Leading with Accessibility: HarvardSites at EDUCAUSE 2026
Harvard Web Publishing and Digital Accessibility Services shared how the HarvardSites Design System is turning accessibility into a foundation for digital transformation at scale.
Accessibility as an opportunity for transformation
This fall, Harvard Web Publishing and Digital Accessibility Services traveled to Denver for EDUCAUSE 2026 to share the story behind the HarvardSites Design System and the partnership that has helped make accessibility foundational to how Harvard builds websites.
Harvard’s decentralized digital landscape presents a significant challenge: more than 1,000 websites, many schools and units with distinct identities and needs, and site owners with widely varying levels of technical and accessibility expertise.
When aging platforms needed to be replaced, we saw an opportunity to do more than migrate websites. We could rethink how accessibility was built into the experience from the beginning.
The result was a shift from treating accessibility as something checked at the end of a project to making it part of the system itself. The HarvardSites Design System embeds shared accessibility standards, patterns, and practices into the tools our community uses to build websites.
The story at a glance
1000+
Websites moving from aging platforms
~10%
Improvement in accessibility scores across migrated sites
Accessible by default
Shared components help site owners make better choices
From compliance to culture
Accessibility as a checkpoint
Meet standards. Run a checklist. Identify problems and fix them after something has already been designed or built.
Accessibility as a shared practice
Start with the experience. Give teams accessible patterns and guardrails. Test with people who use assistive technologies. Build confidence so better decisions happen throughout the process.
The shift is from reactive fixes and a checklist mindset toward ownership, confidence, and proactive decision-making.
Four principles that make the model work
Who makes the system work
Accessibility is shared across design, development, content, accessibility specialists, site owners, and the people who ultimately use Harvard’s websites.
How ideas become features
Community needs move through design, accessibility review, implementation, launch, and iteration.
How accessibility becomes real
Early design reviews, accessibility standards, and testing with assistive technology users help turn principles into product decisions.
How we protect and evolve the system
Standards, documentation, governance, and ongoing review help accessible decisions carry forward as the platform grows.
A design system makes the right choice easier
A design system gave us a way to turn accessibility principles into reusable infrastructure.
Rather than asking every site owner to solve the same problems independently, HarvardSites provides shared components, patterns, and guidance that incorporate accessibility from the start.
Digital Accessibility Services has been part of that process early, reviewing designs before implementation and helping identify potential barriers while they can still influence the design. HarvardSites features have also been tested with people who use screen readers, screen magnification, and alternative navigation.
I used to be scared I’d break something. Now I’m confident the tools will help me get it right.
Testing with people changes the product
One example we shared in Denver was the development of HarvardSites' Sort & Filter functionality.
Testing with assistive technology users revealed barriers that technical checks alone might not uncover. Screen magnification users had difficulty finding filters outside their magnified view, while screen reader users encountered interactions that unexpectedly reloaded the page and reset their position.
That feedback changed the design. Filters moved to the left, sorting moved above the results, and selections no longer took effect until users chose to apply them.
The impact of redesign and retesting
27% → 65%
Ease of use
40% → 85%
Likelihood to recommend
Built with, not for, our community
Community need
Ideas start with the people using HarvardSites.
Design + accessibility
UX, accessibility, content, and development shape solutions together.
Launch + iterate
Features evolve through feedback and testing.
Community feedback doesn't end the process. It informs what we build next.
Sharing the work in Denver
At EDUCAUSE, we brought these ideas together in a poster session focused on how accessibility, design systems, governance, and community participation can work together at scale.
Rather than presenting accessibility as a specialist activity added at the end of a project, we shared a model in which it shapes how features are designed, reviewed, built, and improved from the beginning.
Janell Sims and Richard Clinch discuss the HarvardSites approach with attendees during their EDUCAUSE 2026 poster session in Denver.
The path forward
The work doesn't end with a migration or with meeting today's accessibility requirements. As HarvardSites evolves, its standards and guidelines evolve with it, turning new community needs and what we learn from users into opportunities to improve the system.
The lesson we brought to Denver is one we're continuing to put into practice at Harvard: accessibility doesn't have to be the cost of digital transformation. It can be one of the things that makes transformation possible.