Digital accessibility student guide

City encourages students to consider and improve the accessibility of their digital content to enable disabled staff and students to engage with your content and make it readable by assistive technologies. Building accessibility into your content workflows will improve the awareness and employability skills for all students. 

This section of the guide will explain simple steps and best practice guidelines to improve the digital accessibility of your documents. These are skills that can be developed into long-term habits.  

The SCULPT model was developed at Worcestershire County Council as a guide to the basics of everyday inclusive digital practice. It can be used to apply the basic principles of digital accessibility into documents and content. It is an acronym which stands for:

• S for Structure (use headings and styles)
• C for Colour and contrast
• U for Use of images
• L for Links (hyperlinks)
• P for Plain English
• T for Tables

All non-textual elements, such as images, graphs, etc. should have an alternative text that describes the content or the information it is trying to convey. It is then possible for users to change it into large print, braille, speech, symbols or simpler language.

The image can be marked as decorative if it conveys no necessary information. Complex images, such as a chart, graph or map, may require an additional long description to the alternative text to make it meaningful to a screenreader user. The W3C guidance on complex images has examples of how to provide long descriptions.

To add Alt-text to an image on Office documents such as Word, PowerPoint, Excel, Outlook:

1. Right-click or select the applications key when focused on an image or object and select Edit Alt Text.
2. Enter a description of the image in the Alt Text field or Mark as decorative. Select "Generate a description for me" to enable AI to create alternative text.
3. Alternatively, the Accessibility Checker can generate a list of images that require alt text for you.

Example of inputting alt-text:

Alt text: A person pours coffee from a silver espresso pot into a blue and white striped mug. 

Avoid: 

• Using screenshots of text – insert the text instead 
• Using phrases referring to images, such as “a photo of” 

Image from UnSplash, credit Annie Spratt.

Users with visual impairments may miss out on information or meaning of content that is conveyed by colour. Ensuring that your elements are not using colour as the single means of conveying meaning but employing alternative ways of emphasis will help users distinguish content in their purpose. e.g., highlighting text in yellow as the only way of emphasising text will not come across to a user that is not sighted. Consider making the text bold or using an alternative solution. 

Aim to make it easier for users to see your content and separate foreground from background by using colours in your text and other elements that have sufficient contrast. 

To check colour contrast is sufficient: 

• Use the Accessibility Checker and change colours until there are no items to review. 
• Use a pre-designed template by Microsoft. 
• Use a colour contrast checker (WebAIM). 

Links will be more useful if they describe the destination in a meaningful way. Screen-reader users can skip from link to link and it is therefore important that the text is also unique. Avoid “Click here” and “Read more” which are confusing out of context and are likely to be used repeatedly. Before linking a full URL, consider whether it is simple or you want users to become familiar with it as screen-readers read it out entirely. WebAim guidance on Link Text and Appearance has more information on the readability and length of links.

Meaningful text for hyperlinks tips: 

• Use unique, descriptive link text. 
• Be concise (though full sentences are also OK, use your judgment). 
• Give information on the target destination of the link. 
• Be contextually relevant. 
• Warn users if the link opens in a new window or different format. 

Avoid:

• Inserting full URL text directly in your content. Consider whether the URL is short and descriptive e.g., www.city.ac.uk, as screen readers will read out the entire URL if inserted as is. 
• “Click here” or “read more” text. A user tabbing through these links will not know where the links are destined to go. This can be confusing for users when a screen reader reads the links out of context. 

To insert meaningful hyperlink text: 

1. Use the cursor to highlight the text (this may be simple text or a URL) to which you want to add the hyperlink text, and then right-click. 
2. Select Link or Edit Hyperlink. The text you selected will display in the Text to display box. This is the hyperlink text. 
3. Add or change the hyperlink text to something meaningful and descriptive. 
4. In the Address box, enter the URL for the hyperlink. 
5. Apply the changes by selecting OK. 

The Accessibility Checker is a built-in tool available across the suite of Microsoft Office software. It can run in the background while you work, or you can launch when needed. The checker can detect accessibility errors that your content may have, help you review the issues and recommend how to fix them.  

You can access the Accessibility Checker options from the dropdown menu to Check Accessibility, insert Alt Text, open the Reading Order Pane, and open Ease of Access Options. 

To use the Accessibility Checker: 

1. Select the Review tab. Select Check Accessibility in the Accessibility group. 
2. The Accessibility Checker pane will open on the right side of your window.  
3. Review the results (this may be a list of errors, warnings, and tips on how to fix issues) and apply any recommendations you are given and amends. 

Further guidance:

• Check accessibility of Office files 
• Check accessibility of PDFs

Like their use in other Microsoft 365 products, tables can be useful content types, though they can pose some accessibility issues when used in a non-standard or overly complex format.  

Accessible tables tips: 

• Use a simple table structure – apply an existing Microsoft table style, and avoid merged or split cells, tables within tables, and blank rows or columns. 
• Specify the first column and header row of your table. 
• Add alt text for your tables. (see Alt text for visual content) 
• Define named regions for cell ranges to enable column and row headers to be read out optimally in screen readers. 

There are a few extra steps to be considered in making a table accessible to screenreaders:

Do add a Description to the Alt-text tab by right-clicking on your table and selecting Table Properties.

Do include a Header row and First column if appropriate from the Table Design tab (with your table selected), which screen readers can use to identify cells.

Do add a Caption to the table from the References tab, and it will appear in the Table of Contents.

Don't

• Use tables to create a page layout or align content.
• Merge or split cells as it can confuse screenreading programs.
• Add blank rows to control spacing. Adjust Table Row Height from the Layout tab instead.

Complex images are a type of visual content that contain considerable amounts of information and details, more than could be conveyed by alt text alone, or just one sentence. These can be: 

• Graphs and charts (images generated from tabular data), including flow charts and organisational charts 
• Diagrams, including mind maps, blueprints, and sketches (content that is pictorial yet abstract) 
• Photographs, illustrations, and paintings 
• Maps showing locations or weather systems 

In cases where complex images are used, you should endeavour to include a longer description of the content alongside the alt text to fully convey the information – this practice will ensure you are meeting WCAG 2.1 success criteria. Some examples of what you can do are: 

• Include a data table alongside your charts and graphs that provides the equivalent information represented  
• Add bullet points or a paragraph alongside flowcharts and diagrams that discuss the content illustrated 
• Provide a link to the long description below the complex imagery (ensure your link has meaningful text) 
• Insert the long description itself directly in the HTML document right below the complex imagery.