Accessibility Resources

This webinar invites participants to rethink their approach to design by viewing accessibility as an essential component of quality, not an afterthought.

This is an introduction to accessibility: the removal of barriers for people with disabilities. It answers questions like “Why is accessibility important? and “How can I remove barriers?”

Let’s show you why using the tools built-into Office docs can make better docs and a better experience for everyone. We’ll cover Check Accessibility button, Alt Text, merged cells, PowerPoint Live, and more in this short video. More how-to lessons below.

Use the Accessible Microsoft Excel Checklist to double-check your Excel file before publishing it. It will remind you of key accessibility best practices to remember when creating your Excel file.

Learn how to create accessible spreadsheets—including as Microsoft Excel documents, that conform to the Section 508 Standards.

A resource discussed regarding ALL CAPS text and how it hinders people’s ability to easily scan and read text. This article provides a tiny amount of information about all caps creating visual and cognitive barriers, which isn’t discussed in detail in Myth 2.

The W3C Web Accessibility Initiative offers an images tutorial that includes a decision tree for the alternative text for images.

Audio description provides spoken narration of important visual information for students and members of the public who are accessing a service, program, or activity, and cannot see the screen.

To ensure digital content is accessible, color must not be used alone to convey important information or to demonstrate emphasis.

A tool for checking color contrast ratio.

Core concepts address a majority of the barriers to digital content and technology.

Learn how to create accessible Microsoft Word documents that conform to the Revised 508 Standards.

Prebuilt Excel templates can help save time and improve accessibility in the content that you create.

Put the content in your PowerPoint slides in the intended reading order so the screen readers read it correctly for users with a vision or reading disability.

Learn how to open and use the Accessibility Checker to find issues that make Word difficult for people with disabilities.

We want to make your document accessible to everyone, especially to people who use assistive devices. Below are some key components on how to make your document more accessible within Microsoft Word 2016.

You can design and create compelling reports while also designing for accessibility. Whenever building a report, no matter who your audience is, create your reports to be usable by as many people as possible, without the need for the report to be adapted for a special design.

The video of the presentation about alt text, specifically how alt text is determined by the surrounding content.

With a nod to the movie “Zoolander,” here’s how audio descriptions help students and the public understand what they can’t see — and how to apply them effectively in your videos.

The Attorney General signed a final rule updating its regulations for Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). The final rule has specific requirements about how to ensure that web content and mobile applications (apps) are accessible to people with disabilities.

The objective of this technique is to limit the use of links or buttons that open new windows or tabs within Web content. In general, it is better not to open new windows and tabs since they can be disorienting for people, especially people who have difficulty perceiving visual content.

Centering inclusive design strategies that enrich digital encounters with visual content for all audiences.

Screen readers interpret what is on the screen. Screen readers may not interpret punctuation and special characters as you expect.

Screen readers interpret what is on the screen. They can read most text easily and accurately, but how do they handle special punctuation and characters? Let’s find out!

When a new email campaign gets into the hands of an experienced email developer, some of the most important work to support email accessibility begins.

An audio description is narration that describes what’s happening on-screen. Users with visual and cognitive disabilities need the audio description to understand the visual content. If you want your video content to be WCAG AA compliant, all prerecorded videos with audio require an audio description.

Adding alt text on images you post on social media is important for blind people to access your content.

Links opening in new windows are an accessibility barrier we find on most websites we audit. Opening links in new windows (or tabs) changes the context. Opening a link in a new window can be disorienting for someone who isn’t able to perceive the change. They may not understand that they can’t use the “back” button on their browser to return to previous content.

Some tips and examples of long descriptions needed for complex images.

Steve Sawczyn, Solutions Architect at Deque Systems, demonstrates how he uses a screen reader to navigate the web. In celebration of Global Accessibility Awareness Day (GAAD), Steve provides developers, designers, business users or anyone new to digital accessibility a first-hand experience of how people who are visually impaired navigate the web.

Keyboard accessibility is one of the most important aspects of web accessibility. Many users with motor disabilities rely on a keyboard. Some people have tremors which don’t allow for fine muscle control. Others have little or no use of their hands, or no hands at all. In addition to traditional keyboards, some users may use modified keyboards or other hardware that mimics the functionality of a keyboard. Blind users also typically use a keyboard for navigation. Users without disabilities may use a keyboard for navigation because of preference or efficiency.

This resource explains how to make media accessible, whether you develop it yourself or outsource it. It helps you figure out which accessibility aspects your specific audio or video needs, provides project management guidance, and includes requirements from the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) standard.

While emojis and icons often look like images to visual users, they often aren’t real images in the code. This means there are specific strategies and considerations for making emojis and icons accessible to assistive technology users.

Microsoft Excel includes features that can assist with creating more accessible spreadsheets. This checklist provides guidance and resources to create accessible content in the Microsoft Excel desktop application.

Deque articles.

NVDA for Windows Keyboard Commands (pdf).

From: The Top 10 Web Design Mistakes of 1999
Don’t break the Back button.

The objective of this technique is to limit the use of links or buttons that open new windows or tabs within Web content. In general, it is better not to open new windows and tabs since they can be disorienting for people, especially people who have difficulty perceiving visual content. 

When working with Power BI, consider the different types of users who might interact with your reports. You can create reports that are easy to navigate and understand for keyboard or screen reader users. Such reports enable users who might have visual or physical impairments to benefit from your reports.

Adobe Acrobat DC Portable Document Format (PDF)

This page helps you figure out which accessibility aspects your specific audio or video needs (captions, description, a transcript, etc.), manage projects and plan what to develop in-house and what to outsource, and understand the standards for audio and video media in Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG)

Guidance developed by the Accessible Electronic Documents Community of Practice (AED COP).

Faculty are encouraged to consider accessibility in developing course materials, whether or not a reasonable accommodation has been requested. Consistently selecting accessible course material allows for reasonable accommodations to be implemented quickly, and can benefit all students, with and without disabilities (for example, a student with hearing impairment and a student with English as a second language may both benefit from captions on a video).

The video is several years old. NVDA for Windows Keyboard Commands (pdf).

Lots of useful information (quotes and links) about the usage of carousels.

Microsoft Excel

This webinar from NWHeat discusses making music and math accessible in documents.

TablePress is a WordPress plugin that enables you to create and manage tables on your site. No HTML knowledge is required. TablePress provides a user-friendly interface allows you to easily manage and edit table data.

Links, title, and aria-label, and assistive technology

Text Alignment, Margins, Padding, and White Spacing, Line Length, and Text Decorations

New technology and conventions have led to several new classes of usability problems in Web design. Consider reading these sections, Breaking or Slowing Down the Back Button, Opening New Browser Windows, and Headlines That Make No Sense Out of Context.

WebAIM’s 2026 report on the accessibility of the top 1,000,000 home pages

There are many reasons, especially with the advent of social media, why PDFs are not a suitable solution for releasing content. It is important, as an organisation, to support your end users by providing them content that they can easily access and read.

This page introduces some basic considerations to help you get started writing web content that is more accessible to people with disabilities.

WSU Brand Colors Contrast Grid.