Anyone developing content (text, images, video, etc.) for inclusion in online publications or systems must ensure that all the necessary elements are provided to make the content accessible to individuals with disabilities, including visually and hearing impaired people.
It's helpful to keep in mind how people may access content:
- Blind individuals often use screen readers, which is software that uses audio output to interpret and "read" the content out loud to the user.
- Low vision users often use magnification tools to read content, making moving menus difficult to interact with.
- Hearing impaired individuals may depend on captions and transcripts to access multimedia materials.
- Individuals with motor control impairments may use a keyboard, switch or voice recognition to navigate pages, making mouseovers useless.
IT Accessibility Guidelines for Content Devlopers (PDF)
- Quick reference list of 9 guidelines for writers and content developers to consider to ensure their content is accessible, available in PDF format.
Provide meaningful descriptions of images
- Guidelines for usage of alternate text for images on web sites.
Carefully select the language for links
- Guidelines for selecting the language used for links.
- Additional tips to follow such as proper Headings usage, audio transcripts/captioning, and proper table mark-up to name a few.
- The challenges faced by people who receive inaccessible PDF's and solutions on creating accessible PDF's using Word or Adobe Pro. UC Davis also has SensusAccess, an online tool for converting inaccessible materials into accessible formats, available to the campus community.