Research Guide & Website Content Accessibility Considerations

This checklist is intended to guide creators on checking the accessibility of their research guides and website pages. If you are looking for a comprehensive list, consider consulting the Instructional Content Accessibility Tool or the full list of Accessibility FAQs for Research Guides.

If you answer "No" to any of the following questions, please revise your guide or page or consult with Anaya Jones.

Reading Order

  1. Is information or boxes on each page presented in an order that makes sense on browser and mobile views?

Headings

  1. Is the guide name unique? (guides only)
  2. Is the name of each page meaningful and unique?
  3. Is all content included in a box described by the box title? Are box titles meaningful and unique?
  4. Is all text that labels sections of content coded as a header?

Have you added any headers to your Rich Text / HTML content boxes? If yes…

  1. Is the Guide & Page title the only H1 on each page?
  2. Are additional headings appropriately nested?

Have you included any floating boxes on your guide? If yes…

  1. Does the content in any floating boxes include an H2, and / or make sense under the previous header?

Links

  1. Do all linked images include alt-text describing the destination of the link?
  2. Does the Link text of links on each page accurately and concisely describes the destination of the link?
  3. Do most links open in the same window, and if/when links open in a new window are they labeled?
  4. Do any duplicate links use the same link text?
  5. Is link text unique to a URL?

Images

Does this guide include images? If yes…

  1. Do all non-decorative images include an image description, either in the text of the page or the image’s alt text field?
  2. Are all pages free of images of text (excluding logos)?

(Guides only) Complexity: Do not add alt text to book images added through SpringShare's book content item.

Color

  1. If color is used to convey meaning, is meaning also conveyed in text?

Does this guide/page use color (except for black, white, or colors from the template)? If yes…

  1. Do colors used have appropriate contrast?

Text

  1. Is content written clearly, concisely, and to the lowest reading level possible?
  2. When instructions include references to sensory characteristics, are textual or reading order descriptions also included?
  3. If included, are unusual words or abbreviations defined or explained?
  4. When multiple pronunciations change a word's meaning, is the desired pronunciation included?

Tables

  1. If tabular information is included, is it contained in an html table?
  2. Do any tables include column headers, row headers, or both?
  3. Do all header cells contain text?
  4. Are tables designed to be simple and straightforward?

Non-text Content

  1. Does any audio or video content on the page include appropriate text-based alternative? This can include captions, descriptive transcript, etc.

Timing, Flashing, & Customization

  1. Does this guide disable any auto played or timed elements? (Inspect Gallery boxes and Video Players)
  2. Does this guide contain no flashing or alternatively flashing content that meets the WCAG 2.3.1 thresholds?
  3. Is there a way to pause or stop any moving, blinking, or scrolling content?

Have you significantly altered the code of the page or added an external widget? If yes...

  1. Can text be resized without assistive technology up to 200% without scrolling?
  2. can foreground and background colors be selected by the user?
  3. Is text presentation width less than 80 characters?
  4. Is text aligned to the left, right or center?
  5. Is readable line spacing maintained? (at least space-and-a-half within paragraphs, and paragraph spacing is at least 1.5 times larger than the line spacing)
  6. Is reflow maintained?
  7. Is functionality maintained, even when line height, paragraph, and word or letter spacing is adjusted?