Digital Accessibility

Ensure good contrast in your colors

Text and text backgrounds should have sufficient contrast so that the text remains easy to read, in print and online.

• How much contrast is enough? Test color combinations with a web tool called WhoCanUse, which shows how color contrast can affect people with visual impairments. Enter a background color and a text color, and see how your combination fares.

• Use a Chrome Extension like Color Contrast Checker to quickly check your online colors.

Make text easy to read 

People don’t read on the web. They scan a page for keywords and start reading only when they find what they are looking for. Help ‘em out: Use headings, lists, meaningful link text. Divide text into short blocks. 

• • Important points in the text should stand alone—don’t hide important information in large text blocks.

  • Write simply and clearly. Not everyone reads under perfect conditions, and for some readers your language may not be their native language.

  • Avoid ALL CAPS. All-caps text is harder to read for people with dyslexia. Some screen readers will treat short words as abbreviations and spell them out character by character. 

Use descriptive headings 

Headings are the framework of your content. A good heading should simply and concisely describe the content that follows.

• • Google Docs uses headline tags: H1 = page title. Use H2, H3, H4 to divide your content into meaningful sections, like a book index. Don’t skip levels.

  • Never use headings for visual effects, such as to bold text or increase font size.

Tools for checking your text

• Grackle Docs - Google Docs Extension

• Grackle Slides - Google Slides 

• Microsoft Word - Accessibility Checker

• PowerPoint - Accessibility Checker

• Canva Accessibility Checker

• WAVE Browser Extension for web pages

Always try to tell a visitor what to expect when clicking a link. Don’t make them guess.

• • Embed URLs within text. It allows use of descriptive link text instead of a URL.

  • Use meaningful and descriptive link text—never “click here” or “more info.” If you don’t do this, sighted users must read the whole sentence to understand what “click here” means. Screen reader users must guess where link goes. 

    • Incorrect (non descriptive) link text: Click here to subscribe to our newsletter. You can download the manual of the espresso machine, or contact us for more information.

    • Correct (descriptive) link text: Subscribe to our newsletter if you are interested in our work. Download the manual as PDF, or contact us for more info.

Avoid links opening in a new window

Readers expect websites not to open new windows. This also breaks the back/forward button navigation in browsers. And it's a poor method of trying to “keep someone on your page.”

• • You may personally prefer to open links in new windows/tabs. That’s great for you, but it is safe to assume most users are most comfortable with the default behavior of opening a link in the same window. 

  • Users can open a link in a new window by right-clicking it. That means both behaviors are available for links, giving everyone a choice. Choice is good.

  • Useful answers in case you encounter resistance!

    • “But clicking takes the user away from our website!” > “That’s literally what the user has chosen to do.”

    • “But you have to navigate back with the back button!” > “The back button is the most used feature in web browsers, ever, period.”

Tools for checking your web pages

• WAVE Browser Extension

• Avoid auto play. Provide controls to start, stop, and pause media.

• Offer transcripts of audio, with summaries of sounds—e.g. “[laughter]” or “[explosion]” if possible. 

• Alternatively, offer captions for video, with summaries of sounds, settings, actions, text, and facial expressions necessary for understanding the content.

• Avoid rapidly flashing, bright content.

Analyze video for accessibility

Requires analyzing three distinct layers:

1. The video content itself (visuals/audio)

   • listen with eyes closed to make sure what is happening in the video visually is fully understandable. If not, add audio descriptions.

2. The text alternatives (captions and transcripts)

   • Use YouTube/Kaltura/Vimeo's auto generated CC

   • Then do a manual check and edits for accuracy

   • YouTube automatically generates a transcript or you can include as a link or text in webpage.

3. The media player (controls/keyboard access)

• WAVE Browser Extension

More information about available platforms with links to resources and tools can be found on the UA Video Accessibility page.

The best way to make an accessible PDF is to make your document accessible before turning it into a PDF! 

PDFs are difficult to make accessible because they rely on both a visual layout and a separate tagged structure used by assistive technologies. If these layers are not aligned, screen readers may interpret content incorrectly. Reading order is often based on the order in which elements were added rather than logical flow, tables require complex manual tagging, and poorly structured source files make remediation difficult (“garbage in, garbage out”). Scanned PDFs add another barrier because they are essentially images of text unless OCR is applied.

To PDF or not to PDF? A decision tree

1. Is the content intended to be read on a computer?

• Yes → Don't use a PDF - Publish as a web page (HTML) instead. Why?  Because it is easy to make accessible and to search. If you post on a website, you don't need to also post a PDF. 

• No → Continue.

2. Does the document require fixed formatting for printing (e.g., official forms, reports, or publications)?

• Yes → A PDF may be appropriate. Make sure it is properly tagged and accessible.

• No → Continue.

3. Is the content primarily text, instructions, or information that changes regularly?

• Yes →  Don't use a PDF -Use a web page or shared Google Doc. 

• No → Continue.

4. Is the content data or tables meant for analysis or reuse?

• Yes →  Don't use a PDF - Provide CSV, Excel, or a data repository format.

• No → Continue.

How to check for and fix PDF accessibility

• Adobe Acrobat Pro can check PDFs and make them accessible. 

• Use Foxit Editor Pro (UAF license) to create compliant PDF exports from Word.

• Use PAVE online for free for non-confidential PDFs to check and fix accessibilty issues. Find help with PAVE