Creating accessible documents ensures that everyone, including individuals using assistive technologies such as screen readers, can read, understand, and navigate your content effectively. The following guidelines outline best practices for accessibility and usability.
Use your word processor’s built-in styles to create a clear document structure. Headings are essential for navigation and comprehension—they allow screen readers and other tools to move easily between sections.
Heading levels:
- Heading 1 (H1): Main Document Title
- Heading 2 (H2): Use for main sections
- Heading 3 (H3): Use for subsections or examples within an H2 section.
Avoid skipping levels (e.g., H1 to H3). Maintain logical nesting: H1 → H2 → H3.
Only 6 heading levels exist. H6 is typically used for page numbers, allowing screen reader users to jump to a specific page, if needed.
- Use a 12-point font or larger for readability.
- Choose sans-serif fonts such as Arial, Calibri, or Verdana.
- Avoid italics, underlined or ALL CAPS text for large sections of text.
- Avoid the use of decorative text.
- Ensure adequate line spacing (1.15 or greater).
- Do not rely on colour alone to convey meaning (e.g., avoid “items in red are required”).
- Combine colour with text labels or symbols.
- Maintain high contrast (e.g., black text on a white or light background).
Provide alt-text for images, tables, charts, and graphs to describe the visual content for users who cannot see them, or benefit from having the content described in text.
Guidelines:
- Explain the purpose or meaning of the image, not just its appearance.
- Avoid phrases such as “image of” or “picture of” unless they are relevant to the composition (e.g., watercolour portrait, line drawing).
- Be concise but informative—aim for 1–2 sentences.
- Mark decorative images as decorative so screen readers skip them.
- Provide summaries for complex visuals, such as graphs or infographics.
- Use tables for data, not for layout or formatting.
- Select 'Repeat Header Row' so that screen readers recognize column headings.
- Avoid split, merged, nested, or empty cells.
- Ensure proper text alignment and contrast.
- Add alt-text summarizing the table’s title, purpose, number of rows and columns, and main content.
Avoid inserting text into text boxes, as some screen readers may skip them. Use paragraph borders or lightly shaded paragraphs instead.
- Use your word processor’s built-in list tools instead of manually creating lists with tabs or hyphens.
- Keep list items short and clear.
- Create a linked Table of Contents for longer documents.
- Keeping Headings updated will facilitate the creation of your ToC.
- TOCs provide quick navigation for all users, including screen reader users.
- Avoid watermarks or background images as they reduce text contrast.
- Ensure any visual design elements meet contrast standards and don’t obscure text.
Hyperlinks should clearly describe their destination or purpose. Avoid vague phrases such as "Click here."
While it's not so bad in the example below, when the URL is long, the screen reader will still read all the letters, often individually. URLs often are not ideal at telling you where its taking you, either.
Examples:
DO: Visit the McMaster University Library Homepage
DON'T: For more information about the library, visit: https://library.mcmaster.ca.
- Before sharing or publishing your document, run the accessibility checker in your word processor.
- Review and resolve any issues, such as missing alt-text or unclear structure.
- The Accessibility Checker provides recommendations to ensure compliance with accessibility standards.
- It won't catch everything, which is why it is important to do the work first, for example, it won't catch missing table alt-text.
