Glossary
This glossary provides quick, plain‑language definitions of common terms you’ll encounter in Siteimprove.
Accessibility
Designing and maintaining digital content so it can be used by people with disabilities, including those who use screen readers, keyboards, captions, or other assistive technologies. At Penn State, accessibility applies to all public-facing web content.
Alternative Text (Alt Text)
A written description added to images so people using screen readers can understand their purpose and meaning. Good alt text describes what is important about an image in its context, not just what it looks like.
Assistive Technology
Tools used by people with disabilities to access digital content, such as screen readers, voice recognition software, and screen magnifiers. Siteimprove checks help ensure your content works with these tools.
Automated Scan
An automated process that reviews your website for accessibility and quality issues. Scans are performed regularly by Siteimprove and form the basis of most reports and scores.
Crawl
The automated system that visits and analyzes your website pages. If the crawler cannot access a page, that page will not appear in reports.
Failed Scan
A situation where Siteimprove is unable to scan part or all of a website due to technical barriers such as authentication, redirects, or server restrictions. Failed scans must be resolved before issues can be detected.
Governance
The policies, processes, and roles that guide how websites are managed and maintained across the University. Governance ensures consistency, accountability, and sustainability.
Heading Structure
The use of headings (H1, H2, H3, etc.) to organize content logically. Proper heading structure helps screen reader users navigate pages efficiently.
Impact
An indicator in Siteimprove showing how many pages or users are affected by a specific issue. Higher impact issues typically deserve higher priority.
Issue
A specific accessibility, quality, or usability problem identified by Siteimprove, such as missing alt text or low color contrast. Each issue includes guidance on how to fix it.
Manual Testing
Accessibility checking performed by a person rather than by automated tools, often using assistive technology or keyboard navigation. Manual testing complements automated scanning.
Public-Facing Website
Any website or webpage that is accessible without logging in and is available to the general public. These sites are subject to accessibility compliance requirements.
Re-Scan
The process of rechecking pages after fixes have been made. Re-scans confirm whether issues have been resolved.
Report
A summary of accessibility and quality performance for one or more sites. Reports may be automated or manually generated and are often shared with stakeholders.
Score
A numerical or visual indicator showing overall site performance in Siteimprove. Scores help track improvement over time but should not be the only measure of success.
Screen Reader
Software that reads website content aloud for users who are blind or have low vision. Examples include NVDA, JAWS, and VoiceOver.
Severity
An indicator showing how serious an issue is for accessibility or usability. High-severity issues usually have a greater impact on users and compliance.
Tag
A label used to group users and websites for management and reporting purposes. Tags help organize access and relationships between sites and users.
Template-Level Issue
An accessibility problem built into a site’s design or code structure that affects many pages at once. These are usually addressed by developers rather than content authors.
WCAG (Web Content Accessibility Guidelines)
International standards that define how to make digital content accessible to people with disabilities. Siteimprove checks are based largely on WCAG requirements.