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Accessibility Tips

Creating accessible content is not just for individuals with disabilities. Accessible content benefits many users such as English language learners, beginning literacy learners, mobile device users, and users with low bandwidth. The aim of accessible content is improved access for all.

Creating accessible content can feel overwhelming at times, but it is important to remember that not everything has to be done at once. A scaffolded approach to learning and implementation can make the process more manageable. Even a few key changes can make a difference. In the beginning, the aim is not perfection, but improvement.

Note: Microsoft and Adobe Acrobat have built-in accessibility checkers to help you.

Common Barriers to Accessible Online Content

Note: VALRC offers a self-paced tutorial, Five Components of Accessibility, on how to make content accessible. The tutorial goes into more detail, provides examples, and gives you opportunities to interact with the content.

Images:

Screen readers cannot interpret images and slower Internet connections may have trouble loading them. Alternative text (alt text) is used to describe what the image is about so that screen readers can read that description.

  • Who does this help? Individuals using screen readers which can include:

    • Individuals with low bandwidth
    • Individuals with vision impairments
    • Beginning literacy learners

  • Tip:

    • Important information about the image should be included in the alt text or provided in an image summary.

  • Video Help:

    • How to write good alt text – Making images accessible with alternative text.

Color contrast:

A sufficient contrast ratio between text and background is needed for readability. Adequate contrast makes it easier for users to distinguish text from background, improving readability and reducing eye strain.

  • Who does this help?

    • Individuals with low contrast sensitivity, which is common in older people
    • Individuals with color blindness who cannot distinguish between certain colors

  • Tip:

    • WebAIM offers a free online tool to check color contrast for accessibility.

  • Video Help:

Web addresses (URLs) or vague hyperlinks:

Ideally, add hyperlinks to descriptive sentences in the page or document and avoid listing full web addresses (URLs) on their own. Hyperlink text should be clear, unique, and meaningful out of context. Descriptive links help users understand where the link will take them before they click.

  • Who does this help?

    • Individuals using screen readers
    • Individuals with Cognitive Disabilities

  • Tips:

    • Avoid “click here” or “read more,” which provide no meaningful information. An example of meaningful text is: “Learn more about website accessibility on the World Wide Web Consortium website”.
    • Avoid raw URLs such as https://valrc.org/about/. Screen readers will read out every letter in the URL.
    • Where URLs are included, shorten them (e.g., Bitly or TinyURL).

  • Video Help:

Font Size and Font Styles:

Small or ornate text can be difficult to read. For websites and online documents, font size 12 points (pts) or higher is recommended. For presentations, font size should not be less than 18 pts. Sans serif fonts are recommended for accessibility. Arial is the most commonly used font. Other commonly used styles include Calibri, Century Gothic, Helvetica, Tahoma, and Verdana.

  • Who does this help?

    • Individuals with vision impairments
    • Attendees of PowerPoint presentations

  • Tips:

    • Limit the number of fonts and font variations such as bold, italics, and all caps.
    • Ensure sufficient color contrast.
    • Do not rely on font color, size, or variation to convey meaning.

Headings:

Headings are important for accessibility because they help organize content and make it easier to navigate. Screen reader users, for example, can use headings to quickly find and jump to the sections they need without reading the whole page. 

  • Who does this help?

    • Individuals using screen readers
    • Individuals using keyboard functioning

  • Tips:

    • Headings allow visual users to quickly scan a page and grasp the overall structure and main topics, making it easier to understand the content. 
    • Search engines also use headings to understand the structure and content of a page, which can improve its ranking in search results. 
    • Using headings effectively can make your content clearer and more accessible to both human and robotic users. 

  • Video Help:

Closed captioning:

Closed captions provide a text version of audio from video, animation, or other recordings.

  • Who does this help?

    • Individuals with hearing impairments
    • Individuals with cognitive and learning disabilities who need to see and hear the content to better understand it
    • English language learners
    • Individuals experiencing environmental factors such as being in a library or on a busy bus
  • Tip:
    • Always ensure that closed captioning and transcription are enabled or provided for your online meetings.

Tables:

Follow best practices (including using header columns and avoiding merged cells) when creating tables and check your document with an accessibility checker.

  • Who does this help? Individuals using screen readers which can include:

    • Individuals with low bandwidth
    • Individuals with vision impairments
    • Beginning literacy learners

  • Tip:

    • Use alt text to describe table content or provide a table summary.

  • Video Help:

Scanned PDFs:

Scanned PDFs are generally inaccessible to screen readers because they are treated as images rather than text, making the content unreadable by assistive technologies.

  • Who does this help? Individuals using screen readers which can include:

    • Individuals with low bandwidth
    • Individuals with vision impairments
    • Beginning literacy learners

  • Tip:

Many simple changes to improve accessibility (such as adding alt text to an image or increasing the font size of text) can be easily addressed within the tool (such as MS Word or Facebook) originally used to create or post the resource. Additional information can be found in Accessibility Resources, under Access-Oriented Practice, of the VALRC website.