Digital Accessibility Committee

Best practices

• Include alt-text on all images that convey meaning

  • • Alt text is a written description of what an image looks like that blind and low-vision people can use with the help of screen-reader software

• Make sure that headings are used correctly 

  • • Headings aren't just stylistic, they contain meaning about the hierarchy of information, and can be used by screen-readers to navigate a page.

• Make your hyperlinks descriptive

  • • Screen readers can scan through hyperlinks (text that can be clicked as a link) to navigate a page, so be sure to have the text describe the destination, rather than ambiguous words like "click here"

    • for example, rather than writing "watch the cat video here," format it like "Watch the cat video here." that way, a blind user knows the link is to a cat video, rather than just the word "here"

Best Practices

• Always turn on Closed Captions in any zoom meeting or webinar

  • • • This allows participants to enable captions and transcripts without having to ask the host

      • Closed captions have a wide range of benefits for people who are hard of hearing, non-native English speakers, and more

  • Keep side conversations in the chat to a minimum

    • •  Screen readers and neurodivergent people can be distracted or overwhelmed by following multiple streams of information

• Include alt-text on all images and figures that convey meaning visually

  • • • Alt text is a written description of what an image looks like that blind and low-vision people can use with the help of screen-reader software

      • Learn more about how to add alt text and what to write here

• Avoid encoding information in figures using only a single mode of communication

  • • For example, establish the identity of points on a graph using both color and shape, so that colorblind people can tell the difference. 

    • Likewise, summarize any key information that is presented in a visual figure via alt-text or captions