Documents and web pages have visual cues to help users scan through content and identify key bits of information.

But imagine if:

• you couldn't use a mouse and rely solely on a keyboard or assistive technology to read and navigate through it
• you have sight issues and can’t see it properly
• you couldn’t see it at all

Many people have these exact challenges, and they may use a screen reader to help them. Screen readers provide a list of the heading on a page to help a user find content quickly.

Headings, when used correctly, help both users who can and can't see a screen find information faster.

Useful links:

• adding headings in Microsoft Word (video)
• how to modify the size, font and colour of heading styles
• creating slides in PowerPoint with an accessible reading order
• for accessible features in other Microsoft products please visit Microsoft accessibility video training

Considering colour and contrast isn't just about people being blind or having vision issues, it is important to everyone. Many people struggle to read yellow writing on a white background, imagine how much harder this would be if you had a visual impairment.

How to ensure good colour contrast

Use sufficient contrast for text and background colours:

Ensure that colour is not the only means of conveying information

People who are blind, have low vision, or are colour-blind might miss out on the meaning conveyed by colours alone so use other distinguishing factors too, such as labels.

Imagine your content is being printed in black and white.

Without labelling the information, how would you know which was green for positive and red for negative in the black and white version?

You can use free colour contrast checkers online to ensure good colour contrast.

Useful links:

• Colour Contrast Analyser
• the importance of colour contrast (video)

There are four very simple things to consider when adding images to web pages or documents.

• use images that support the text
• never use an image instead of text
• use correct image sizes (on the web it is best to have images around 150kb)
• use alt text on images

Alternative text

Alt text is used to provide an alternative description of the image for those people who are unable to view it. This may include people with visual impairments who use screen readers as well as people using text only browsers. 

Never use an image instead of text

When text that is intended to be read is presented as an image, screen readers and other assistive technologies cannot read text that’s contained inside an image. They will instead read the alt text provided.

Best practice for accessibility is to write text as text. Users can often miss out on important information that’s conveyed through an image of text.

Useful links:

• how to add alt text in Word (video)

Links work best when written in a descriptive way. 

People who use screen readers sometimes might read the content of the page and then bring up a menu of the links separately to tab through and visit afterwards. A descriptive link will help the user understand where it is directing them.

Best practice

Do not use the full web address

A full website address written like this:

"https://www.worcestershire.gov.uk/digital-worcestershire/sculpt-accessibility"

Would be read out by a screen reader like this:

h t t p s colon forward slash forward slash w w w dot worcestershire dot gov dot uk forward slash digital hyphen worcestershire forward slash sculpt hyphen accessibility

If you had a long list of links that all read out in this way it would be very unhelpful and potentially not offer any clue as to where each link was going to.

Do not use repeated link titles such as 'click here' or'find out more'

If you named all your links 'click here' or 'find out more' that is all a user would see or hear repeated in a menu of links.

Describe a link and where it is going

It is best to write the link as a description of where it is taking the user, for example: "Worcestershire County Council home page."

Useful links:

• create accessible links in Word (video)

Plain English is writing clearly with the reader in mind and with the right tone of voice.

Plain English means avoiding using hard to understand language, such as jargon, unexplained acronyms and long words.

Try to aim for an average reading age of 12. Plain English helps as many users as possible to understand your content.

Useful links:

• web accessibility perspectives: understandable content (video)
• communication in Plain English (video)
• Plain English Campaign
• Plain English readability guidelines

Tables really should be used for data and not used to facilitate page or document layouts. 

When using tables to present data or information make sure you use a simple table structure with column headers, making sure that the tables don't contain split cells, merged cells, or nested tables (tables within tables).

Poorly formatted table make it very difficult for screen readers to navigate.

Just imagine if you could only use the arrow keys on your keyboard to tab through the table, could you logically tab up, down and left to right to get to every single cell logically and easily? If not, it's not accessible.

Useful links

• creating accessible tables (video)