TLS law school profile image and accessibility policy

TLS Law School Profile Image and Accessibility Policy

Policy reviewed August 30, 2026.

Images should help users identify or understand a school without creating copyright, accessibility, privacy, or performance problems. A profile does not need an image when TLS cannot document the right to use one.

Rights Before Design

TLS may publish an image only when it has documented:

• TLS ownership;
• express permission;
• a compatible license and compliance with its conditions; or
• a specific fair-use basis approved through TLS's legal/editorial process.

Public visibility is not permission. TLS does not copy an image from a school website, social account, news article, map listing, or search result merely because it can be downloaded. TLS does not hotlink third-party images.

For each image, maintain a rights record with the file name, creator, source URL, source page, license or permission, acquisition date, required attribution, permitted modifications, expiration or revocation terms, and reviewer.

Image Selection

A useful lead image is normally a current, rights-cleared campus, building, classroom, clinic, or other scene that accurately represents the school. Avoid generic gavels, scales, stock graduates, screenshots of rankings, decorative charts, and images containing material text.

Logos require their own trademark and permission review. A logo is not a substitute for an institution image and should not imply endorsement by the school.

File Names and Formats

Use descriptive, stable names such as `university-of-example-law-library-exterior-2026.jpg`, not camera identifiers or invented institutional filenames. Preserve a high-quality master and create optimized derivatives.

Prefer:

• WebP or AVIF derivatives when the delivery stack provides reliable fallback;
• JPEG for photographic images;
• PNG for graphics needing lossless detail or transparency; and
• SVG only from a trusted, sanitized source.

Strip unnecessary metadata while preserving required rights information on the MediaWiki file-description page.

Alternative Text

Alt text communicates the image's purpose in context.

Image use	Alt-text treatment	Example
Informative campus image	Concise identification and useful visible context	`Front entrance of Example Law School's Smith Hall`
Informative chart	State the chart's subject and provide the data or equivalent explanation in nearby text or a table	`Employment outcomes by job category for the Class of 2025`
Linked logo	Identify the link destination or institution, without repeating adjacent text	`Example Law School official website`
Pure decoration	Empty alt text so assistive technology can skip it	`alt=""`

Do not begin with “image of” or stuff school names and search terms. Do not use a caption as the alt attribute when it contains credit or context irrelevant to the visual purpose.

Captions and Credits

Captions identify what is shown and may add a short verified fact. They do not contain promotional slogans. Credit and license information belongs on the file-description page and, where the license requires it, in the caption.

Do not identify students or private individuals unless the image is authorized for that use and identification is necessary, accurate, and appropriate.

Charts, Tables, and Text in Images

Admissions, cost, employment, and bar data should remain in HTML or MediaWiki tables, not only in a chart or screenshot. A chart may supplement the table when it materially improves comprehension. Use distinguishable labels, patterns or direct labeling rather than color alone.

Charts require:

• a visible title and reporting period;
• readable labels at text zoom;
• sufficient contrast;
• the source and denominator;
• a text or table equivalent; and
• no misleading truncated scale.

Layout and Performance

• Provide intrinsic width and height to reduce layout shift.
• Generate responsive sizes rather than sending the full master to every device.
• Compress with visual review; do not make faces, signage, or accessibility-relevant detail unreadable.
• Lazy-load below-the-fold images, not the primary lead image when it harms discovery or display.
• Avoid autoplaying media and motion; provide controls and respect reduced-motion preferences.

MediaWiki File Page Requirements

Before a file is used, its description page should record:

• descriptive title and caption;
• creator and source;
• date created or published when known;
• license or permission text;
• required attribution;
• rights reviewer and review date;
• current relevance;
• alt-text recommendation; and
• keep, replace, or remove decision.

An unknown rights field means “do not publish,” not “probably acceptable.” Do not invent a file name for an image that has not been acquired and cleared.

Image Search and Sitemaps

Only index original or properly licensed images that provide user value. Use the canonical TLS-hosted image URL, allow crawling, and include eligible images in an image sitemap. Exclude placeholders, tracking pixels, decorative icons, unauthorized copies, and images whose file page lacks rights documentation.

Accessibility Review

Each profile's final QA checks heading order, keyboard access, link purpose, table headers, alt text, color contrast, zoom/reflow, focus visibility, embedded media controls, and that no essential information exists only in an image.

Reporting a Problem

Report an image-rights or accessibility issue through the corrections process and identify the page, file, problem, and requested accommodation or evidence.