Presenters: Angela Megaw, Kara Mullen. Presented at the Georgia Libraries Conference in Columbus, GA on 10/06/2017. In this session learn how a few small changes to your handouts, presentations, LibGuides, and webpages can make them more accessible and meet Federal regulations and guidelines.

1. Designing with Accessibility in
Mind
Georgia Libraries Conference
October 6, 2017

2. Who We Are
Kara Mullen, Head of Access & Electronic Services
Clayton State University
Angela Megaw, Reference Services Librarian
University of North Georgia

3. Who We Are NOT
Lawyers …
or any other type of legal experts Professional Web Designers

4. It’s not a choice. It’s the law.
…follows Section 508 Standards and WCAG
2.0 for web accessibility. If you experience
any difficulty in using or accessing this
content, contact...

5. Basics

6. Color Contrast
• Contrast between text and
background
• Ratio should be 4.5:1
• Color should not be used to
communicate meaning (required
fields, error messages)
• White font on blue background
• Yellow font on black background
Resource Suggestions
1. Colour Contrast Analyser from
The Paciello Group
(www.paciellogroup.com)
2. Color Contrast Checker from
WebAIM (www.webaim.org)

7. Fonts
• Use standard fonts with clear
spacing and easily recognized
upper and lower case
• Use font-family: Helvetica, Arial,
sans-serif;
• Avoid italics, bold, underlined,
and ALL CAPS
Accessible Fonts
• Calibri
• Arial
• Verdana
• Tahoma
• Times New Roman

8. Headings
• Style your text using headings
instead of increasing the font
size
• Style the headings to fit your
design
• Screen reader users can use
commands to navigate text by
heading levels
Design Tips
h1 {
text-align: center;
}

9. Whitespace
• Use line space, tab stops,
columns, page breaks, section
breaks, margins, <hr>
• Avoid double enters, extra tabs,
multiple spacebar hits, &nbsp;
Design Tip

10. Alt Text
• Use to describe images,
graphics, photos, and content in
tables
• The alt=“Image description“ is
required. A web page will not
validate correctly without it
• Use proper capitalization,
grammar, spacing, and
punctuation
Design Tip

11. The Devil is in the Details: Less obvious fixes
• Table Reading
• Identify Header Rows/Columns
• No split cells, merged cells, nested tables, or completely blank rows or
columns
• Provide ALT description
• Acronyms and ALL CAPS
• Symbols as words…What do you call #?

12. MS Word and PowerPoint Tips

13. Use the Built-in Checkers
Word > File > Info > Check for Issues >
Check Accessibility
PowerPoint > File > Info > Check for
Issues > Check Accessibility

14. Errors, Warnings, and Tips
Errors
1. Missing Alt Text
2. Missing Slide Title
Warnings
1. Unclear Hyperlink Text
2. Repeated Blank Characters
3. Objects not Inline
Tips
1. Duplicate Slide Title
2. Check Reading Order

15. PowerPoint Selecting Reading Order
1. Menu item: Home tab
2. Drawing Group: Arrange
3. Menu item: Selection Pane
4. Selection sidebar: all objects
on the slide are listed in
reverse order, the title should
always be listed last
Design Tip

16. Videos

17. Quality Captioning
Guidelines
1. Accurate
2. Consistent
3. Clear
4. Readable
5. Equal
Best Practices
1. Only 2 lines per frame
2. Limit to 28-32 characters per
frame
3. Never end a sentence and
begin a sentence on the same
line unless they are short
4. [ use brackets to insert
descriptions ]

18. Additional Information &
Resources

19. HHS Section 508 Accessibility checklists
508 Checklists on the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
website (www.hhs.gov/web/section-508/making-files-accessible/checklist)
1. PDF File
2. Word Document
3. Excel Document
4. PowerPoint Document
5. HTML File
6. Multimedia File

20. Tools and Support for Web Accessibility
• WAVE by WebAIM
(http://wave.webaim.org)
• The Paciello Group
(https://developer.paciellogroup
.com/resources)
• University of Washington
(http://www.washington.edu/ac
cessibility/web)

21. Resources
• Web Accessibility Group (WAG) (www.amacusg.gatech.edu/wag)
Handouts and Recorded Webinars
Tools and Checkers
• University of Virginia Darden School of Business Web Accessibility
LibGuide (http://darden.libguides.com/c.php?g=446808)
Good topic overview
Provides guidance for making PDF files accessible
• CUNY LibGuides Presentation: Accessibility (Adina)
(http://guides.cuny.edu/presentation/accessibility)
Provides good tips for making LibGuides accessible