Consider your site content that is routinely updated, like weather maps, Covid charts, or stock graphs. Screen reader users encounter maps and charts where the image has been updated but the alt text hasn't. This can lead to confusion. Always update alt text when updating images.

People often have difficulty reading content when there isn’t sufficient contrast, so it's important to have high color contrast. TPGi’s free color contrast checker tool allows you to determine the contrast ratio of two colors by using an eye-drop tool. developer.paciellogroup.com/color-contra...

Headings serve as landmarks for users and help them understand how different pieces of information relate to each other. For example, a section with a level 3 headings probably provides information in support of information provided in the previous level 2 heading, and so on.

To reduce the cognitive load in data visualizations, directly label your data rather than using legends. This helps colorblind or visually impaired users. It also decreases the work of scanning back and forth trying to match the legend with the data.

Don't forget transcripts for video and audio. These will help blind users and low-vision users, deaf and hard-of-hearing users, people with ADHD, and people with audio-processing disorders. Transcripts also benefit search engines, people in quiet spaces, and people in a hurry.

Do not cram alt text with keywords just to improve search engine optimization. This will hinder alt text’s true purpose: improving accessibility. Focus on describing the photo's content. Search engine optimization should not be the goal for writing good alt text.

In presentations, talk at a moderate pace and enunciate. Pause between phrases, sentences, and questions so people can read the captions and respond. Have speakers take turns and state their name before speaking. This helps everyone, including people captioning in real time.

When considering rainbow text, don't forget to consider readability and legibility. Text filled with rainbows can be difficult to read. Same with complex rainbow backgrounds. Putting each word or letter in a different color of the rainbow could force readers to work harder.

For screen readers to recognize headings, heading text can't just be body text or normal text that's been made to look bigger and bolder. It must be formatted as a heading. In Microsoft Word and Google Docs, this can be done in the styles box. In HTML, use the tags h1 through h6.

Ensure text is readable in data visualizations and information graphics. Small text is generally harder to read, and should be avoided where possible. Make sure the text is not obstructed by other chart elements, and has sufficient contrast against its background.

Alexa Heinrich's Accessible Social is a free resource for digital marketers, communication professionals, content creators, everyday social media users, and anyone who wants to learn how to make their content accessible for people with disabilities. www.accessible-social.com

Some will publish podcasts but wait up to 24 hours before adding transcripts instead of publishing them together. The end goal should be to have the transcript ready at the same time as the podcast. This will require multiple teams working together toward that goal.

Overlays are widgets or technologies that promise to improve a site's accessibility with third-party source code. More than 1,000 accessibility advocates and web developers have signed an open letter to explain the limitations and dangers of these products. overlayfactsheet.com

Intentional misspellings of words can confuse people. This includes people with cognitive and reading disabilities, and those learning the language. Depending on how much the word is misspelled, screen readers might not pronounce it like the actual intended word.

ASCII art is illustrations made out of letters, numbers, punctuation, and other characters from the American Standard Code for Information Interchange (ASCII). Folks using screen readers or text-to-speech will hear gibberish.

If you do business in Canada, you should be aware of these accessibility laws: Accessible Canada Act (ACA), Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act (AODA), Accessibility for Manitobans Act (AMA), and Accessible British Columbia Act (ABCA). www.deque.com/blog/canada-...

Manual testing with a screen reader will help you catch and fix accessibility issues that can't be identified by automated tests. Sara Soueidan has a great guide on various screen readers and how to set them up on your computer. www.sarasoueidan.com/blog/testing...

Screen reader users can navigate from heading to heading. If HTML headings are used correctly, this allows users to get a basic outline of content and find the information they’re looking for. The highest heading level is <h1> and <h6> is the lowest. developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/W...

When possible, use simple and familiar data visualization techniques. Complex data visualizations can be visually appealing, but they can also be more difficult to understand. If a visualization gets overly complex, consider alternate chart types for the sake of understanding.

Alt text always depends on context. Imagine an icon of a computer printer. It could be used on a page of free icons. It could be on a school's computer lab site. Or it could be part of a button that allows you to print the current page. In each instance, the same icon would need different alt text.

The #NoMouse Challenge is a global effort to raise awareness about accessible web design. Try using your website without a mouse. Use the keyboard instead. Is it possible to access all features and operate all buttons, sliders, and other controls? nomouse.org

Accessibility-focused job interview questions can cover much than just reciting specifications. These questions compiled by Scott O'Hara can be helpful for those conducting job interviews, as well as for those prepping to be interviewed. scottaohara.github.io/accessibilit...

When possible, organize pages with headings to help users scan page content for what they're looking for. Statements allow you to put the keywords first. Both sighted users and screen reader users benefit if words they expect are at the front of headings. www.w3.org/WAI/tutorial...

In charts and data visualizations, avoid overwhelming people with information. Keep the design simple and clear. Avoid animations as they can be distracting and disorienting. If you must include some type of movement or animation, provide a way for people to turn it off.

For audio-only content like podcasts, provide a transcript. For videos with audio, provide both transcripts and captions. In the transcripts and captions, include the spoken information and sounds that are important for understanding the content.

