Contact information is current.
- Navigation makes sense.
Success is measured by whether the HTML experience is better than the PDF, not whether it looks the same.