InklusivComm™
Web Tips

“Section headings also need to convey their structure to assistive technologies like screen readers. Is the underlying code used for your headings marked up using H1 to H6 tags?”

“Fully justified text is harder to read for some people. Does your site provide a simple mechanism for audience members to left align text that is otherwise fully justified by default?”

“The more links you have, the more your audience depending on keyboard navigation need to tab. Are you combining adjacent links together when they point to the same destination?”

“A logical and predictable progression through your site is vital for keyboard navigation. Can your audience tab through the active elements of your content in an order that makes sense?”

“Your audience needs to be able to access the main section of you content easily. Are you identifying the main content section on your site through the use of a main landmark role?”

“Automatic content updates can confuse some users dealing with cognitive disabilities. Is your audience given the means to control the frequency of content updates themselves?”

“Sometimes, sticking to minimum contrast ratios is not enough. Are you also making sure that large-sized text also meets a ratio of at least 4.5 to 1 between the text and its background?”

“Required fields need to be conveyed reliably to assistive technologies. Are you making sure to indicate that form controls are required through the use of the aria-required attribute?”

“Section headings and subheadings facilitate content scanning and navigation. Are you making sure to add helpful labels whenever you have more than a few paragraphs of content?”

“Content must be organized using hierarchically nested section headings. Are you making sure your heading structure is not skipping hierarchic levels in order to facilitate navigation?”

“Captions help everyone, not only those who are deaf or hard of hearing. Are your captions synchronized with the audio tracks and include all spoken words and important sounds?”

“Rapidly flashing content can be dangerous for photo-epileptic audience members. Are you keeping flashing areas small enough on the screen not to cause photo-epileptic seizures?”

“Some people will miss out on information when it’s only conveyed through colour. Are you making sure to optimize interactions by also supporting colour-coded information with text?”

“Shorter links of no more than 4 to 5 words tend to be easier to process from a cognitive standpoint. Are you clearly capturing the purpose or function of your links in just a few words?”

“Unusual words should be linked to their respective definitions for clarity. Are you making sure such words, when found in your content, are linked to their definition in a glossary?”

“Providing alternative text for images is important. When your images primarily convey function, are you using alt text to describe their purpose, rather than what they look like?”

“Language should be simple. Are you using clear and straightforward language to make content easier to understand for those with different reading levels and language backgrounds?”

“Blinking or flashing effects must never be turned on by default in a web page. Are your end users able to turn off, pause, or stop content that is moving, blinking, or auto-updating?”

“Breadcrumb trails help end users orient themselves in a complex set of pages. Are you offering your visitors the ability to easily locate where they are at all times on your website?”

“Don’t use the PDF format simply because it’s faster or more convenient for you. Are you prioritizing an HTML format when the content will only be made available in one modality?”

“The order in which active objects like form controls, links, and interactive elements can be reached needs to make sense. Is the tabbing order on your page logical and predictable?”

“Link text needs to be meaningfully described so its purpose can be understood. Are you making sure that the purpose of each link can be determined from the text label of each link?”

“Content organized in tables needs to linearize meaningfully when interpreted by screen readers. Are you making sure the reading order of content in tables renders meaningfully?”

“Content must remain readable and legible when set to 200% of its initial size. Are you making sure none of the content overlaps, disappears or gets truncated when magnified?”

“Wordy lists can quickly lose the benefit of list formatting when they start looking more like paragraphs. Are you writing your list concisely, so they remain easier to scan and parse?”

“Documents and web pages must be assigned unique document titles, so they can be clearly identified. Are you making sure page titles are marked up using the TITLE element?”

“Tabular information, such as content presented in data tables, needs to be structured using table markup. Are your data tables built using column and row header cells?”

“Audio content, such as podcast files, needs to be supported with a full transcript. Are you making sure your audio content and its and text equivalent are programmatically associated?”

“The significance of abbreviations and acronyms should be presented when they are first encountered in content. Are you ensuring their meaning is defined on their first occurrence?”

“Alternate text descriptions for static and linked images should not replicate any information already conveyed by screen reader technology. Are you actively avoiding redundancy?”