Accessibility Reference Page

Headings

• Headings provide a meaningful structure overview
• “Fake” headings created with style changes (like bold font) are not recognized by screen readers
• Headings are in hierarchical order, no skipping
• Heading <h1> is the page title; start with h2

Major Topic - Heading 2

sub topic - Heading 3

another sub topic - Heading 3

Another Major Topic - Heading 2

lower level than a major topic - Heading 3

an even lower level - Heading 4

Hyperlinks and Files

• Meaningful links names are better
• The links are read aloud by a screen reader

Images

• “Alternative text” provides a textual alternative to non-text content in web pages
• Helpful for people who rely on a screen reader to provide equivalence
• Some gray area

Not helpful: image

Helpful: Glasses on an open book

Captions and Transcripts

• If you include media on your website, include captions and transcripts
• Course related media, Office of Accessible Education (OAE) will assist
• Other media, H&S will pay 50% of captioning fees

Tables

• Fewer tables: 
  • Only when necessary and truly tabular data
  • When a table is used for text formatting purposes, find an alternative
  • Also hard on phones and small screens

• If a table is required: 
  • Column headings required
  • Data cells must be associated with header cells

Bad Table Example

A more accessible alternative to the table above

Typical Program Timetable:

• 1st Year: Math 51; Math 52; Math 53; CS 103
• 2nd Year: Math 104 or 113; Stats 116; WIM course
• 3rd Year: CS 107; MS&E 211; CME 108; Stats 200; Elective (#1)
• 4th Year: Stats 191 or 203; MS&E 221; Elective (#2); Elective (#3)