How to improve the Accessibility of Your Digital Content

It is the responsibility of every person who maintains a digital presence for their students and community to ensure that all members of that community can access the content.

We’re starting our post today by setting out what we believe our position should be when it comes to making our online digital content accessible to everyone. It does read like a bit of common sense when you think it over, but by making this position explicit, it also puts the idea of our digital and online content being made accessible at the very front, meaning that when we then create or publish anything, it is made with accessibility in mind.

Colours and fonts can play a critical role in making digital content more accessible to people with visual impairments, cognitive disabilities, and other disabilities. Here are some ways colours and fonts can help accessibility:

1. Contrast: High contrast between text and background is important for people with visual impairments or colour blindness. Using high contrast colours such as black on white or white on black can make text easier to read.
2. Colour coding: Colours can be used to identify different sections or elements of content, such as headings or links. Using consistent colours for these elements can help users navigate and understand the content better.
3. Font size: Using a larger font size can make text easier to read, particularly for people with visual impairments or dyslexia.
4. Font style: Using a sans-serif font, such as Arial or Verdana, can make text easier to read on screens compared to serif fonts, such as Times New Roman.
5. Text formatting: Using bold or italicised text can help users distinguish important information, such as headings or key points.
6. Avoiding colour as the sole means of conveying information: It is essential to ensure that colours are not the only way of conveying information. This is particularly important for people with colour blindness.

Overall, using appropriate colours and fonts can significantly enhance the accessibility of digital content, making it easier for everyone to read and understand.

Tables can play a critical role in making digital content more accessible to people with additional needs. Here are some ways tables can help accessibility:

1. Organising information: Tables are useful for organising large amounts of information in a structured way, making it easier for users to understand and navigate.
2. Providing context: Tables can provide context for related data by grouping it together in a meaningful way. This can be particularly helpful for users with cognitive difficulties who may struggle with processing large amounts of information.
3. Providing summaries: Tables can include summary rows or columns that provide an overview of the data contained within the table. This can be helpful for users who are unable to read the entire table.
4. Using header rows and columns: Header rows and columns can help users understand the structure of the table and the relationship between the data. This can be particularly helpful for users with screen readers, who can navigate through the table using the header information.
5. Using accessible markup: Tables should be marked up using appropriate HTML tags to ensure they are accessible to screen readers and other assistive technologies.
6. Providing alternative text: Tables should include alternative text that describes the content and structure of the table. This can be particularly helpful for users with visual impairments who may not be able to see the table.

Overall, using tables can significantly enhance the accessibility of digital content, making it easier for everyone to understand and navigate.

Alt text, or alternative text, is a brief description of an image or graphic element that is added to the HTML code of a webpage. Alt text can play a critical role in making digital content more accessible to people with disabilities, particularly those with visual impairments who rely on assistive technologies such as screen readers to access content. Here are some ways alt text can help accessibility:

1. Providing context: Alt text can provide context for an image, allowing users to understand the meaning or purpose of the image even if they are unable to see it.
2. Enhancing navigation: Alt text can enhance navigation by providing a text alternative to an image, allowing users to navigate through a webpage more easily.
3. Enabling content consumption: Alt text can enable users with visual impairments to consume content that includes images or other visual elements.
4. Improving search engine optimisation: Alt text can improve the search engine optimisation (SEO) of a webpage by providing search engines with information about the content of an image.
5. Complying with accessibility standards: Alt text is required by accessibility standards such as the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) to ensure that digital content is accessible to all users.

Overall, using alt text can significantly enhance the accessibility of digital content, making it easier for everyone to access and understand.

Videos and closed captioning can play a critical role in making digital content more accessible to people with disabilities. Here are some ways videos and closed captioning can help accessibility:

1. Providing multiple means of representation: Videos provide a visual and auditory means of presenting information, and closed captioning provides a text-based alternative for users who are unable to hear the audio. This provides multiple means of representation for users with disabilities, ensuring that they can access the content in a way that suits their needs.
2. Enhancing comprehension: Closed captioning can enhance comprehension by providing a written text alternative to the spoken words, allowing users to better understand the content.
3. Improving navigation: Closed captioning can also help users navigate through a video by providing information about the content, such as the speaker, the tone of voice, and the background noises.
4. Meeting accessibility standards: Closed captioning is required by accessibility standards such as the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) to ensure that digital content is accessible to all users.
5. Supporting language learners: Closed captioning can also support language learners by providing a written text alternative to the spoken words, helping them to better understand the content.

Overall, using videos and closed captioning can significantly enhance the accessibility of digital content, making it easier for everyone to access and understand.

PDFs (Portable Document Format) can play a critical role in making digital content more accessible to people with disabilities. Here are some ways PDFs can help accessibility:

1. Maintaining document structure: PDFs can maintain the structure of a document, including headings, subheadings, and paragraphs. This can be particularly helpful for users with cognitive disabilities who may have difficulty processing large amounts of information.
2. Providing text recognition: PDFs can include text recognition technology, allowing users to extract text from scanned documents and images. This can be particularly helpful for users with visual impairments who rely on screen readers to access content.
3. Supporting accessibility features: PDFs can include accessibility features such as alternative text for images, bookmarks, and tagged PDFs that provide structure for assistive technology. This can be particularly helpful for users with disabilities who rely on assistive technology to access content.
4. Meeting accessibility standards: PDFs can be designed to meet accessibility standards such as the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) to ensure that digital content is accessible to all users.
5. Providing multiple formats: PDFs can be provided in multiple formats such as accessible PDFs, HTML, or Microsoft Word, allowing users to choose the format that works best for their needs.

Overall, using PDFs can significantly enhance the accessibility of digital content, making it easier for everyone to access and understand. However, it is important to design PDFs with accessibility in mind, following best practices and standards to ensure that they are accessible to all users.

Making content accessible for all learners has never been easier. There are still some extra steps needed in the design process, but with personalised learning so accessible to all, and many platofrms have inbuilt tools to help you design accessible content, there has never been a better time to make content that allows all learners an equal opportunity to learn. When we incorporate this into part of our content creation process, it becomes secodn nature to create content that has accessibility at its core, and that makes life easier for everyone.