Website Accessibility - Content Editing Best Practices Brian D. Heaton October 29, 2018

The Big Five Headings Alternative text for non-text content Link text (descriptions) Content structure Tables Tools for identifying issues Editorial style guide Web Strategy and Development

Headings Headings are an outline of your content. Do not select heading level based on resulting visual presentation style. Page title is heading level 1 (h1); first heading in your content will be h2; subtopic will be h3; etc. Do not use bold paragraph for heading. Use all capital letters only for acronyms and initialisms; use sparingly.  Avoid centering headings. Headings should make sense out of context. Headings divide your content into consumable sections. Web Strategy and Development

Alternative text for non-text content Provide alternate (alt) text for non-text content. Images, including poster/flyer images (infographics). Harvested by search engines, but should not be used for keyword stuffing. Not too wordy. Use sentence structure, including punctuation. Alt text should convey in text whatever meaning is conveyed by the image/flyer. If the image has a lot of information, charts, diagrams, etc., the alt text should contain 1) a short description conveying the essential information presented by the image, and 2) a long description following the image or on another page. Bar chart displaying cost comparisons as detailed in the following paragraphs. Web Strategy and Development

Link Text Very critical to the page containing the link and the destination page. Links should make sense out of context. Do not use meaningless or incomplete text like click here, learn more, download, etc. Do not use URLs for link text. Optimal link text is typically 2-6 words. Each unique destination should have unique link text. Web Strategy and Development

Content Structure Use paragraphs, unordered and ordered lists appropriately. Write for your target audience (grade 6-8). Do not use a heading or bolded paragraph for announcement or notice. Use “Intro” or “Notice” markup instead. Do not add blank paragraphs to generate separating space. Do not create manual lists (e.g., starting lines with a hyphen). Do not bold or italicize entire paragraphs, even one-line paragraphs. Treat just the important words. Do not use all capital letters. Avoid centering content. The template is spacious by design; do not try to circumvent vertical spacing. Web Strategy and Development

Tables Used for presenting organized data. Never use for layout (e.g., two columns). Should always have headers (th). No need to bold or specify header as a heading style. Do not combine multiple tables into one with embedded description row preceding each table. Precede with descriptive heading or paragraph, or include a table caption. Web Strategy and Development

Identify Issues The following tools can assist in identifying issues on a page: Web Press editor Accessibility Checker Browser tools aXe Developer Tools – plugin for Firefox and Chrome Lighthouse - developer tools feature in Chrome Full site scan Available this fall/winter (pending funding) Web Strategy and Development

Editorial Style Guide University follows AP Style Guide. Selected entries: Degree abbreviations should not have periods: BA, PhD, AuD, MA, BFA, EdD, MBA Plural form: MAs, PhDs, MBAs Do not use serial comma, which is a comma before "and" or "or" in a series. Time values should omit :00 and use a.m. or p.m. only on last entry. 1 – 3 p.m., 11:30 a.m. - 2:15 p.m. Hyphenate full-time, part-time, on-campus and off-campus Use dashes, not periods, for phone numbers: 417-836-5271 Access the complete editorial style guide. Web Strategy and Development

Assistance Weekly open lab sessions Web help desk Every Friday university offices are open; 2 – 4 p.m. Fall/Spring: CHEK 100 Summer: ALUM 601 downtown Web help desk Weekdays 8 a.m. - 5 p.m. 417-836-5271 webpress@missouristate.edu Web Accessibility Clinic Friday open lab near opening of fall and spring semesters Global Accessibility Awareness Day; third Thursday of May Web Strategy and Development