1. Designing with Accessibility in Mind
GALILEO Annual Conference
July 12, 2018

2. Who We Are Angela Megaw, Reference Services Librarian
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/Legal Experts
Professional Web Designers

4. Basics

5. 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
Colour Contrast Analyser from The Paciello Group (
Color Contrast Checker from WebAIM (
Text Example
Text Example

6. 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
When presenting think audience & distance when choosing size
Accessible Fonts
Calibri
Arial
Verdana
Tahoma
Times New Roman

7. Headings
Use them! 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; }

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

9. 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

10. 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 #?

11. MS Word and PowerPoint Tips

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

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

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

15. Videos

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

17. Additional Information & Resources

18. HHS Section 508 Accessibility Checklists
508 Checklists on the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services website (
PDF File
Word Document
Excel Document
PowerPoint Document
HTML File
Multimedia File

19. Tools and Support for Web Accessibility
WAVE by WebAIM (
The Paciello Group ( com/resources)
University of Washington ( essibility/web)
CADET (

20. 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 (
Good topic overview
Provides guidance for making PDF files accessible
CUNY LibGuides Presentation: Accessibility (Adina) (
Provides good tips for making LibGuides accessible

21. Questions