Accessibility Bytes No. 17: Five Tips for Accessible Documents

Want five quick fixes to make your documents more accessible?

You can avoid some of the most common accessibility issues in electronic documents if you:

1. Use sufficient text alternatives for non text content.

   Using sufficient text alternatives for non-text content helps ensure accessibility by providing meaningful descriptions that can be interpreted by screen readers, enabling users with visual impairments to understand and engage with the content.

   Watch our video "What is Alternative Text?" for a quick introduction to creating meaningful alt text, and visit Authoring Meaningful Alternative Text for a more comprehensive guide to describing images and other non-text content.

2. Proceed to the second step

   Use built-in styles. Using built-in styles such as headings, lists and tables in electronic documents improves accessibility and organization by creating a hierarchical structure that is easily navigable, enhancing overall readability and user experience.

   For more information on styles, see these modules within the Documents training videos:

   • Module 2: Use Styles to Create Headings
   • Module 3: Use Built-in Features to Create Lists
   • Module 4: Use Built-in Features to Organize Content
   • Module 5: Use Built-in Features to Create Layout and Data Tables
   • Module 7: Create Unambiguous Names for Links

3. Create links with clear, descriptive text and avoid saying "Click Here," or "Read More."

   This also aligns with web content management best practices for Search Engine Optimization (SEO), where SEO and Section 508 accessibility standards both emphasize the use of clear, descriptive link text to improve user experience and ensure content is easily understood and navigable by both search engines and users, including those with disabilities.

   Discover how descriptive hyperlinks support users who navigate by links alone, helping them quickly find relevant, meaningful content without confusion.

4. Use sufficient color contrast for text.

   Sufficient color contrast between text and its background enhances readability and accessibility, ensuring that content is easily perceivable by all users, including those with visual impairments.

5. Avoid using color only

   Ensure color is not the only visual means of conveying information, indicating an action, prompting a response, or distinguishing a visual element. When you use color to convey information, use other methods, such as text or iconography (with sufficient alternative text, of course) to convey the same information.

For more information on color standards, see: 

• 302.3 Without Perception of Color (USAB)
• Making Color Usage Accessible

For more information on creating accessible electronic documents, visit Content Creation.