Accessibility Fundamentals

All visual elements that convey information must have meaningful alternative text. Alt text is the text equivalent for describing images.

• Add alt text to pictures, charts, and other visual objects that convey information.
• Don’t include "image of“, "picture of“, or “logo of” as part of the alt text.
• Alt text should describe the image in the context of the content.
• Keep alt text short and concise; limit alt text to 100 characters or less.
• Decorative images need to be ignored by screen readers. For documents, mark decorative images as "Decorative" or tag them as "Background". For the web, use a null alt attribute (alt=" "). 

More Alt Text Resources:

• WebAim's guide to alternative text
• WCAG Success Criteria 1.1.1 Non-text Content

Color plays an important part in accessibility. Keep in mind that some colors will not be apparent for color blind or low vision users. Screen readers can't distinguish color so when it comes to accessibility there are two main things to focus on:

Headings add structure to digital content which improves scannability and navigation for all users. With headings users and screen readers can skim and browse to specific information on lengthy content.

• Use paragraph styles (for documents) or heading tags (for web pages) to create headings.
• Heading 1 (H1) should only be used once. It is reserved for the main title of webpages and documents. 
• Structure your document using paragraph styles (for documents) or heading tags (for web pages).
• Don’t use headings to style text.
• Headings Heading Hierarchy

Links need to be descriptive and meaningful. They need to clearly describe where they go or what they do. 

• Write links that make sense when read out of context.
• Never use Here, Click Here, or More as links.
• Sometimes phrases could provide a better description than single words.
• Preserve the link appearance - underlined links help users differentiate them from text.
• Keep your hyperlink on one line of a paragraph.
• Making links meaningful might require to re-writing sentences for readability. 
• Embed the links on digital content instead of using URLS: http://tea.texas.gov/a-f
   

Tables are a great way to organize and show relationships between information. Accessible tables start by being simple, rather than complex with many merged cells. Keeping tables simple will help screen reader read the information contained in the table correctly and avoid accessibility barriers. Applying visual cues to a table does not make the table accessible for screen reader users.

• Tables are for data only and to be used for layout of content.
• Apply table headers. Use the first, top row as the header row. 
• Use correct reading order - table data needs to read from left to right, top to bottom.
• Use simple tables - avoid complex tables layouts and tables nested inside tables.

Understanding WCAG — Info and Relationships (WAI)

Readable content is accessible content. Although text is considered to be accessible the way it is, there could be some constraints.  because it can affect users with dyslexia, cognitive disabilities, who use assistive technologies. 

• Use proper font sizes - Normal text can be between 11pts - 14pts and headings can be slightly larger.
• Use normal text spacing.
• Left align all content. 
• Use plan language for better readability.
• Font colors need enough contrast against background colors. 
• Add a title to your content. It should be the first content read by screen readers or seen by visual users. 
• Don't use symbols or numbers to create lists. Create ordered and unordered lists. 

Media like audio and videos enrich the digital experience for many users, but it needs to be accessible. Media needs to comply with WCAG 2.0 Guidelines and Techniques.​ Apply the following practices: 

Also important is to use an accessible media player that supports closed captions, has control buttons that are properly labeled for screen readers, can be operated without a mouse, and works across different browsers and platforms. Media should not autoplay. The users decide when to play the media on digital content.