Accessibility of university websites in Turkey: An evaluation using website content accessibility guidelines

In today's world, where a significant progress is taking place in different areas of life especially in accessing to information resources depending on the development of web technologies, it is quite important to design accessible websites which have become the primary environment for individuals to access information and services offered by institutions. Designed in a descriptive model and based on the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1, this study evaluated 205 university websites in Turkey continuing their education and training activities in 2020-2021 academic year, using WAVE and Mobile-Friendly tools. The results of the research reveal that none of the university websites meets the lowest level of web accessibility, Level A. Also, the majority of the websites have contrast errors that significantly affect web accessibility. It is seen that the most common accessibility problems found on university websites are empty link, linked image missing alternative text, missing alternative text, missing form label and empty button. However, the results also show that the majority of the university websites are mobile compatible. While this study reveals the current situation regarding the accessibility of university websites in Turkey, it is also expected to contribute to raising awareness on web accessibility. In addition, this study aims to draw attention to the importance of mobile friendly/ compatible web sites due to the increased access rate to the web via mobile devices in line with advancements in mobile technology.