As the importance of creating a fully inclusive digital world comes increasingly to the fore, it’s vital to consider carefully the nature of the documents you make available online. Ensuring accessibility isn’t just about the design aesthetic of your website and ensuring it has a user-friendly interface, although these things are, of course, vital.
For your digital content to remain as inclusive as possible, it’s important to regularly check the documents you have available online to make sure that they’re as accessible as possible to as wide an audience as possible. To this end, it’s worth being aware that there are currently around 4.4 million people in the US who use screen readers – there are many easy alterations you can make to your documents to make them easy to access for those using this equipment.
How to Make Sure Your Documents Are Accessible
There are lots of things you can do to ensure your documents can be read, used, and enjoyed by as wide an audience as possible. Here are some of the most important things to do or check for.
Be Aware of the Most Common Accessibility Issues
Check the document for accessibility issues by ensuring it doesn’t use low-contrast colors, and that alternative text (alt text) is included. When composing alt text, the image and its intent should be briefly described. It’s also important to only use fonts in the document that are clear and easy to read.
Be Careful if Using Tables
While tables may seem a great way to quickly convey a lot of information, they can cause problems for those using screen readers. To get around this, use the simplest table structure possible and specify information regarding column headers clearly. Avoid using split cells, merged cells, or nested tables, which can make it difficult for screen readers to provide helpful information to the user. It’s also important to carefully scan the document to ensure that any tables included don’t contain blank cells, which could cause someone using a screen reader to think there is no more information after this point.
Use High-Quality Screen Tips and Hyperlink Text
Visually scan your document to check that the hyperlink text makes sense if read as a standalone piece of information and offers accurate details regarding the target destination. This is important as many people who use screen readers scan lists of links.
Make Use of Built-in Headings and Styles
Carefully check through the document’s table of contents to ensure the heading order is logical throughout. Use Word’s built-in formatting tools to preserve tab order and make it as easy as possible for screen readers to understand. Incorporating paragraph banners can also be helpful.
Be Careful When Using Color in Your Document
When creating and checking your document, be mindful of those who are blind, color blind, or have low vision who may wish to access it. For example, if you use color coding to convey information, this may be missed by those with sight issues.
Avoid Putting Information in Headers and Footers
Screen readers don’t scan document headers and footers, so avoid putting any information in these parts of your document, as those using screen readers will miss it. Ensure all important information is included in the document’s main body.
Check the Space Between Sentences and Paragraphs
Increasing the space between sentences and paragraphs is a good way to make your digital document more accessible. Those with dyslexia often describe how their condition makes one line of text on a screen merge into the one beneath it – adjusting this spacing can make a big difference to these readers.
Use an Online Accessibility Testing Tool
One of the best ways to be really sure that your document is accessible to as wide an audience as possible is to use an online accessibility testing tool. This type of tool typically thoroughly scans a document and flags up any potential issues that could make it difficult for someone with a disability to read it or access the information it contains.
When choosing a testing tool, look for an option that is set at compliance level AA of WCAG guidelines.
Why It’s Vital to Promote Inclusivity in Your Online Content
Of course, the main reason to ensure your documents are as accessible as possible is because this means that a much wider audience will be able to access and enjoy your content. There are some other important reasons, too, like these:
- Ensures compliance
- Empowers employee success
- Promotes diversity and inclusivity
- Helps boost employee retention rates
- Enhances the reputation of your business or brand
As you can see, by making just a few small changes to the documents you post online, you could make a significant difference to your business’ reach and reputation.
The Importance of Creating an Accessible Digital Culture
Use the guide above to help ensure that every document you post online can be accessed and enjoyed by as wide an audience as possible. Being mindful of best practices when it comes to document accessibility, avoiding common mistakes, and deploying an online accessibility document-checking tool, will help you get it right every time.
