Email Accessibility

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Since Linn-Benton Community College utilizes Gmail, the following information is provided with an email accessibility lens from a Gmail standpoint. All instructions and tips are based on the use of Gmail.

Font Selection

Many people struggle with vision impairments of various degrees and certain fonts, font styles, and characteristics can exacerbate these issues. It is important to follow these guidelines to help ensure that emails are readable to everyone.

• Use only sans-serif fonts.

• Avoid using italics when possible.

• Ensure that the font chosen has enough space in between each character and each word. Fonts with minimal space can make words appear blurred together and difficult to read.

• Avoid script fonts. These often present the same issues as italics and fonts with too little space.

Color Choices

A significant portion of the population has some form of color blindness. It is important to not rely solely on color to convey the necessary information.

• Partner color with other meaningful information like text, shape, or pattern.

• Use high contrasting colors. If you're unsure if your colors contrast enough, check out WebAIM's online contrast checker.

• One great way to check this is printing the email in black and white and reviewing - can the meaning still be understood without color?

Hyperlinks

Hyperlinks are important to send a reader to more information, but the reader should know where they are going when they click the link and why.

• Always use descriptive hyperlinks.

  • "Click here to learn more" doesn't help a person know where the link will take them.

  • Try to make the hyperlink a few words long so that people with weak motor skills can still use the mouse to click.

• If you hyperlink URL addresses, they should begin with http:// or https://.

• Ensure that the content that the link takes the reader to is also accessible.

Images & Alt Text

Unfortunately, there currently is not a way to add alternative text to images sent in gmail. To combat this, best practice is to add a caption of sorts, just below the image. In this caption, denote that it is the alt text and concisely describe the image.

For example, "Alt text: input your short, concise image description here."