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Accessibility Compliance Guidelines

Accessibility Compliance makes digital content usable for people with vision disabilities and those using assistive technologies such as screen readers, while also enhancing overall content quality for everyone. This guide provides general rules and software-specific examples for implementation.

General Rules

The following rules explain the basic concepts of formatting and organizing content in a clear way that benefits everyone.

Key aspects include using proper headings, providing alternative text for images and other non-text content, and ensuring logical reading order. Compliance also requires using sufficient color contrast, providing captions for audio/video content, and avoiding the use of tables for layout purposes.

Headings

Headings (aka Headlines) make a major impact on the organization of content.

  • Structure

    • Use a logical hierarchy, starting with Heading 1 and subsequent headings (Heading 2, Heading 3, etc.) for sub-sections.

    • Never skip heading levels (e.g., jump from Heading 1 to Heading 3).

  • Consistency

    • Apply headings consistently throughout the document.

    • Use headings to organize content and create a clear outline.

  • Usage

    • Use headings to create a documents structure, not for emphasizing text.

    • Don't make fake headings by emphasizing normal text. This does not create document structure and is more time consuming than just using proper headings.

  • Software

    • Headings can usually be found in the "format" or "styles" section of most interfaces.

    • Headings typically create automatic bookmark/heading lists that make content much easier to navigate.

Tables

Coming soon!

  • Headers

    • Identify table headers to correctly label columns and rows.

    • Avoid using merged cells, as they can cause screen readers to read table data out of order.

  • Simplicity

    • Keep tables simple and avoid complex layouts.

    • Use tables for data, not for page layout.

  • Descriptions

    • Provide a brief description or caption for the table.

Images

Coming soon!

  • Alternative Text

    • Provide concise and accurate alt text (alternative text) to describe the image's content and purpose.

    • If an image is purely decorative and provides no information, its alt text should be left empty (null).

  • Descriptions

    • For complex images like charts or graphs, provide a more detailed description in the document body.

    • Ensure that the alt text accurately reflects the image's function in the document.

  • Text in Images

    • Avoid including important text within images; instead, include it as actual text in the document. This also prevents having to repeat the text more than once and makes the text searchable!

Hyperlinks

Coming soon!

  • Descriptive Text

    • Use descriptive link text that accurately explains the destination. Avoid generic text like "click here."

    • Ensure the link text is unique within the document to help users differentiate between links.

  • Context

    • Provide context for the hyperlink so users know what to expect when they click it.

  • Visual Cues

    • Ensure hyperlinks are visually distinguishable from regular text (e.g., underlined).

Colors

Coming soon!

  • Contrast

    • Ensure sufficient color contrast between text and its background to be easily read by individuals with low vision.

    • Use a contrast checker to verify compliance with WCAG standards (e.g., a ratio of at least 4.5:1 for normal text).

  • Information Conveyance

    • Do not rely on color alone to convey information. Use additional cues like bolding, italics, or icons.

    • Ensure that information conveyed by color is also available in another format.

  • Personalization

    • Provide options for users to customize color schemes if possible.

Software Guides

The following guides show how the rules are implemented in some of our most used software.

Apptegy/Thrillshare (District Website)

Google Workspace (Docs, Sheets)

Microsoft Office/365 (Word, Excel)

Official Microsoft Guides:

Other Guides:

Adobe Acrobat Pro (PDFs)

Coming soon!