The Xbox Accessibility Guidelines are a set of best practices compiled by industry experts, gamers, and disabled people. The guidelines have been written to help developers, designers, and testers make games more accessible to people with disabilities. learn.microsoft.com/en-us/gaming...

For people who don't use screen readers, it can be difficult to understand how screen readers work. If you're interested in learning how people use screen readers, check out this demo from Marc Sutton and The University of California San Francisco. youtu.be/dEbl5jvLKGQ

Everyone who works on a website has a role to ensure the site and its content are accessible. This resource from Vox Media breaks down some accessibility tasks by job role, including content creators, designers, developers, project managers, and testers. accessibility.voxmedia.com

Don't use color alone to convey information. Marking required fields by only using colored labels won't help people who use screen readers or who can't distinguish colors. If using color, also add text like asterisks and/or "required." www.w3.org/WAI/tips/des...

When using Microsoft Word or Google Docs, don't just make text bigger and bolder to make it a heading. That will work for sighted users, but screen reader users will miss that and just hear it as normal paragraph text. Use actual heading styles, like level 1 through 6.

Communication Access Realtime Translation (CART) is the instant translation of the spoken word into text by a human type-corrector using a stenotype machine, computer, and realtime software. CART services can be provided on-site or remotely via a web conferencing tool.

Beware of companies promising to make sites completely accessible, compliant, and immune from lawsuits with just a few lines of code. This just isn't possible. Disabled users have long said these tools don't actually help them, and can often make things worse.

Many struggle with writing alt text for charts and other other data visualizations. Amy Cesal's "Writing Alt Text for Data Visualization" hammers home the importance of explaining the chart type, the type of data, and the reason for the chart. medium.com/nightingale/...

For people just getting introduced to accessibility concepts, the number of resources can be overwhelming for people who don't know where to start. These 10 tips from Lireo Designs can be a good way to introduce your team to the basics. www.lireo.com/10-ways-to-i...

Don't make animations, sliders, videos, or rapid movement start automatically. Give an indicator of what movement will happen on the site when someone takes action. Allow the option to turn off any animation and movement at any point in the process.

Screen readers are an assistive technology that interprets the information on a screen and translates it to either synthesized speech or Braille output. This helps blind people, people with low vision, and people with cognitive or learning disabilities. www.afb.org/blindness-an...

Don't use headings to arbitrarily style text. If you apply “Heading 4” style, you add a <h4> heading tag to the item. When screen reader users navigate from heading to heading, the item will be treated as a heading. This will be confusing. Only treat actual headings as headings.

Chartability is a resource to help make data visualizations and charts more accessible. It's organized into principles with testable criteria aimed at making sure people with disabilities are able to access data. chartability.fizz.studio

The difference between closed captions and open captions: Closed captions are on a separate track that can be turned on or off. Open captions are captions that are burned into the video, so that they are always showing. The viewer cannot turn them off. www.w3.org/WAI/media/av...

Automatically updating content can be extremely distracting, especially for users with vestibular disorders or attention difficulties. This could force users to scroll through page content to not see the animation, or to just look away. Allow animations to be paused or stopped.

If you're looking to hire people with accessibility knowledge and experience, the Accessibility Skills Hiring Toolkit created by Teach Access can help you. The toolkit provides language to use when writing job ads, and questions to ask when interviewing. teachaccess.github.io/accessibilit...

For screen readers to recognize headings, heading text can't just be body text or normal text that's been made to look bigger and bolder. It must be formatted as a heading. In Microsoft Word and Google Docs, this can be done in the styles box. In HTML, use the tags h1 through h6.

Meryl Evans' "Why and How to Create Accessible Social Media and Website Content" introduces content creators to basic accessibility considerations for links, hashtags, emojis, alt text, transcripts, and more. meryl.net/digital-cont...

Avoid forcing users to memorize information. For example, use field labels instead of placeholder text. Placeholder text disappears when users begin typing. This forces them to memorize placeholder text or delete information so they can see placeholders again.

Headings serve as landmarks for users and help them understand how different pieces of information relate to each other. For example, a section with a level 3 headings probably provides information in support of information provided in the previous level 2 heading, and so on.

Instructions for forms should appear at the beginning of the form. Some users may not notice instructions if they appear at the end of the form. If a form field requires data in a certain format (for instance, a date field that requires “day/month/year"), provide examples.

People have personal preferences on what they consider acceptable length for alt text, but there's no definitive character limit or formula for how long alt text should be. That said, aim to be as detailed as needed but as succinct as possible. Go for both accuracy and precision.

Automatic captions make it difficult to watch videos because the viewer is forced to decipher misspelled or mistranslated words that appear in a string of text without any punctuation. These can be distracting and disorienting. Always edit your captions before publishing.

Some people have disabilities that are directly based on the way they understand and interpret numbers. In this post, Ricky Onsman explains some of these disabilities, who is affects and how, and what web creators can do about it. www.tpgi.com/making-numbe...

The difference between "full verbatim" and "clean verbatim" transcripts: Full verbatim captures spoken word exactly as stated, including filler words, stutters and false starts. Clean verbatim has words exactly as stated, but edits the filler words, repeated words and stutters.