Foundations of Accessibility

(UFIT logo is visible before fading from the screen. The narrator faces the camera)

Welcome to Accessibility in 5, a series from UFIT where we explore a quick tip on making your content more accessible in five minutes or less. 

(Lower third reads Laura Jervis, instructional designer)

I'm Laura, and today I'm going to give you a crash course in digital accessibility with five ways you can make your content better. We'll go into more depth on these topics in future videos.

My first recommendation is to describe images or visuals for people who can't see them. If you're creating a static file like a PowerPoint or a Word document, you can do this by adding alternative text to each image.

Good alternative text summarizes what you see and highlights any details that are important for the content of what you are communicating.

If you're recording a video or giving a live presentation, you can verbally describe what's on your screen before you discuss the relevance of it so that no one is left out.

Tip number two is to always provide text alternatives for audio and video. You probably already know that captions are essential for someone who is deaf or hard of hearing, but you may not realize that they're also important and helpful for someone who has an auditory processing disorder, for example.

Even moving beyond the realm of disability, captions benefit English language learners and anyone accessing your content from a noisy environment.

All videos should include closed captioning, and any audio files should be accompanied by a transcript.

Recommendation number three is to choose color carefully. While an intentional use of color can improve readability, not everyone in your audience will be able to see it, so you should not use it as the only way to convey meaning. For example, if you want to emphasize text by changing the color, always add additional formatting like bold so that it still stands out to someone who is color blind.

You must always have strong contrast between text and background colors to avoid creating difficulties for people with low vision. You want to use dark text on a light background or light text on a dark background.

Speaking of readability, my fourth suggestion is to choose fonts with readability in mind. Sans serif fonts like Calibri and Arial are usually easier to read and are especially beneficial for students with dyslexia. Large blocks of Serif fonts can slow your readers down, and decorative or specialty fonts should be limited. Make sure your text is large enough to read. Different fonts have different sizes, but no smaller than 12 points is a general rule of thumb.

Finally, my fifth tip is to apply structure to your text. If you're including headings and bullet points to break up your text, you need to make sure that information is included in the metadata of the document for students who use assistive technology. In Microsoft Word and Google Docs, you can do this from the Styles menu. Remember, making text bigger and bolder to show that it's a subtitle only helps someone who can see it. Designating that same text as a heading ensures that everyone who reads your document knows it's the start of a new section.

This might seem like a lot of information, so if you'd like to take a closer look at these tips, go to the Resources section on the CITT website. 

(CITT website is on the screen. The Resources link in the top navigation.)

You can also reach out to us with questions at citt.ufl.edu by filling out our Request Assistance form.

(CITT website is on the screen. The Request Assistance button is shown on the top right, and then the form is selected. It has radio buttons to indicate what type of help you need.)

Thanks for watching Accessibility in 5. You can find this video as well as previous ones under Resources on citt.ufl.edu. 
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 Tune in next month to learn more about describing images.