U of U homepage ranks in WebAIM’s top 5% for accessibility

The University of Utah’s digital front door was recently recognized for setting a high standard for accessibility. 

According to the 2026 WebAIM Million Report, the U’s homepage ranked the 22,640^th most accessible out of the 1 million most-visited homepages on the web, placing it in the top 5% worldwide for accessibility. 

The ranking puts the U ahead of many peer institutions in the state, including Brigham Young University, Utah State University, and Utah Valley University; every Big 12 school other than West Virginia University; and all Ivy League schools except Princeton University. 

For the teams responsible for designing, maintaining, and improving the university’s homepage, the recognition — especially amidst a push to meet new federal accessibility requirements — is gratifying. 

“It’s really satisfying,” said Barb Iannucci, director for UIT’s Web Support & Usability team in University Support Services (USS). “We’ve put so much work into this, and it’s been such a big initiative. To see it validated in an external way feels really good.” 

For the past eight years, WebAIM, a Utah-based nonprofit organization focused on web accessibility, has evaluated the homepages of the 1 million most-visited websites using its WAVE accessibility testing tools, which detects end-user accessibility barriers and Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.2 A/AA conformance failures. The annual report offers a snapshot of the current state of web accessibility across industries, including education, government, healthcare, and business.

In aggregate, the University of Utah’s ranking has improved over time: 

• 2019: 386,743
• 2020: 313,876
• 2021: 15,886
• 2022: 18,471
• 2023: 194,235
• 2024: 346,010
• 2025: 76,799
• 2026: 22,640 

The university homepage ranked 1,891^th in popularity, and no accessibility errors were detected among its 945 elements.

The homepage is maintained through a close partnership between University Marketing & Communications (UMC) and UIT’s Web Support & Usability team. Roger Kowallis, a USS UX/UI developer whose work Iannucci said “directly contributed to this recognition,” said the homepage combines infrastructure maintained by UIT — including templates, navigation, headers, and footers — with content managed by UMC. 

Though utah.edu is central to receiving this achievement, high standards of accessibility involve far more than a single webpage. The homepage serves as the university’s primary online gateway and connects visitors to thousands of subdomains for colleges, departments, and services. 

Sravi Garikipati, associate director for UMC Digital Research and Operations, noted that the homepage attracts roughly 7 million active users annually, making accessibility improvements especially impactful. 

“That’s a lot of people interacting with the site every year,” Garikipati said. 

The homepage’s accessibility success reflects years of intentional work involving designers, developers, content creators, and web editors. 

James Tombs, associate director for UMC Web Design & Development and lead designer of the homepage, emphasized that accessibility improvements are woven into design and development processes. 

While Tombs helped design many of the homepage components, he credited the “team effort” of development teams in UMC and UIT for implementing the accessibility enhancements behind the scenes. 

Accessibility improvements often focus on issues that can create barriers for users with disabilities. According to WebAIM, about 96% of all WAVE accessibility errors fall into six categories: low-contrast text; missing alternative text for images; missing form input labels; empty links; empty buttons; and missing document language. Education-based homepages averaged 48.9 errors in the 2026 report, while homepages with the .edu domain averaged 23 errors, WebAIM said. 

Kowallis said many of these issues seem small but can significantly affect how users experience a website. 

“Instructions like ‘click the red link’ don’t help someone who can’t visually see the page,” he said. 

Sustainable web accessibility, Kowallis said, requires that campus web editors create accessible content from the start rather than remediating issues later. 

“Overall, I think there’s a lot more awareness about accessibility today than there used to be,” Kowallis said. “It’s definitely become a central focus around training and daily processes.” 

Even so, the team is careful not to view accessibility as a finish line. 

“You don’t want to think you’re too perfect,” Kowallis said. “Accessibility is more of a journey than a destination. You’re always finding new things to fix, and as new content gets added, you have to test it.” 

The challenge is especially significant in higher education, where websites often contain years of accumulated content and millions of documents. 

For the teams supporting the university’s homepage, the ranking represents more than a number. It demonstrates a campuswide commitment to ensuring digital content is accessible to everyone. 

Iannucci hopes the recognition highlights the value of a largely behind-the-scenes effort that benefits millions of visitors each year. 

“I’m just really proud of everyone and all of our efforts,” she said. “I hope it inspires people and helps them feel good about the work we’re doing.”

 

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