Accessibility Checklist

Ensure Adequate Color Contrast

Whenever you create online or print material, make sure the colors you use have adequate color contrast. This means making sure there is a difference between the foreground color (like text) and the background color. Most color combinations from the USU Web Color Palette and the Brand Toolkit Colors are accessible as long as you pair a dark color with a light color. 

There are tools available that can help you check the contrast of two colors. Each of these tools will allow you to add colors to check their accessibility:

• Color Contrast Analyzer
• Adobe Color Contrast Checker
• WAVE Chrome Extension

For more information, see the Color and Accessibility page on our website. 

Add Alternative Text to Images

Images can be a great way to share information, but without alternative text (alt text) they can be unusable for people who are blind or low-vision. Alt text is a brief description of the content of an image. For example, if I had a picture of Old Main, my alt text may be something like “USU’s Old Main in the winter.” Alternative text is also what renders on a website when an image isn’t able to load, so it helps everyone know what your image is! 

Both websites and social media platforms have places to add alt text for images. The alt text is usually hidden but can be accessed when selected or read aloud by a screen reader. For print materials, you may consider adding a short description by an image, but alternative text is mostly for online sources. 

For more information, see the Alt Text Basics on our website. There is also information about adding alt text for social media posts on our Social Media page. 

Caption Any Video or Audio

Captions are the text representation of words and other important information in audio and video. They are synced with the video so that they are displayed as the words or sounds occur. Captions have many benefits and are often preferred by users! At Utah State, there is a standard that requires videos on YouTube channels, websites, and other platforms to have captions. To meet this standard, we have resources on captioning your videos manually or submitting them to our professional vendor. Whichever option you choose, we are here to help support you! If you need to get access to our account or need additional training, please let us know!

Use Descriptive Links

Links can be a helpful way to direct users to other resources. However, how we include those links can sometimes make it difficult for users. The best way to make links accessible is to use what are called descriptive links. This is where you attach the link to enough text that you can easily tell what the link is for. For example, if I wanted to direct you to our website page about link accessibility, I could say, “Find out more information about link accessibility on the USU Accessibility website.” It’s important that the link is attached to “link accessibility” instead of “find out more information” as that tells a user what the information is about.

Apply Correct List Formatting

Use lists to organize content in a clear and logical way. Always use the built-in list tools in your editor. This ensures lists are properly formatted and accessible for screen reader users.

• Ordered lists (numbered): Use when the order of items matters (e.g., step-by-step instructions).
• Unordered lists (bulleted): Use when the order does not matter (e.g., a set of related points).

Organize Content With Headings

A good heading structure helps users understand the layout and content of a website, document, or print material. It’s essential to screen reader users because it allows them to navigate the content using the headings. For example, headings are used in this document for each accessibility best practice. You may come back to this document and use the “Caption Any Video or Audio” heading to jump to that section. The same is true for screen reader users. They use headings to quickly navigate to the content they need. 

When using headings, heading levels should not be skipped, meaning you should go from Heading 1 to Heading 2 to Heading 3, rather than from Heading 1 to Heading 3. In other words, heading levels should be used as follows:

• Heading 1: The document title or the main content heading. There should only be one Heading 1 per document.
• Heading 2: A major section heading. 
• Heading 3: A subsection(s) of Heading 2. 
• Heading 4: A subsection(s) of Heading 3, and so on.

More detailed information can be found on our page dedicated to accessible headings.

Structure Tables Correctly

Use tables only when presenting data, not for layout or design. Add proper headers, keep the structure simple, and use your editor’s built-in table tools so tables are accessible to screen readers. If needed, include a short caption or description to provide context about the information contained in the table.

For more information and examples, see our table accessibility page.