Accessibility Features

• Alternate Text on Photos: ALT text refers to invisible description of images which are read aloud to visually impaired users on a screen reader. Adding ALT text allows authors to include images, but still provide the content in an alternative text based format. If no alt text is provided, then a screen reader would only be able to say "image" or perhaps provide a file name.

Reference: PennState Accessibility

• Font Type/Size: Google Sites is a great website as it already uses accessible font sizes. The most accessible fonts are "sans serif" fonts. A serif is a little decorative line that is found on letters in some fonts like Times New Roman.

• Headings: Visually, headings are presented as larger and more distinct than surrounding text and helps those with screen readers to find and access information quickly and efficiently. Making texts larger helps guide the eye around the page. Using headings and making them visually apparent is especially helpful for users with cognitive disabilities and visual impairments. Reference: Yale University: Usability and Web Accessiblity

• Accessible Hyperlinks: Improves the usability and accessibility. People using screen readers can access a list of links in a page and have them read out loud to them.

• Background Colour: The background colour and text should be in high contrast with each other. Google sites offers a great automatic readability function for background photos which makes readability more accessible, while still allowing images.

• Bulleted Lists: These are useful for visually impaired users with a screen reader. It is useful as it will be able to expose the number of items in a list and be able to jump from list to list in the content. Be careful not to manually format a bulleted list as a screen reader will announce the items as unrelated paragraphs.

Reference: Princeton Univeristy-Digital Accessibility